Cannondale Scalpel is making it’s mark!
The all new Cannondale Scalpel under spots 1 & 3 on the podium at the opening round of the 2024 XC Mountain Bike World Cup at the end of April in Brazil! A very big opening in 2024 for the Cannondale Factory Racing Team, racing on the new Cannondale Scalpel XC dual suspension bikes. Riders Simon Andreassen (Denmark) and Alan Hatherly (S. Africa) lit up race #1 for the season and took out the favorites to win spots 1 & 3 on the podium. Read the story here
XC Racing is where it all happens
The Cross Country racing scene is the pointy end of mountain biking, where new features & technology show up first before we mortals get as much as a sniff of it. Performance in suspension, linkage design, materials, tyre technology, and geometry are all tried out first under the world’s best racers, much like Formula 1, before manufacturers decide what and how these features make it to the models we can buy for ourselves. And cycling is one of the very few industries where we can own and ride the exact same rigs that the professionals ride, often within months of seeing them appear in the pro ranks.
The All New Scalpel 2024
The new Scalpel has a few notable changes for 2024 and just released in March 2024. The geometry has evolved to be able to handle more technical terrain at speed but also climb the steepest of sections (watch the video of Round 1 highlights and check out the doubles, obstacles, and overall course technicality). They also introduced FlexPivot, replacing the rear pivot with a flexible, flat carbon/fiberglass blade allows the rear axle to push slightly backwards as the suspension absorbs bumps, which gives the bike better braking over rough terrain and better pedal efficiency, but also saves a heap of weight on the frame. All of them have dropper posts now, which aid the rider in lowering their center of gravity while descending, but also it's just safer – a huge upgrade in my opinion. More people will want one than not, so for those who see it as a weight penalty, I see it as the ability to go faster, over more sections of the course.
No More Brain or Horst link on the Specialized Epic?
The Scalpel has always been in and around the top of the XC podium, and Cannondale have had a host of worthwhile competitors in XC Racing over the decades, most notably the Specialized Epic. For 2024 the Epic v8.0 has foregone the Brain motion-activated damping system and horst link pivot that they have showcased on these models since 2003, shouting from the highest mountains about how superior these features make their bikes. This big shift in their bike’s evolution shows that the modern materials advancements, geometry, and suspension technology has surpassed the need for clunky and heavy suspension features. Simple can be better, which I believe is evidenced in features like the FlexPivot from Cannondale. Elegant, effective, simple, and beautiful at the same time.
We're looking forward to seeing these riders and their global counterparts in local racing excel on these new bikes in 2024 and beyond as Cannondale continue to push this category with some of the best minds in the mountain biking business!
Check out the models available, here in Australia, arriving June/July 2024
