Big wheels, carbon and a big price tag. They’re two hardcore team issue hardtails, but which adds fun to your riding if you’re not racing?
Semi-slick tyres are drumming the frozen tractor tracks as loud as my heart is hammering under my heart rate strap. I sneak a look under my arm, and as I expect there’s a skinny Schwalbe tyre rattling along the other rut. That’s the only tyre I can see though and only when I do a full sit up, one hand off and swing round that I spot the rest of the pack ploughing along, heads down, hundreds of metres behind. I grin across at Ryan on the Cannondale and it’s clear he’s enjoying being reminded of just how good a 29er hardtail can be as I am.
When it comes to turning your wattage into maximum gains and gap on a relatively smooth full gas climb then a sub-20lb hardtail will always drop a full suspension bike however smart its shock lockout. Having raced both 650b and 29ers last year, the way the larger diameter wheels effectively shrink the stutter effect of rough terrain and stride nonchalantly away is a real mental and physical advantage.
While they’ve certainly smashed a mix of more conventional trail bikes on the opening climb today, are pure team issue machines like Whyte’s 29-C Team and Cannondale’s F-Si Carbon Team too race specific to be a riot for real riding?
Apart from the push button hydraulic lockouts that let us monster the last segment of Tarmac to the top, what advantages do their upside down RS-1 and single-legged Lefty forks provide apart from point and stare looks? Do the Cannondale’s uniquely integrated frame, wheel, cockpit and even cranks offer a real advantage over the more conventional Whyte? How cranks offer a real advantage over the more conventional Whyte? How different can carbon hardtails actually be and can you really engineer significant 'suspension' effect into a frame without pivots?
Old roads, new tricks
As we open the throttle to push the pace again along the Roman Road above Skipton the Accelerator Damper on the RockShox RS-1 fork means it's a firm feeling match to the chunky tubed Whyte frame even with the lockout off. There's enough float in the fatter Maxxis tyres to keep my teeth and pedalling rhythm intact across the mix of scree, cobbles and ice skimming underneath them.
Front wheel tracking is vague as I try and ride the ridges between the deepening ruts and glassy, suddenly silent puddles, so head up and power down is the best policy. Even though I'm getting hammered comprehensively from both ends of the bike I'm still enjoying life too much to throttle back and buddy up for the best bit. I've already battered over a big stretch of broken rock, a couple of decent water bars, some tight natural berms and a fair old root drop that could easily serve as a backdrop for a 'rad' photoshoot. I'm interested to see who catches up irst.
It's Ryan on the 'dale and I who swerve through the inal rooty, swoopy section and drop onto the cobbled and rutted run out ahead of Rich on the 6in travel Giant Reign. We share a smirk as it turns out Ben has flatted the tyre on his 650b 120mm travel Spark trying to hunt us down. That's deinitely a round one win for the race twins, and we make life suitably miserable for the rest of the crew as we cross town and climb towards the next off-road challenge.
Whyte out
As expected the climb towards the aptly named 'Nipple' is another chance for Ryan and I to grind out a bike advantage-shaped gap to Andy and Rich who would normally be right up in the mix. The solid feedback from the Whyte means I can just about hold traction on the mix of tundra-hard grass and patchy snow. The 69.5-degree head angle, relatively long chainstay geometry is well balanced between conident descending and planted climbing. I'm still at stalling point in the 42T dinner plate of the SRAM XX1 transmission as the inal pitch ramps up and a wheel suddenly appears in my peripheral. I do an immediate double take as I realize it's not Ryan, but local rider and Strava legend Kev on a fully rigid steel Genesis 29er, proving that all the hi-tech kit in the world can't beat higher capacity lungs and heart.
Down the steep far side slope, small steps on narrow twisty sheeptrack, snow obscuring ditches and big rock blocks are there to expose the lack of steering feel from the twist prone upside down structure of the RS-1 and thumping rear end of the Whyte. What I'm missing more than rear suspension is a dropper post and once the trail lattens out the Whyte is back into its stride pattern.
The snow is sparse enough to time hops over the blocks the RS-1 can't use its impressive fore/aft stiffness to punch through, and straight lining everything enduro-style gets around the woolly steering feel of the fork so I'm soon overhauling the tail enders who I've just let through the gate. As we hit the thaw run off I wish I'd installed the Crud Catcher Whyte's helpfully provided mounts for. Ryan and the 'dale are long gone and when we regroup at a gate he's reluctant to swap over bikes despite this being the agreed halfway point.
