Cannondale has introduced Slate, a wildly innovative and all-new platform that brings an entirely new dimension of hard-cornering, curb-hopping, dirt-shredding fun to the concept of ‘road riding’.
Designed to handle everything from fast-paced group road rides to rugged singletrack, Slate is a new kind of road bike, for a new kind of road riding.
“Slate seemed like a natural evolution to us,” said David Devine, Senior Product Manager at Cannondale. “We started thinking about a bike that we would want to ride when we didn’t know exactly what type of terrain we’d be getting into for the day. It was a case of bringing together all of the different things we love about riding to create something totally new.”
Slate’s 650bx42c tires have a nearly identical outer diameter and roll-out as normal 700x23c road tires. This means you get the rolling speed and agile handling of regular road wheels, and the unreal comfort, grip and float of high volume 42c tires, all in one package. Rider position is aggressive and performance-oriented so you can rail corners harder than you ever thought possible and have full confidence when ripping down pot-holed streets on the wrong side of town. Short chainstays provide the agility and quickness of a road bike, while a longer front-center and slacker head angle provides remarkable handling and stability, on road and off.
The Lefty Oliver fork is built and tuned specifically for Slate. With 30mm of travel and a unique MAP (multi-surface Air Preload) spring, it’s designed to provide support at the top of the travel to prevent “bobbing” while offering supple bump absorption. On-the-fly lockout and rebound adjustment streamlines the transition from pavement to dirt so you can easily go from pace-line to picking your line on sections of rocky single track.
The dramatically shaped seat and chain stays of the SmartFormed 6069 Alloy frame form Slate’s SAVE Plus+ Micro-Suspension, a system that offers superior tracking through the roughest surfaces, giving the rider full confidence when pitching Slate into choppy corners or when blasting down a rocky descent.
With its crazy blend of versatility and capability, it’s the bike you never knew you always wanted. It’s defining an entirely new way to think about “road-riding,” because on Slate, fun is the only mission.
Slate will be available in three different models beginning October, 2015.
Click here to see Slate in action and be sure to follow Cannondale on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Ron is the chief cook and bottlewasher at Bike World News, doing everything from website design to bike reviews.
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