The SuperX is BACK! Cannondale’s New Pure Gravel (And Cyclocross and Road) Racer for 2025

After a few years away, the SuperX is back. Cannondale‘s original cyclocross racing machine, has been reborn to be your weapon of choice for gravel, without forgetting its cyclocross roots. More aero, more compliance, more clearance, more integration, but less weight.

Cannondale has a long history with gravel. You could argue that the Silk Road models, an aluminum drop bar bike with a head shock meant to take the sting out of minor bumps and dampen road vibration, could be one of their first. The Slate was one of the first purpose built gravel bikes and incorporated a Lefty Oliver front shock to smooth things out on the front end. The Topstone later added compliance on both ends with the Kingpin rear suspension to smooth out the roughest roads. The SuperX found a home as a crossover bike, but was later replaced by the SuperSix Evo CX/SE.

The original SuperX was born in 2011. It was light, fast, and blended straight line speed, stability, and tight handling through the tape well. My 2013 Rival equipped bike was my first true cyclocross racer, and got me hooked. Over the years, it became lighter, added more clearance, disc brakes, and some other changes, but in 2021, the party looked like it was ending.

In 2022, Cannondale moved to the SuperSix Evo CX/SE. The idea was to simplify the product line under the SuperSix name and bring everything that made the SuperSix Evo so fast on the road, to gravel and cyclocross. Some of the aero was brought to the dirt models and the SE went on to set the fastest ever time at Unbound Gravel under EF Pro Cycling’s Lochlan Morton. But it was also a little confusing. The name was a little confusing through, and didn’t have the heritage of the SuperX name.

With the SuperX’s return, we have the name that saw CX National Championship wins and podiums under riders like Tim Johnson, Stephen Hyde, Curtis White, and Kaitie Antonneau, all racing on the historic Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld Racing Team. The new bike isn’t just a new name on an old design though. The new SuperX brings more aerodynamics, integration, compliance, and a lighter weight compared to the previous SuperSix Evo CX/SE. Let’s dive into it.

Aerodynamics and Integration

Whether you are on the road, gravel, or between the tapes, aerodynamics play a role in cycling at any speed. Think of it like you are in a pool up to your shoulders. To move forward, you need to push through the water, which puts resistance on you. While air isn’t as dense as water, you are still pushing through it to move forward, which causes resistance.

The new SuperX shares many of the same shapes as the current SuperSix Evo, and adapts it for life in the dirt. In place of deep aero shaped tubes, Cannondale uses Kamm Tail down and seat tubes provide an aerodynamic shape with a flat back design to reduce side profiles, versus the round tube shapes from the old SuperX. The fork has a Delta Steerer design that allows for all wires and hoses to route internally through the frame to keep them out of the wind. The Lab71 version uses Cannondale’s SystemBar R-One one piece bar/stem, while other versions use a Vision Trimax Aero Alloy bar and Cannondale’s C1 Conceal alloy stem.

Integration goes further than just hiding the cables though. There is an integrated mount for a top tube bag molded into the top tube. When not using a bag, you can use a cover to keep it smooth and protected from dirt and mud.

Comfort

As gravel has continued to evolve, brands have gone many different directions to try and smooth out the bumps, chatter, and vibrations that riders feel. Some have gone the suspension path, like the Cannondale Slate and Topstone, but this adds weight and some complexity that not everyone wants when it comes to a race bike. For the SuperX, Cannondale built flex zones into the top tube, seat tube, and rear stays to allow the bike to soak up some of the vibration from the road. One of the places this is most apparent is towards the bottom of the seat tube, just above the bottom bracket. The tube has a bit of a cut out for rear tire clearance, but it also thins and flattens to become a flex zone where it curves from a slacker angle to almost vertical right above the bottom bracket. The seat tube is also D shaped versus a round tube, adding a little compliance.

Under the paint, you’ll find Cannondale’s Proportional Response carbon. Essentially, it means that Cannondale uses a custom lay up of different moduli carbon in precisely laid orientations for each size to tune it specifically for each size. This allows them to tune the stiffness and compliance all throughout the bike to ensure you have what you want, where you want it to make it responsive, light, comfortable, and fast.

Additionally, the SuperX can handle up to a 48mm tire in the rear and a 51mm in the front, while still allowing for 4mm of clearance on either side. That allows you to run some massive tires at low pressures for comfort and tons of grip.

So far, I’ve mainly been focusing on gravel, but as a CX racer, there are some additional advantages. That flex zone on the top tube, it’s also a nice flat tube that makes it comfortable to shoulder the bike when running. And when it comes to tires, when you put some 33mm’s on the SuperX, you’ll have huge amounts of clearance for the nastiest days. Don’t forget the seat post too. Races can be lost when you crash and maybe your seat post rotates, forcing you to whack it back into place, or run to get your pit bike. While it does mean you have to run a somewhat proprietary seat post (used on the SuperSix Evo Gen 3 and CAAD13), it won’t twist in a crash.

Versatility

I touched on a few things above for CX, but gravel bikes in general can be very versatile bikes. The SuperX, with its aerodynamic shaping and compliance, can also make a great endurance road bike with some of the wider road tires coming out, like the Pirelli PZero Race TLR 700x40mm tires. It would even make a good bike to head over to your local training road race. As we did with Project OneBike, you can swap chainrings, chains, and a different wheelset, and you’ve got higher top end speed for the road. The frame is 1x and 2x compatible with a removable hanger for a sleek look when running 1x.

Builds

The SuperX will be available in three full bikes and one frameset option.

The Lab 71 SuperX is the top of the range, using Cannondale’s Series 0 carbon. This is a high modulus carbon that allows Cannondale to use less carbon to achieve the same strength and stiffness, while keeping weight down. A painted Lab71 frame in size 56cm weighs under 900g. The build includes SRAM Red XPLR AXS wireless 1×13-speed drivetrain and flat mount hydraulic disc brakes. As mentioned earlier, it includes the integrated SystemBar R-One cockpit with Fizik rounding out the build with their Tempo Bondcush 3mm thick bar tape and Vento Antares 00 carbon rail saddle. The seat post is Cannondale’s C1 Aero 27 carbon, which is SmartSense compatible and comes as a 0 offset for the 46cm size, and 20mm offset for all others. The Lab71 gets a Reserve 40/44 wheelset built up with DT Swiss 180 hubs and Sapim CX-Ray aero spokes, paired with Vittorial Terreno T50 tires in 700x40mm. – 7.4kg/16.3lb – $15,000

The Lab71 is also available in frame only, which includes the fork and seat post. – $5,500

The SuperX 2 steps down to Cannondale’s lower level carbon. I hate calling it that, but it’s just a step down from their top of the line Series 0 carbon. Shifting and braking are handled by a Shimano GRX825 Di2 2×12 groupset. The cockpit changes to the Vision Trimax Aero Alloy bars with Cannondale’s C1 Conceal stem and the same seat post, but changes to Cannondale bar tape and a Prologo Dimension AGX T4.0 saddle. The wheelset uses the same Reserve 40/44 rims, but drops down to a DT Swiss 370 hub with Sapim CX-Delta spokes and the same Vittoria tires. – 8.6kg/18.9lb – $6,800

The SuperX 3 is the same frame as the 2, but includes a more economical build. The Shimano GRX drivetrain goes mechanical with RX820, a DT Swiss G1800 wheelset, and a Cannondale cockpit with Prologo Dimension AGX STN saddle. – 9.1kg/20lb – $4,200

All SuperX models will be available in 46, 51, 54, 56, 58, and 61cm sizes.

The new 2025 Cannondale SuperX is available now at your local Cannondale dealers and online at Cannondale.com.