Down hill, up dale
It takes me just a couple of pedal strokes to see why Ryan didn't want to hand over the F-Si. As solid as the pedal to trail connection was on the Whyte, Cannondale's custom Si crank is noticeably stiffer underfoot than the carbon SRAM XXI item. Despite their accentuated profiling there's no noticeable wattage loss from the ultra-short SAVE stays either. The asymmetric Ai rear end shifts the whole rear 6mm sideways to centralise the rim on the hub and the wheel in the frame. Whether this really makes the wheel 60% stiffer as Cannondale claims we can't prove or disprove on a frozen farm track in the Dales. It certainly feeds raw power straight through to the benchmark ENVE carbon rims with a dramatic clarity that means the only thing twisting is my grin. While the actual difference in weight between Whyte and Cannondale was less than I expected it certainly feels more than 400g as we hit the first rise.
While both forks use the same hydraulic XLoc Sprint remote lockout there's a big difference as soon as you switch the lockout off. While the damper of the RS-1 stays stubbornly 'is it still locked?' firm over the small stuff the roller bearings and open damper of the Lefty leg are super supple, leaving it free to sniff out small bump traction like an airport spaniel.
The faceted shaft and tapered axle of the single leg are a lot more rigid rotationally than the axle anchored inverted legs of the RS-1 too. Add the super oversized one-piece stem and steerer and immediately I'm getting more accurate information about the traction levels of both tyre and trail surface and a much sharper blade to carve across off cambers. While the RS-1 needs spacers adding to stop excess dive the Lefty stroke is perfectly progressive from the start, using as much travel as it needs but never blowing through excessively and tripping up the relatively relaxed handling.
While the RS-1's issues mean the Lefty really is the surprise one-legged winner in this particular arse-kicking contest, my butt is definitely not getting punished through the Prologo saddle.
As we sneak down an ancient rocky drove way through Hetton, over a rock slab bridge and onto a cobbled section the final outstanding aspect of the F-Si becomes obvious. While flattened or thinned rear stays to reduce trail shock are pretty much compulsory these days, the flattened chainstays, super-thin seatstays, sudden toptube taper and super-skinny seat tube and seatpost of Cannondale's SAVE technology are genuinely next level. The way they erase chatter and suck the sting out of staccato rocks is no illusion either and not only does this improve comfort/ reduce fatigue for the rider it also glues the back wheel onto the ground to complete probably the most comprehensive and cohesive high velocity weapon I've ever ridden.
Rylstone cowboy
Unluckily for Ryan and the rest of the group the next section of trail couldn't be a better showcase of the F-Si's skills as the snaking climb of Rylstone Fell rears up ahead. With fork locked and Si crank powering into the torque happy Ai rear I hit the first steep section at the head of the pack. Snow and ice have exploded the surface into a mix of jagged crystal and jumbled rock that proves a perfect display of the compliant yet laser accurate and responsive double win of the Lefty and SAVE stay combination. Within a few metres the 'dale has stamped its authority on the day again as the other bikes stumble and stall, and while I'm redlining now, the minimal weight is pulling me further ahead with every pedal stroke.
Even when thick ice coats the trail in the shadow of a copse and my rear wheel slips on three strokes in a row there's enough tyre feedback, precision and stability to just squeeze the bike forward to find grip. When I should be having a heart attack half way it insists I click up a gear and dig deeper and when 'helpful' walkers leave the traditional 'stop for a rest' gate open for me the Cannondale doesn't care. Hitting the final two crux slopes without pause it doesn't seem to register it's clawing up snow and ice not rocky hardpack. It punches over the top of a climb I regularly screw up in perfect conditions with contemptuous ease.
Ryan is still second man up on the Whyte, but now Rich is all over his back wheel on the Reign, giving confirmation - if any were needed - that while the Whyte is a great bike in many ways, Cannondale really has created a carbon fibre Excalibur. It even treats the final 10km like an extended victory lap. I take on gate closing duties just so I can let it remorselessly claw its way back to the front of the pack like a Terminator just in time for the epic sweeping snow blown descent.
While other carbon race bikes we've ridden with similarly skinny tyres have been borderline uncontrollable on normal dirt, the F-Si even stays remarkably composed when we're spinning our top cog on sweeping hardpack snow corners.
There's enough vivid communication that 700mm flat bars feel ample for control and the short chainstays plus minimal ride height of the Lefty (the offset design means no deep fork crown between tyre and headtube) make for superb poise even when both tyres are drifting. I should be on my arse but I'm not even on the brakes. Any doubt that you can have serious fun on a race bike dissolves when Ryan screams into view as soon as I sit up to wait for a duelling partner.
We scream down the moor like some demented bobsleigh double act leaving the 26inchers and 650bs in our wake again, whatever travel they're packing.
