Our man Mat is out in Italy right now looking at some shiny new kit from Cannondale ahead of the Giro on Staurday. And he's sent us back some spy shots of the new Supersix Evo road bike, which in the Ultimate build pictured above weighs in at – wait for it – 4.95kg.
The Supersix has been around since 2006 but this new incarnation is the culmination of a two-and-a-half year development project. You won't be surprised to know that Cannondale have been going after the usual goals: strength, stiffness, weight, compliance and reduction in drag. In the rarefified world of super-lioght framesets it's always good to be the lightest, so no surprise that Cannondale have aimed just below the Cervelo R5CA; 1g below in fact at 695g. They did have a 630g frame in development but apparently it was too expensive to produce...
Interestingly Cannondale have moved back from a 1.5" crown race to a 1.25" one, in order to reduce the frontal area of the bike and reduce drag. Aero performance is on the list but weight is the top priority here, so the tubes are mostly round section which saves weight over more convoluted designs. You won't find many curves either.
The frame is made in three sections. The head tube, top tube and down tube are fabricated together, as are the seat tube and bottom bracket. These slot into the chainstay section, which unusually are created as a monocoque. There's no metal insert so the stays are hollow right to the clamping surfaces, which apparently saves 34g. There's a double thickness of Carbon where the BB plugs into the chainstays which helps to stabilise the frame. The top tube starts out wide up by the head tube, slims in the middle section, then widens at seat tube junction. So there's better knee clearance in the middle of the tube and good torsional stiffness too.
Down tube is almost round all the way - for excellent torsional strength, good lateral strength and good aerodynamics (compared to rectangular tubes). Cannondale currently have a fixation with comparing their Supersix to one with rectangular tubes, it seems: wonder which bike they mean?
The frame is made from an underlying structure of BallisTec carbon (the stuff they use for MTBs and CX bikes). It's intermediate modulus; They could have got lighter and stiffer with high mod, but there's the risk of it snapping in a crash, Intermediate mod elongates more so it's more likely to survive a crash. Over the top of that structure they add high mod layers in certain areas. They use a very complex layup to add stiffness to the bottom bracket area. Fibres loop right around the BB shell, a technique they've borrowed from helicopter rotors.
A section of the seat tube - just below the end of the seat post – is made with the carbon fibres going at 70° and 45° rather than straight up and down. This allows some fore and aft movement in the seat tube, adding a bit more vertical compliance. The chainstays are squashed vertically to aid rear-end comfort whilst keeping everything nice and stiff. The main thing, though, is that the manufacturing process means they're 30%-40% lighter than before. One thing they talked about loads in the presentation is that this 'Micro suspension' – that's the new term for vertical compliance, fact fans – isn't mainly for comfort (although that's handy): it keeps the wheel in contact with the ground better, so it's faster. It's a performance feature: a compliant bike is an efficient bike.
Spec-wise, the sub-5kg Ultimate sports SRAM Red, Cannondale Hollowgram SL BB30 chainset, Zero G Gravitas brakes, DT Swiss RRC425F, RRC525R Carbon tubular wheels, USE Alien post and a Fizik saddle. There will also be a SuperSix EVO Team with SRAM Red shifters, mechs and brakes, and Mavic Cosmic Carbone SLR wheels. That one will weigh in at 6.4kg so presumably it comes with a free UCI-friendly lead weight to nudge it over the minimum weight limit. A Di2 build with Kysrium SLR wheels will also be available, as will a Dura-Ace model with Ksyrium SLs.
We don't have any info on pricing yet, but it's a 2012 model so don't expect to see one down your bike shop until the end of the year. The Liquigas team have got their sticky mitts on some though, and they'll be riding them in the Giro.-road.cc
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