Cannondale 2010 Trail SL4 - dog or a fox ?

StewartD

May have made a mistake.....but could do with some advice...

Was wanting to get back into the saddle after a 10 year break and recently impulse bought a Cannondale Trail SL4. Didn't have time to test and once I had a chance to pick it up, couldn't believe the weight of this thing.

Bought the large, am 6ft and about 11 stone, and fully realise that the spec is not up to much but don't know whether if I was to change the forks, cockpit, wheels etc I'd actually get a much lighter bike with this 6061 frame. Don't get me wrong, the ride is stiff and smooth but I'm constantly aware of the weight of this thing.

I'm not going to be riding in competitions but live half way up a mountain in Switzerland so I need something thats solid, runs quick and is light for all the uphills. When I last rode I had a Gary Fisher CR7 (10 years ago..maybe) and I'm sure that things were much lighter then - I just assumed that by getting an aluminium bike from cannondale (a make I'd always longed for) I'd get something at least as light with the advances in production.

So, any tips on whether I should try and flog this while its in good condition and start from scratch or keep with it and make it a dream would be much appreciated.

supersonic

It is standard for the course at that money - probably a bit lighter than others and always light frames are Cannondales. Remember the frame acounts for about just 1/7th the weight of the bike.

Tyres and tubes are an easy way to lose some weight, but after this the cost wil rise a lot.

What is your budget to make your changes? How much does it actually weigh?

StewartD

Not sure exactly for the weight - haven't had a chance to get anywhere near something large enough to hang it off and the bike shops here are a bit of a struggle.

Your point about the frame's weight as a proportion of the total sounds promising though ! Fact is its a comfortable ride and I'd feel a bit bad about binning what could be a great bike if I could salvage a much lighter option out of it.

Budget isn't an issue really (over time....) but there would have to be a balance against buying kit that is too delicate, finicky etc. Am not interested in thrashing it or entering races so don't really see the point in getting lots of carbon bits say, just much lighter good kit.

I figure the forks, drivetrain, seat and wheels are going to be options so any ideas would be great.

Thanks a lot for the reply !

Stewart

supersonic

You need to weigh the forks and see what they come to - A Reba should be lighter and a better performer though.

Andy

The Trail SL frames are nicely made and with an educated guess based purely on looking at the thing, I'd say not too heavy. I believe the forks are pretty heavy on them so could save plenty of weight there. Only thing you need to be careful of is Cannondales run 1.5inch compatible headtubes and those forks are 1.5inch steerers so any new forks would need a new headset unless you get another 1.5inch steerer fork which arent hugely common.

StewartD

Thanks both - the coil fork sounds a good place to start trying to lighten the load then. As far as the headset goes, I figured it might be awkward as the website talked about a custom fork so will look to upgrade to something tasty. Have seen some beautiful 1.5 Chris King sets here so fingers crossed theres a way to make it all compatible. Figure the wheels after that for a bit more lightening.

Cheers again !

Stewart

lumopix

how is your fork update? are you still done? i asked RST for the weight of the first coil and it is only 1990 gramms. i just bougt schwalbe "sammy slick" tires, they are only 490 gramms vs 690 gramms hutchinson (400 gr. less).

but i really like to ride my trail sl 4 -- and it is so much comfortable compared with my 1994er scott CroMo MTB

best regard
jan