Lefty and Whytey
If you've bought into the idea that you need at least 750mm of handlebar and 150mm of travel to go downhill quick then either of these bikes will set that straight. Yes, we missed dropper posts (but they could easily be retrofitted to either bike) and they need more skill/care to get through rockier sections or down a jumpy trail centre descent than a full suss bike. We guarantee you'll be surprised with just how fast you can blast along and down techy trails on a 29er hardtail, and they're in a different class on climbs. But what about the differences between the two bikes here?
Whyte's 29-C Team is a rock solid race chassis with confident base geometry, top spec SRAM stop and go gear plus lightweight tubeless carbon wheels that all translate easily to fast trail use. The RS-1 looks amazing, provides mud proof, race firm suspension and makes more financial sense on a complete bike. Soft steering can be unnerving though, which makes the Fox-forked, Shimano-equipped but still carbon-wheeled 29C-S look the wiser buy at 4500$.
While it hasn't always worked for the company, there's no doubt that Cannondale's unique integrated approach puts the F-Si in a different class here. The ultra-light frame is the smoothest hardtail race bike we've ridden, but still blisteringly power efficient through its Ai rear wheel. The Lefty fork with integrated stem/steerer is equally impressive up front and even the XX1 transmission is enhanced by the Si crank.
Given the 3000$ wheel spec it's not even excessively expensive in relative terms and the F-Si Carbon 2 uses the same frame/crank/stem but alloy Lefty and Stan's Ai wheels and SRAM X01 for 4500$, to provide most of the Team's performance for almost half price.
HISTORY OF INTEGRATION
While most mountain bikes have been a pick and mix parts selection on a stock frame some designers have always sought out an advantage by going bespoke.
The obvious first example was Yorkshire innovator Pace whose radical square tubed alloy 1989 RC100 bike had custom thru-axle Bullseye cranks and direct mount Magura hydraulic brakes. The single piece stem/fork steerer clamped straight into the fork crown like the Cannondale Lefty 2.0 fork here.
Shortly afterwards Cannondale introduced its Fatty Headshok forks with the suspension guts hidden in an oversized headtube, also introducing key Lefty components such as roller bearing fork sliders. Fellow fat alloy tube pioneers Klein used one-piece stem and bar Mission Control cockpits and a unique BB system in the 1990s too.
Whyte's first bike, the PRST-1, used a unique linkage fork as well as latch secured 'bobbin' axle extensions modelled on Honda race motorbike fixtures to secure the wheels in 1999. Cannondale's first Lefty appeared in the same year joining its oversized axle experiments that led to the BB30 open standard. The 15 year development of its unique fork hasn't been an altogether smooth story, but persistence seems to have paid off with the latest light, stiff and well controlled Lefty 2.0 Carbon XLR. Current Hollowgram Si cranks are stunning too.
WHYTE 29-C TEAM
TOPTUBE LENGTH 627mm
SEAT TUBE LENGTH 470mm
HEAD ANGLE 69.3°
SEAT ANGLE 72.8°
BB HEIGHT 304mm
CHAINSTAY LENGTH 438mm
WHEELBASE 1128mm
SIZES S, M (tested) L
WEIGHT 9.45kg (20.8lb)
FRAME Multi monocoque carbon
FORK RockShox RS-1, 100mm
WHEELS Whyte XC-209-Carbon rims, SRAM X.0 hubs
TYRES Maxxis Ikon 3C MaxxSpeed, 29x2.2in
CRANKS SRAM XX1 PF30 32T
GEARS SRAM XX1
BRAKES SRAM Guide RSC, 170/160mm rotors
OTHER STUFF Easton EC70 720mm flat bars and seatpost, Whyte custom 80mm stem, Prologo Custom X-Zero Ti saddle
PRICE 7500$
CANNONDALE F-SI
CARBON TEAM
TOPTUBE LENGTH 623mm
SEAT TUBE LENGTH 485mm
HEAD ANGLE 69.5°
SEAT ANGLE 73°
BB HEIGHT 308mm
CHAINSTAY LENGTH 429mm
WHEELBASE 1123mm
SIZES S, M, L (tested) XL
WEIGHT 9.04kg (19.9lb)
FRAME F-Si BallisTec Hi Mod Carbon
FORK Lefty 2.0 Carbon XLR 100 29in, 100mm travel
WHEELS ENVE Carbon Twenty9 XC Ai offset rims, Lefty SM front, DT Swiss 350 Ai offset rear hubs
TYRES Schwalbe Racing Ralph EVO Snakeskin, 29x2.1in
CRANKS Cannondale HollowGram Si XX1, 32T
GEARS SRAM XX1
BRAKES Avid XX, 180/160mm rotors
OTHER STUFF FSA K-Force Carbon 700mm flat bars, Cannondale OPI 2.0 stem, F-Si Save 2 seatpost, Prologo saddle