Cannondale TOPSTONE 2019 is released

[DamonRinard]

Hi slowK,

Happy to help.
Sadly 165 mm cranks are something we keep asking for, but surprisingly aren't yet routinely available in all crank models.

Cheers,
Damon

[slowK]

Hi slowK,

Happy to help.
Sadly 165 mm cranks are something we keep asking for, but surprisingly aren't yet routinely available in all crank models.

Cheers,
Damon

Yes - understand. Hopefully this will change with time.

Thank you!

[Shrike]

Have our two Topstones arriving tomorrow. Small for the missus and medium for myself.

Have to say I'm disappointed with Cannondale's seemingly bizarre lack of care for shorter and women riders. Evans Cycles and other shops I've spoken to the past couple of weeks leading up to this are similarly perplexed. First there is the omission of the XS model and then the crank sizes starting at 170mm.

Cannondale don't do women or something? What is with the cavalier approach. This is a nice bike, nicely priced and suits a range of stuff like commuting, winter riding and trails, but it's clearly aimed at men. Why is the shortest top tube around 53cm IIRC?

Anyway, I'll get tinkering with the missus' bike and try to get it to fit her as best as possible. She does like the Topstone and does want it so I'll have to make it work. Just a shame we couldn't have got a nicely sized bike off the peg. This feels like a throwback to over 10 years ago when women were considered an annoyance but hey, we'll still take your money.

[DJT21]

Why is the shortest top tube around 53cm IIRC?

Presumably so you can use a really short stem?

Regardless, I'd buy her something that else, then you'll avoid the faux pas of matching "his and hers" bicycles.

[Shrike]

Right so got a couple of hours in with it there. Not used to something like this. Feels very upright and a bit bouncy. Bars feel really wide. After an hour or so on the trails I started to get a feel for it. It's actually surprisingly nimble. Really enjoyable ride, just need to customise it a bit. At the moment there's a tapered headset cap. Must be 2.5cm tall or so. Crazy big thing stopping me from lowering the stem further. It's made by Tange Seiki. Is there a readily available one that's much slimmer? Really do need to slam this thing as much as possible.

Other thing is the bar width. Not sure what width comes on the Medium but it feels very wide. I'm normally on 38s to 40s on my road bike. That said, when climbing on the rough stuff out of the saddle, I was really liking the leverage of the wide bars. Maybe this is a gravel thing. Big wide bars to swing the bike around. Need to canvass some opinions on that.

And the tyres. Roll surprisingly well on tarmac, but I'm wondering about something faster. What can I get away with if I stay away from wet mud, and keep it to hard packed trails, gravel, tarmac. Are the 40's overkill or should I just leave those alone?

Some pics, since frogtape was good enough to share earlier.

[MountainAddict]

At the moment there's a tapered headset cap. Must be 2.5cm tall or so. Crazy big thing stopping me from lowering the stem further. It's made by Tange Seiki. Is there a readily available one that's much slimmer? Really do need to slam this thing as much as possible.

Other thing is the bar width. Not sure what width comes on the Medium but it feels very wide. I'm normally on 38s to 40s on my road bike. That said, when climbing on the rough stuff out of the saddle, I was really liking the leverage of the wide bars. Maybe this is a gravel thing. Big wide bars to swing the bike around. Need to canvass some opinions on that.

And the tyres. Roll surprisingly well on tarmac, but I'm wondering about something faster. What can I get away with if I stay away from wet mud, and keep it to hard packed trails, gravel, tarmac. Are the 40's overkill or should I just leave those alone?

The Cannondale KP253 is what you're looking for to slam your stem. Worked perfectly on my CAAD12 and was much cheaper than a slamthatstem.com bearing cover.

[frogtape777]

Right so got a couple of hours in with it there. Not used to something like this. Feels very upright and a bit bouncy. Bars feel really wide. After an hour or so on the trails I started to get a feel for it. It's actually surprisingly nimble. Really enjoyable ride, just need to customise it a bit. At the moment there's a tapered headset cap. Must be 2.5cm tall or so. Crazy big thing stopping me from lowering the stem further. It's made by Tange Seiki. Is there a readily available one that's much slimmer? Really do need to slam this thing as much as possible.

Other thing is the bar width. Not sure what width comes on the Medium but it feels very wide. I'm normally on 38s to 40s on my road bike. That said, when climbing on the rough stuff out of the saddle, I was really liking the leverage of the wide bars. Maybe this is a gravel thing. Big wide bars to swing the bike around. Need to canvass some opinions on that.

And the tyres. Roll surprisingly well on tarmac, but I'm wondering about something faster. What can I get away with if I stay away from wet mud, and keep it to hard packed trails, gravel, tarmac. Are the 40's overkill or should I just leave those alone?

Some pics, since frogtape was good enough to share earlier.

Great pics, looks like some lovely scenic trails!


I'd stick with the wide bars, i'm on 80-90 on my MTBs with a 50-70mm stem and they give huge stability and control when offroad + descending, and i've found the same with the Topstone feels super when things get really rough and off the beaten track.

I've read a recent bike site touting wider tyres to roll better, not sure how much truth there is to it, but thus far the Nano 40 have really impressed me, easy to keep up with roadies, and in fact a few seconds off some local roadie KOMS in the area already, then offroad they add so much comfort.


Rolling resistance
You’d like your tyres to roll as easily as possible but a certain amount of energy is lost through rolling resistance, which is the energy is takes to flex the tyre body where it touches the ground. Lots of factors determine rolling resistance, such as tyre width, profile, air pressure, material quality, and the thickness of the tyre casing and tread.

