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Cannondale Synapse 5 review

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$1349

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While it might feel softer than some through your gloves and shorts, the Synapse still feels usefully sharp and responsive through the pedals

BikeRadar verdict

3.5 out of 5 stars

"Reasonably light, lively and enjoyable, with a bit of bounce and slur"

7 comments
Tue 7 Feb 2012, 4:00 pm GMTBy

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With Cannondale’s CAAD series bikes taking care of race business, the Synapse family is designed to deliver a smoother, more mileage-friendly ride; the 5 proves that doesn’t have to mean a dull and unresponsive experience.

  • Highs: Springy and comfortable frame, carbon fork, compact drop cockpit and upright position for long distance comfort, but still delivering decent power
  • Lows: Pedalling bounce can get intrusive when you’re really hammering, and handling is slightly twitchy
  • Buy if: You want a clean looking, comfortably sprung yet still usefully responsive and lively feeling bike for longer rides rather than head down hammering

The Synapse 5's tall, integrated-headset head tube sets up a naturally high-rise position regardless of how many spacers are in the stack. It’s also a relatively short reach frame to emphasise sat up comfort rather than flat out aero speed; the shallow drop compact bar means you can still get your head down if you want, but it’s still naturally a lover not a fighter.

The extensive tube working is visually obvious in the lacquered raw alloy finish and it’s equally obvious in the ride too. The tapering top ube, hourglassed, curved and double tapered SAVE seatstays and centrally flattened chainstays add significant amounts of spring and cushioning to the rear end, and the blade-to-round-section carbon fork legs do a similar job up front.

Even though it’s only a carbon wrap over an alloy shaft, the fact that the seatpost is a skinny 27.2mm diameter also adds flex. The result is a genuinely floated and comfortable ride that skims over rough sections and sucks the sting out of potholes. 

The 25mm Schwalbe tyres are both usefully surefooted for their price and increase comfort too, which helps confidence when cornering. Though the steering geometry is well balanced, the tall, non-tapered fork and ductile overall frame feel don’t produce pin sharp handling when you’re pushing it. 

While it might feel softer than some through your gloves and shorts, the Synapse still feels usefully sharp and responsive through the pedals. An average chassis and wheel weight mean it doesn’t leap out of the blocks like a CAAD10, but the BB30 bottom bracket and chunky stays transmit power well enough to keep it enjoyably competitive on summits or village sign sprints. 

The springy frame can create a pedal bounce effect if you’re really grunting a gear round, though, and we occasionally had to ‘break step’ to calm it down. Compact gears and a reasonably wide ratio cassette mean you’ll normally have a spinnable ratio to hand and the overall feel is lively, agile and encouraging.

This article was originally published in Cycling Plus magazine.

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User Reviews

There are 7 reviews on this post

Showing 1 - 7 of 7 comments

  • More absolutely awful (and therefore completely pointless) photos to accompany the reveiw.

    Ridiculous.

  • As above - more dreadful pics which do nothing to illustrate what is being written about. Can your photographer only see things from three-quarter front..??

  • I do wonder whether there is more photographic material in the magazines.

  • "It’s also a relatively short reach frame to emphasise sat up comfort rather than flat out aero speed"

    How so? On all of the frame sizes except the 61cm, the effective top tube length is the same, if not longer than the listed frame size. So it's not 'relatively short' at all.

    I ride a 58cm one of these, and it is 5mm longer than my previous Genesis Equilibrium 60cm, which coincidentally was described as having a 'relatively tall headtube' (or somesuch) despite being a full 5cm shorter than the equivalent-sized Synapse. A 170mm headtube on a 60cm bike is in no way 'tall'.

    Why does the road bike world seem to think that tall people need c10-20cm saddle-to-bar drops, but short people need 5cm+ bar-to-saddle rises? Perhaps they see tall people as orangutans and short people as tyrannosaurs.

  • The wheels are a bit heavy aren't they? Front Wheel Weight:1320 g - Rear Wheel Weight:1910 g

  • @Rob.M

    "The wheels are a bit heavy aren't they? Front Wheel Weight:1320 g - Rear Wheel Weight:1910 g"

    These will be full wheel weights including tyres, tubes, skewers and on the rear cassette. From memory, Luganos are just above 300g each, a casette is about 250g, skewers are about 60g and pre-installed tubes are likely to be about 100g each. Hope that helps.

  • I choose this as my first road bike for 20+ years having been riding a hybrid in the interim, primarily as a commuter.

    Although it is early days (I've only had it 6 weeks) I have to say I am very happy with the Synapse. I tried a couple of others including a CAAD8, and found the position on the Synapse far more comfortable.

    The acceleration seems excellent compared to my hybrid and although it is perhaps fractionally heavier and slower off the mark than the CAAD8, this is more than compensated for by the fact that I can whizz along country lanes for 2-3 hours without my back giving me any grief.

    I have not noticed the pedal bounce mentioned in the review although this might be due to the fact that my "hammering" is not up to that of the reviewer! I also find the handling much more sure than I had expected of a road bike.

    I got this bike because I saw other cyclists enjoying themselves on similar machines and remembered when I used to cycle for the fun of it. Even in the cold snap this bike has delivered on that hope. I can't wait to go out on it again.

    I am getting a bit of chain rub in the top 2-3 gears and the trimming function doesn't seem to help. Any ideas?

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Specification

Name:
Synapse 5 (12)
Built by:
Cannondale
Price:
$1349.00

Weight (kg):
9.15

Frame & Fork:

 
Frame Material:
Optimised 6061 aluminium
Frame Weight (g):
1690 g
Fork Model:
Synapse SAVe carbon
Fork Weight:
610 g
Headset Type:
Synapse SI

Geometry:

 
Seat Angle:
73 Degrees
Head Angle:
73.5 Degrees

Brakes:

 
Brakes Model:
Tektro R539, dual pivot

Transmission:

 
Cranks Model:
FSA Gossamer bb30 50/34, 172.5mm cranks
Bottom Bracket Model:
FSA BB30
Rear Derailleur Model:
Shimano 105, short cage
Front Derailleur Model:
Shimano 105
Shifters Model:
Shimano 105 STI
Chain Model:
KMC X10
Cassette:
Shimano Tiagra 4600 12-28

Wheels:

 
Front Wheel Weight:
1320 g
Rear Wheel Weight:
1910 g
Rims Model:
Shimano RS10, alloy hubs, loose ball and cone; spokes: 16 radial stainless front, 20 two-cross rear

Contact Points:

 
Saddle Model:
Cannondale Stage ergo
Seatpost Model:
Cannondale C3, carbon wrapped, 27.2x300mm
Stem Model:
Cannondale C3 10cm
Handlebar Model:
Cannondale C3 Compact 42cm

:

 
Wheelbase (cm):
100.9 cm
Bottom Bracket Height (cm):
26.8 cm
Chainstays (cm):
41.5 cm
Seat Tube (cm):
53 cm
Standover Height (cm):
80 cm
Top Tube (cm):
56 cm
Description:
Sizes: 48, 51, 54, 56, 58, 61cm, Schwalbe lugano 700x25 tyres

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