David Devine, Cannondale product manager, on Cannondale Slate
‘When we started working on Slate about three years ago, “gravel” was just about emerging. But then it was really just a lot of 29er mountain bikes with drop bars and slightly skinnier tyres - kinda quirky and a bit “out there”. There certainly wasn’t this direct crossover to cross bikes or road bikes that we seem to have now.’
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‘[Where I ride] you’re out on a road bike and of course you’re going to hit dirt at some points on the ride, so we’ve been riding “gravel” long before anyone ever said, “Oh, do we need a gravel bike to do this?” So, with Slate I definitely would not say that we set out to make a ‘gravel bike’. We set out to make a road bike that was just fun. It’s merely opportune that this happened at the same time as the boom for gravel bikes, but we’re not going to say this is a gravel bike.'
‘Sure it’s a possibility to make a gravel bike, with geometry that’s taller front end and shorter reach, but [I think] what you really want is a bike that rides more like a road bike when you want it, which is probably more of the time, but then still handles gravel better. That’s what the Slate is about. It might have a suspension fork and wide tyres but it’s a road bike at heart. The thing is our industry does like its segmentation. Even now though I would be really surprised to hear someone walk into a shop and say, “Hi, I’m here to buy a gravel bike.” It’s great though that people that are more curious with their riding.’
30/06/2015
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Well the speculation is over. We’ve got a hands-on preview of the new Cannondale Slate and we can reveal lots about the new gravel bike. First up the frame is definitely aluminium with internal cable routing. The Slate frame looks similar to the new CAAD12 but it’s clearly oversized in places to suit the extra abuse the adventure bike will take. This is most obvious at the oversized headtube – it appears to be 44mm to cope with the stresses of the Lefty Oliver suspension fork.
The frame has fittings for Shimano’s new FlatMount hydraulic calipers although interestingly the fork remains PostMount. The aluminium chainstays and seatstays have been heavily profiled to absorb as much road vibration as possible. There are also eyelets on the dropouts and on the seatstays so it appears like the Slate will accept a rack. The Slate frame is also definitely BB30.
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The inclusion of the Ultegra Hydraulic groupset is interesting, as we’ve only seen it with SRAM groupsets in the teaser videos. As this has a different paint finish to the models in the teaser videos we’re assuming the Slate will be available in a range of different specs. Cannondale 650B wheels and Maxxis Detonator tyres round out the build.
Update - 26/06/15
Cannondale have released a third video of their Slate gravel bike with more riding and showing us better details of the bike. This is clearly a finished production model they're thrashing around here and it gives us a first proper look at the Olive green paintjob. It's obvious from the video that it's going to be made from aluminium but a carbon bike may be in the works in the future. The hydraulic SRAM groupset complements the bike perfectly and the bike looks like heaps of fun. We can't wait to try it.
Turns out the big launch is for a new SuperSix and a CAAD12 but we're hoping to get our hands on a model soon. Expected availability for the Slate is Autumn 2015.
[Previous news - 23/06/15]
Cannondale teased us with news of a new gravel bike a few weeks ago by releasing a video featuring Tim Johnson and David Devine trashing the bike around some gravel trails. Cannondale have now released a second video that gives us a bit more info about the Slate.
First up: the name. They’ve come up with a new idea of a road bike and wiped the slate clean. Get it? Slate… One of the big leaps away from current road bikes is the move to 650B wheels. 650B wheels are all the rage in mountain bikes now as they sit between 26” (which are now all but extinct) and 29”. When paired with 42mm tyres, the outside diameter is the same as a 700c wheel shod with 22mm tyres. This means you have no penalty from the smaller wheel size but you do have loads more comfort due to the increased tyre volume.
The fork is a new model of Cannondale’s Lefty but with a more road friendly 30mm of travel. The Lefty fork is something of great debate amongst mountain bikers but it’s widely considered to be amongst the stiffest mountain bike forks available. The Slate matches this fork with a 71.5 degree head angle (giving a 66.3mm rake) and 405mm chainstays for a 1015mm wheelbase.
It’s looking like the Slate will be aluminium only and will be fitted with disc brakes – one model in the video is fitted with cable discs and one with hydraulic discs suggesting different spec levels and also frame versatility. We’ve currently got a CAAD10 disc in the office (review here: Cannondale CAAD10 Rival disc review) and the tubing profiles don’t look completely dissimilar so we can make a few guesses on how the bike will ride. The rear end will apparently be 12x142mm thru-axle dropouts.