2021 Cannondale Topstone Lefty!
It ain't no secret that Gravelution.com LOVES the Cannondale Topstone (that's why it's number one in our rankings). But when Cannondale sent out the new 2021 Topstone with a lefty fork, I'll admit, I was skeptical! But then I took it for a ride . . .
. . . but before we get into that, a few specifications:
Obviously, the game-changer here is the Lefty Oliver fork. Otherwise, it's very similar to the 2020 Cannondale Topstone that we loved so much. So Cannondale is giving you 30mm of travel in the Lefty Oliver to better balance the 30mm of travel they gave us last year with the rear Kingpin suspension. Seems logical. Right?
So like I was saying, I took it for a ride:
Obviously, the game-changer here is the Lefty Oliver fork. Otherwise, it's very similar to the 2020 Cannondale Topstone that we loved so much. So Cannondale is giving you 30mm of travel in the Lefty Oliver to better balance the 30mm of travel they gave us last year with the rear Kingpin suspension. Seems logical. Right?
So like I was saying, I took it for a ride:
1) Jeremy Ranch Road (North of Park City, UT)
20 miles
80% Gravel & 20% Road
80% Gravel & 20% Road
Jeremy Ranch Road is a great little gravel road that stretches from Jeremy Ranch to East Canyon Reservoir outside of Park City, Utah. If you're there early enough, you have good odds of running into a moose. So this beautiful July 1, 2020 morning, I took the new Topstone up there to see how it felt. I'll tell you this right out of the gates:
As GOOFY as the Lefty Oliver can appear, this thing REMOVES THE CHATTER FROM WASHBOARDS & BUMPS beautifully & efficiently!
Need I say more? End of review? Well, I'll say more. Look, I was hesitant to buy into the Lefty Fork on a gravel bike. It seems overcooked. And the last thing I want is a front fork wagging all over the place with my pedal stroke. This fork DOES NOT DO THAT. The 30mm is very finely tuned. It does not feel like riding a mountain bike fork on a gravel bike. Not at all! It's a subtle suspension. Even climbing out of the saddle without locking the Lefty fork felt surprisingly good! (Much better than a mountain bike fork when climbing out of the saddle). So there! I've said my peace! I absolutely loved how the Lefty Oliver felt on dirt roads. I didn't think I would. But I did.
Other first impressions:
Other first impressions:
What I Liked:
1) Fit. I love how the Topstone fits. The geometry feels natural to me, the reach is perfect, and the stack is ideal. I know this is a personal & subjective opinion, but it I have to state it nonetheless.
2) Fork. The Lefty Oliver Fork (as stated above) was far better than I ever imagined it could be. Well done Cannondale! |
What I Didn't Love:
1) Look. The look of the bike is a little . . . wonky. The 2021 version inherited that huge downtube ("Hey bro, is that an e-bike?").
2) 650b. I wish Cannondale had opted to put 700C wheels on the Large & X-Large. I just think the 650b looks stupid on such a large frame. |
More to come through summer and fall . . . and maybe even a few cyclocross races with that Lefty Oliver?!
2) Farmington Canyon to Bountiful via Skyline Drive
35 miles & 5,000 feet of elevation
90% Gravel & 10% Road
90% Gravel & 10% Road
This ride is a straight-up killer. Sooooo much elevation. You start on the floor of the Salt Lake Valley (5,000 feet) and climb to the top of Skyline Drive (10,000 feet) . . . all on a chalky dust gravel road. We had three gravel bikes with us on this ride: 1) The new Cannondale Topstone Lefty Oliver, 2) the Evil Chamois Hagar, and 3) the Salsa Warbird.
While all three bikes climbed beautifully (also subject to the fitness level of the rider), the real test came on the descent. From the photo below, you can see it was gonna be tough on the wrists . . . that's a long descent.