“Wider tyres roll faster,” says Dave Taylor, Marketing Manager at tyre brand Schwalbe. “The answer lies in tyre deflection. Each tyre is flattened a little under load. This creates a flat contact area.

“At the same tyre pressure, a wide and a narrow tyre have the same contact area. A wide tyre is flattened over its width whereas a narrow tyre has a slimmer but longer contact area.

Schwalbe tyre contact area - 2
Contact area of a wide tyre © Schwalbe

“The flattened area can be considered as a counterweight to tyre rotation. Because of the longer flattened area of the narrow tyre, the wheel loses more of its roundness and produces more deformation during rotation. However, in the wide tyre, the radial length of the flattened area is shorter, making the tyre rounder and so it rolls better and therefore quicker.”

Schwalbe tyre contact area - 1
Contact area of a narrow tyre © Schwalbe

As Dave Taylor says, that’s when the wide tyre and the narrow tyre are pumped up to the same pressure. In truth, though, you’re likely to run a lower pressure in a wider tyre, increasing the size of the contact area. That will increase the rolling resistance above the level it would otherwise be, but according to figures from another tyre brand, Continental, a 20mm tyre with 160psi, a 23mm tyre at 123psi, a 25mm tyre at 94psi and a 28mm tyre at 80psi all have the same rolling resistance.

“In practice, the energy saving is even greater than in theory as the elasticity of the tyres absorbs road shocks, which would otherwise be transferred to the rider and so saves energy,” says Dave Taylor.


https://road.cc/content/feature/182519- ... ider-tyres

[frogtape777]

Gone to an 80mm stem now, going to test out over the weekend, 90mm felt much better than stock 100mm but still that litte little bit stretched on the hoods

Also saved 20grams

Damon any idea where I can buy the cannondale spacers in different stack heights? I've tried all my own spacers but the outside diameter is bigger so they don't look as flush as the stock ones sticking out from edges of stem and headset.

[CarlosFerreiro]

And the tyres. Roll surprisingly well on tarmac, but I'm wondering about something faster. What can I get away with if I stay away from wet mud, and keep it to hard packed trails, gravel, tarmac. Are the 40's overkill or should I just leave those alone?

I have 40mm Nano's on one set of wheels on my SuperX, and a summer "mixed terrain" wheelset with 35mm Hutchinson Overides.
I've not got round to the roll down tests I planned to see what kind of difference there is there, but I have had a few flats on the Hutchinsons, even taking more care, while the Nanos have ended up hitting some rocks pretty hard by the end of long rides, and I've still no flats on those - the extra volume and general rubber thickness seems to be worth a fair lot off road.

[frogtape777]

Found the same!
Off road the nano 40s don't feel far off my 2.35" nobby nic snakeskin EVOs on the full susser, i don't even know how thats possible LOL

[DamonRinard]

Damon any idea where I can buy the cannondale spacers in different stack heights? I've tried all my own spacers but the outside diameter is bigger so they don't look as flush as the stock ones sticking out from edges of stem and headset.

Hi frogtape777,

I know, a flush spacer stack is somehow irrationally satisfying!

Maybe stop by the bike shop, they might have some they've taken off another bike after a fitting. There are several different common diameters, some bigger, some smaller. They need not be Cannondale brand spacers, anything with the same OD will function well.

Cheers,
Damon

[frogtape777]

Thanks Damon, i've got loads in the spares box, some carbon, some splined, but everyone has a bigger OD than the stock cannondales which seem super skinny

[Shrike]

Quick Q guys - why is it seemingly okay to put shorter stems on these bikes compared to road bikes? Is it because the front end has a slacker angle and has a thick tyre on which makes it less twitchy?

Looks like I'l need to stick a 30 or 40mm stem on the missus' Topstone to even nearly get it to work for her. She's too far stretched out and didn't enjoy her first ride on it today. Actually think the advice we got in Evans about the S being fittable for her was dodgy. Women of her height definitely shouldn't be on a size S. Maybe Cannondale should put out some advice saying anyone under a certain height shouldn't be on a Topstone at all as they're not doing the size XS in the UK. Her control of the bike today was sketchy to the point I'd consider it risky.

Either way, we have the bike now so I'll try to make it work and the 30 or 40mm stem is the place to start, as well as narrower bars. If I can find bars that bring the hoods in closer that'll help a bit also.

[frogtape777]

Hey Skrike,

A page back or so Damon said

"I agree with your fitting approach: Place the saddle first, then place the bars. (Although when weight distribution for handling is more important than weight distribution for comfort, as with some mountain bike scenarios, then balance the weight over the wheels first.)

Topstone's "Out Front" steering geometry is consistent across the size range and rides best with stems between 30 and 130 mm. 90 is definitely well within the design envelope.
"


I'm literally just back from my 80mm stem test ride, and it feels really good, palms solidy in the hoods now, steering is a little faster, super stable still, bar being more comfortable I can't see any downsides.

I've also got a Zipp inline seatpost to fit, much lighter and removes the 15mm layback, so this will also move me forward slightly, but i'm going to try it @ the 10mm more forward mark see how she rides.

[Shrike]

@frogtape, going to try the inline post as well.

Thinking is currently:

50mm stem (currently 90mm)
60mm reach handlebars if I can find any (currently 70mm according to Damon's post earlier)
Inline seatpost

Good to hear your 80mm stem is still stable. 50mm sounds pretty scary though, from a roadie perspective. I know Damon said 30mm is within their parameters, but saying that is one thing, how it feels in practise is another..