If you like bikes to fit into nice, neat categories the last few years probably have you tearing your hair out.
Once upon a time there were mountain bikes, road bikes and in between a little category called cyclo-cross bikes (well, way back there were pretty much only road bikes, but that’s not relevant here). If you wanted to ride on the road, you’d buy a road bike, if you fancied thrashing through the woods you’d pick an MTB and if you wanted to take your road bike off road, you were either very optimistic or a total idiot, depending on your point of view.
But now, the spectrum is considerably fuller and the gaps between different bike genres have faded away. One of the most obvious examples of that is the Cannondale Slate.
Throughout their history Cannondale have repeatedly shown themselves to be unafraid of doing something a little different
Throughout their history Cannondale have repeatedly shown themselves to be a company who aren’t afraid of doing something a little different, and the Slate takes different to a whole new level.
The frame – smartformed 6069 aluminium alloy on the model shown – looks like it’s been taken from an endurance road bike and features the same SAVE technology in the rear stays as the Synapse, Cannondale’s endurance/Classics bike.
Geometry also leans towards the road with a longer top tube stretching out the riding position. But that’s where the road-specific features end.
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