So we'd rank the "descendability" of the bikes on a rutted, dusty, washboardy, 5,000 foot descent as follows:
1) The Cannondale Topstone with the Oliver Lefty Fork is the clear winner here. That 30mm of travel did not make me feel like I was on a mountain bike (which would have felt even better), but once I jumped over to the Salsa Warbird (fully rigid), I realized just how comfortable that Topstone is on mountain descents. Add to that the fact that we were running 47c tires at about 38psi, and it was as comfortable of a ride as you could hope for on a gravel bike. WELL DONE CANNONDALE!
2) The Evil Chamois Hagar comes in second place here. Although fully rigid, the 50c tires and slacked out 'mountain bike' geometry made for a very good descent. This shouldn't be a surprise given that the Chamois Hagar was designed to "bring some shred to gravel."
3) Finally, the Salsa Warbird comes in third with a respectable descent, but it's just not as "gnarly" as the aforementioned two bikes. The Original Gangsta Warbird runs 40c tires (significantly less than the other bikes) and is made to be a straight-liner gravel race bike rather than to bomb down hairy mountain descents. Did it get down? You bet it did! Just fine. That said, it was just a little less comfortable than the Chamois Hagar, and that much more uncomfortable than the new Cannondale Topstone.
So, congrats again to Cannondale. They've nailed this bike.
1) The Cannondale Topstone with the Oliver Lefty Fork is the clear winner here. That 30mm of travel did not make me feel like I was on a mountain bike (which would have felt even better), but once I jumped over to the Salsa Warbird (fully rigid), I realized just how comfortable that Topstone is on mountain descents. Add to that the fact that we were running 47c tires at about 38psi, and it was as comfortable of a ride as you could hope for on a gravel bike. WELL DONE CANNONDALE!
2) The Evil Chamois Hagar comes in second place here. Although fully rigid, the 50c tires and slacked out 'mountain bike' geometry made for a very good descent. This shouldn't be a surprise given that the Chamois Hagar was designed to "bring some shred to gravel."
3) Finally, the Salsa Warbird comes in third with a respectable descent, but it's just not as "gnarly" as the aforementioned two bikes. The Original Gangsta Warbird runs 40c tires (significantly less than the other bikes) and is made to be a straight-liner gravel race bike rather than to bomb down hairy mountain descents. Did it get down? You bet it did! Just fine. That said, it was just a little less comfortable than the Chamois Hagar, and that much more uncomfortable than the new Cannondale Topstone.
So, congrats again to Cannondale. They've nailed this bike.
. . . and look how good the Lefty Oliver looks with some Wasatch Mountain dust on it!
3) Road to Wos (Park City, UT)
6 miles & 1,000 feet of elevation
100% Singletrack
100% Singletrack
Yes ma'am, we're still out riding this beautiful Cannondale Topstone with the Lefty Oliver fork through all of these wildfires (where we can).
This one was an odd one. I'd never ridden "Road to Wos" on a gravel bike (because it's one of my favorite mountain bike trails in the Wasatch). But I went for it. And the bike performed admirably. The trail isn't overly technical. Rather, it just winds through the pines north of Park City. The Lefty fork definitely made this bike perform better than your average reasonable gravel bike would have. But (no surprise), you still have to back off the speed on descents because the Oliver Lefty only provides 30mm of travel.
So was it fun? Sure, but given the choice, I'd take my mountain bike.
But was it doable? Yes, it was.
And did the 2021 Cannondale Topstone Lefty Oliver perform better on a mountain bike trail than say, the normal Cannondale Topstone gravel bike? Yes, it did.
This one was an odd one. I'd never ridden "Road to Wos" on a gravel bike (because it's one of my favorite mountain bike trails in the Wasatch). But I went for it. And the bike performed admirably. The trail isn't overly technical. Rather, it just winds through the pines north of Park City. The Lefty fork definitely made this bike perform better than your average reasonable gravel bike would have. But (no surprise), you still have to back off the speed on descents because the Oliver Lefty only provides 30mm of travel.
So was it fun? Sure, but given the choice, I'd take my mountain bike.
But was it doable? Yes, it was.
And did the 2021 Cannondale Topstone Lefty Oliver perform better on a mountain bike trail than say, the normal Cannondale Topstone gravel bike? Yes, it did.