2022 Cannondale Synapse

[si_c]

Is this the most sensible bike released by a major manufacturer in a while?

Integrated lights, Threaded Bottom Bracket, Mudguard mounts.

This ticks so many boxes for me it's surprising. I'd buy one, but my Kinesis already has all this.

 

[fair weather cyclist]

I'm only going to say 1 thing: tiagra equipped model at £2,400

 

[Twilkes]

There is a GCN video about it today and it's the most blatant puff piece they've done so far. Lots of good decisions from Cannondale including threaded BB (same on new Optimo so they've basically finally admitted that BB30 was a pile of mince) but the integrated lights etc will probably be wasted on most people like most proprietary tech, and if that price is correct it's a nonsense. It feels like when buggy manufacturers market buggies using 'grandparent prices', because they know grandparents will be happy to fork out £1k for a baby's buggy travel system; this new Synapse is aimed at a 'lifestyle' cyclist who has spare cash and probably buys Rapha without even considering that there are other clothes out there that do the job just as well at half the price.

The new Optimo is still around £1250 for the 105 model, I don't know how they can justify charging almost twice as much for a Tiagra bike.

(and for all the marketing bluster, the Tiagra version doesn't even come with SmartSense!)

 

[All uphill]

"Sensible" would have mudguards and rack in my mind, and cost less than £1000.

Clearly not aimed at people like me, and that's fine

 

[Sittingduck]

I love dales but don’t want a bike with integrated lights thanks

 

[Peter Salt]

No, 'sensible' is most definitely not the word. 60% of that RRP can get you a 105 equipped bike or in some cases a previous gen Ultegra.

 

[PaulSB]

I've answered "no" because I don't feel "sensible" is a description which fits this or for that matter any bike. Like the OP I have a Kinesis, mine is the ATRV3, which ticks many boxes for me - winter, gravel, touring and commuting - the commute I did means a bike would be secure. "Adaptable" "versatile" "all-rounder" all possibilities but I don't think "sensible" works.

I love the idea of integrated lights but wonder if this restricts choice of saddle, bars etc. I don't see why it would be wasted on people.

The price comparison with a buggy system doesn't work. My son was given one by the other grandparent. A fantastic bit of kit. Pram, buggy, two different car seat styles, quality removable wheels, large luggage tray, easily reassembled, packs down small enough to fit a Fiat 500! I believe it cost £750 which considering it covers all bases and easily switches between three different families, their lifestyles and four cars is both practical and good value. I'd say this is a sensible, but practical a better description, idea.

I associate Cannondale Synapse with being good quality bikes at affordable prices. If I was looking at a Synapse I'd expect to pay £1500 for a good value bike so this seems very expensive to me and would send me looking elsewhere.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good morning,

I went no, the bike industry reminds me of the mainstream Hi-Fi industry in the 1980s and 1990s.

The enthusiast's market went for higher and higher prices, weird tech such as directional speaker cabling and denying that CDs were anywhere near as good as a Linn/Naim setup. But these were all sold in expensive stores in demo rooms where you were made to feel special not a crowded shop with indifferent staff or online.

The mainstream market started buying midi systems from Argos etc for £399, then £299, then £199, then £99, remember rack systems, HiFi only shops.

But you can still buy an LP12/Gyrodec/Rega turntable today, the entry level model is around £3,450 and that is definitely considered entry level. Yet brands such as Panasonic, JVC, Akai, Sony, Aiwa, Technics, Pioneer etc are long gone from the mainstream audio market.

The market moved on and the Japanese makers missed the changes, we could all be listening to expensive HiFis with iPods/Android phones as the source, instead many people under 30 have never heard a proper hi-fi system.

The HiFi magazine market was just like the current bike mags (on line mags now) where the reviews generally talk nonsense about identical products. Again there is a but, Chris Frankland used to work for a mainstream magazine packed with adverts started his own magazine with the idea of "telling the truth" and the market didn't want that sort of publication.

Although side by side I can tell the difference between, a steel framed bike with Shimano 600, an aluminium/carbon frame with Claris and a full carbon bike with Di2, excluding STI and Di2 the differences don't matter to me as all three bikes are far better than me.

Bye

Ian

 

[Twilkes]

I love the idea of integrated lights but wonder if this restricts choice of saddle, bars etc. I don't see why it would be wasted on people.

The price comparison with a buggy system doesn't work. My son was given one by the other grandparent. A fantastic bit of kit. Pram, buggy, two different car seat styles, quality removable wheels, large luggage tray, easily reassembled, packs down small enough to fit a Fiat 500! I believe it cost £750 which considering it covers all bases and easily switches between three different families, their lifestyles and four cars is both practical and good value. I'd say this is a sensible idea.

It would be wasted on a lot of people for the reasons you gave, plus more - you can't attach a bracketed saddle bag and would struggle to fit a strapped saddle bag (on an 'endurance' bike!), you don't get much flexibility in how you can set up your bar kit e.g. bar bags, GPS unit, you don't get to choose which lights to have and the front light looks particularly poor, on the higher end models you get the Varia traffic alert as a compulsory item which most people have managed for decades without and which very few people would buy out of choice and for my riding would be constantly going off so what's the point, you get an ugly battery on the downtube which has limited capacity and likely won't be cheap to replace if/when it goes wrong. It's speccing something that is not required and isn't what most people would choose.

^^ Our buggy system did all that and cost £400 - in some shops there were few if any at this price and it very quickly crept up to £1k+, the price of a carbon 105 bike. But because it's a thing that grandparents often buy the market supports those high prices. It's a lifestyle thing, which is what this new Synapse feels like.

 

[Venod]

Integrated lights and safety features are a good idea for a cheap commuter, but not for me, I have a Synapse, it's a brilliant bike, it has none of the added features but I could add them at a cost, IMO they should not have added lights and radar, and kept the price lower, I think they have made a big mistake with this.

 

[Cycleops]

Just one question for the OP. Does the word ‘sensible’ equate with boring? Who wants to be Captain Sensible? Maybe if you’re a Guardian reader.
The trouble with anything designed by a committee or focus group, which this quite clearly has, with the idea of being ‘all things to all men’ it never quite hits the spot for many. Witness the comments above.

 

[T4tomo]

massively overpriced, boring colour scheme, ugly battery case in a silly place that is going to get soaked on every wet ride.

 

[figbat]

I saw the announcement about this. I was initially impressed by the shiny new gadget, but then I saw you get an app to work with your bike and I thought "who needs an app for a bike?". Then I thought more about the lights and radar and thought I'd rather make my own choices about those, then I saw the price, then I scrolled on to the next item.

 

[fair weather cyclist]

I've been thinking about this bike and I'm still struggling to understand who the target user would be...

 

[dan_bo]

Introducing the bike equivalent of the Vauxhall Mokka. Tragic.

And I usually like Cannondale stuff.