Cannondale Slate

Cheshire Cat

My new Cannondale Slate, if ever there was a bike that divides opinion, it's this...I love it, great fun to ride, which is what bikes should be

Cannondale Slate by mapledocumentdesign, on Flickr

matt-h

Love the chainring

sloppyschleckonds

Think I'd point those shifters down a bit

luv2ride

I have to say I'd love to try one. Nice.

tlw1

I like it - reminds me of the old Cannondale mountain bikes

bobmcstuff

Really like the look of that but I'm not sure I could get on with the ratio gaps in that cassette...

1986sv

That is ace

bendertherobot

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

mrb123

One of these came past me the other way on the Kielder lakeside trail at the weekend. Looked great and absolutely made for that kind of terrain.

Cheshire Cat

Thanks for the comments; took it for a spin last Sunday, a mixed ride of 62 miles. On the road it comfortably cruises at 18/19mph, whilst the gaps in the gear ratios are bigger than on a 11x2 set-up you soon get accustomed to them. Off road the gearing felt just right.

Had the fork open the whole ride, didn't bother locking it out, it does bob when you get out of the saddle, but for seated riding it's not an issue. I can see it being a problem if I use it on a club ride, it's easy to forget that other riders are on a rigid fork with narrow tyres...what a Slate can comfortably ride over would be a rim breaker for a standard bike.

The tyres grip well on the road, and ok on dry off road, but they have no grip on a wet trail. And they are made from crepe paper, they puncture easily, thankfully some Schwalbe G One's have arrived and it will be tubeless by this weekend.

lone wheeler

Love it! Looks the nuts and I bet it's a lot of fun.

Matthewfalle

A friend bought one of these in a matt grey the other day and it's lovely - really really nice.

iPete

Very very nice, nearly purchased one as an ultimate commuter (there are optional trails on the ride) but couldn't find anywhere to test ride one. Bet is soaks up the road nicely.

Jakkel

I'm also riding a Slate (with rigid fork), for a half year now (4.000 km). I use it as a training bike on flat roads, perfect with the 1x11 gearing 44t and 11-25 cassette. I did a conversion to 700c wheels with 25 mm tires. The stock Panaracer tires are rubbisch and I can't found a benefit in the 42 mm slick 650b tires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-TH6-7HrF8

Matthewfalle

I love them but I'd love it even more without a sloping top tube.

daniel_b

That's REALLY nice, quite a steal as well here imho:

http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/cannondale-slate-ultegra.html#aCDxxCDM6SLTULSMO

meanredspider

I'm in the opinion that falls the other side of liking this. There's already quite some overlap between my Renegade ("Aventure") and my Reaction (XC) and I'm finding it hard to conceive of a situation where I'd need to Slate's suspension but having drop bars.

That said, I'm fully supportive of Cannondale offering such a thing - unlike some on here, I don't think the bike manufacturers can offer us too much choice - there's already plenty of almost identical bikes.

bendertherobot

I'm on the side of liking it but, for the life of me, I cannot see the purpose of the Apex model over, for example, Kinesis' new Tripster ATR

meanredspider

At an RRP of nearly £3k, it must also be one of the most expensive aluminium bikes on the market (cue posts of a load more).

Jakkel

In my opinion the Slate is an overpriced thing, it's pretty heavy and the more expensive ones are using the same heavy Mavic wheels, and the same alloy frame as the cheapest Apex1. Okay, they've got a Lefty. But also in my opinion that's a really useless thing for what you can use the Slate. But it's a unique and cool looking bike, a good job from the Cannondale marketing departement and that's why I bought him.

daniel_b

Jakkel wrote:

In my opinion the Slate is an overpriced thing, it's pretty heavy and the more expensive ones are using the same heavy Mavic wheels, and the same alloy frame as the cheapest Apex1. Okay, they've got a Lefty. But also in my opinion that's a really useless thing for what you can use the Slate. But it's a unique and cool looking bike, a good job from the Cannondale marketing departement and that's why I bought him.

I think that is it in a nutshell, it's different, and that will capture a fair few peoples imagination.

meanredspider

To be fair it's probably the perfect bike for the Scottish Central Belt where the roads are so dreadful, even big tubeless tyres aren't going to get the job done...!

luv2ride

Just sawTriton Cycles are doing 0% finance over 3 years on all Slate's, with variable deposits. Rigid Apex version can be had for just over £20 per month. Very tempting, if I hadn't just got my Solace....

Cheshire Cat

Cannondale Slate by mapledocumentdesign, on Flickr

An update on the Slate; first off, it still divides opinion, some folk think it's great, some folk hate it - without even throwing a leg over it and giving it a go.

Since getting it last November I have changed the stem for a 90mm Thompson, shorter by 10mm than the original, it has certainly made a difference to how the bike steers, just that bit sharper. The bars are now Salsa Cowbells, the 12 degree flare allows for wrist clearance when on the drops compared to standard road bars. Recently fitted a pair of WTB Resolute's (42c) plenty of clearance at the rear, they will be getting their first run out on Sunday (as an aside - they are standard fitting on 2018 Slates).

The 1 x 11 Force gearing has proven to be reliable and the ratios are just right for off-road jaunts, the fork has received its 100 hour service in April and came back with a change of oil and the lower leg replaced under warranty due to scoring. This surprised me as I didn't even realise something as wrong, TF Tuned carried out the work and turn around was 2 weeks, been problem free since. Would I get another should something happen to this one...you bet, still great fun to ride, still surprises people with its looks and is a great conversation starter at cafe stops.

luv2ride

Yeah, I would have loved one but I know of a local dealer whose had numerous warranty issues with the forks and wheels, so I decided against. Glad to hear you are still enjoying yours though.

cgfw201

I've just picked up a new Slate Apex 1, was £900 and too good a deal not to.

Plan is to use it for a mix of commute, gravel, cx racing and general off-road adventures.

Tyre wise, already got a flat on the standard panaracers it came with this morning.

From what I can see, the two main options at 650b 40mm or so are the Schwalbe G-One and the Surly Knard.

Any others I should be looking at?

graeme_s-2

I set the Panaracers up tubeless the day I got them before my first ride. No punctures yet.

cgfw201

Graeme_S wrote:

I set the Panaracers up tubeless the day I got them before my first ride. No punctures yet.

Cool. Want to do this on mine. World of tubeless is all new, how much of the adding layers of rim tape is needed on the wheels that come with the Slate? (Steps 1-8 in this article http://road.cc/content/feature/170617-h ... eless-tyre)

Assume that's all been done already?

graeme_s-2

I added no tape to mine.

Took the tyres off, took the inner tubes out.
Put in a pair of Stans valves.
Put the tyre back on.
Added Stans sealant through the valve using the Stans syringe, added a bit of soapy water round the rim/bead.
Inflated vigorously with a track pump.
Rolled the tyre around to get the inside coated with sealant.
Left over night and topped up with air the next morning.

Job done!

It’s my first tubeless set up, but I’m very impressed.

graeme_s-2

Also - I think your experience of finding the Panaracers with tubes puncture prone, and my experience of finding the tubelesss panaracers reasonably puncture resistant are both pretty common. I’d read lots of people talking about getting punctures (sometimes more than one) on their first rides, which is why I went straight to tubeless.

cgfw201

Cool. That's my evening sorted. Should be interesting.

Also, basically impossible to buy the right sized inner tubes for these wheels on the high street, so tubeless is pretty much only option.