Bike at Bedtime: check out Cannondale’s SuperSix Evo Carbon Disc 105

The SuperSix Evo is the lightweight road bike in Cannondale’s range, sitting alongside the aero SystemSix, although the latest incarnation comes with a bunch of features designed to reduce drag too.

Adding aero features to lightweight road bikes has been a huge trend over the past couple of years. Think about the latest versions of the Trek Emonda, Specialized Tarmac, and Giant TCR. Everyone’s been trying to reduce drag while also reducing – or at least not adding – weight.

Check out our review of the Cannondale SuperSix Evo Carbon Disc 105 2021 

The SuperSix Evo previously had an easily recognisable silhouette: slim round tubes, a horizontal top tube, and long seatstays, but that all changed with the platform’s 2019 redesign.

Cannondale brought in truncated aerofoil tube profiles designed to reduce drag, dropped the seatstays for improved comfort and aero efficiency, and made most of the hose/cable routing internal. There’s also an aero handlebar and stem system on some models, but these don’t feature on the bike pictured here.

To maintain the stiffness and low weight of the previous SuperSix while reducing drag, Cannondale developed a whole new set of tube shapes. The down tube, for example, is the same circumference as before, so the amount of material is the same, but the shape is very different to reduce drag.

Cannondale says that the changes add up to a huge improvement in efficiency: the equivalent of 30 watts at 30mph (48.3km/h) compared with the previous SuperSix Evo.

Most mid to high-end bikes launched recently have fully (or at least largely) internal cables and hoses but on the SuperSix Evo, the gear cables run externally between the ends of your handlebar tape and a plate at the top of the down tube.

If you go for a bike with Shimano Di2 electronic shifting, the wires are hidden under a cover on the underside of the stem.

Frame stiffness has always been a key feature of the SuperSix Evo and that remains. The SuperSix Evo also offers plenty of comfort for a bike that’s so focused on performance. Cannondale reckons the SAVE (Synapse Active Vibration Elimination) stays, an internal seat clamp and the HollowGram 27 KNOT seatpost improve compliance by 18% over the old SuperSix. Having reviewed the bike, we can certainly vouch for the fact that it won’t leave you feeling shaken up. This is one of its most distinctive – and surprising – features.

It was a gamble for Cannondale to update the SuperSix Evo so radically because the previous version was mega-popular, but it has paid off. The US brand was able to keep all the best bits and add extra aerodynamic efficiency.

www.cannondale.com