Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com team manager Stu Thorne has posted a sneak peek at his team's latest test rig: a special disc-equipped version of Cannondale's carbon fiber SuperX that he says Tim Johnson plans on testing at this weekend's upcoming UCI races in Boulder, Colorado.
We were unable to reach Cannondale at the time of writing and Thorne wouldn’t offer insight to the carbon engineering and design changes behind the new bike. However, he told BikeRadar that it appeared his team prototype was equipped with a different rear triangle to the stock SuperX – likely with a reinforced non-driveside seatstay and definitely with 135mm rear spacing to accommodate what is fast becoming the industry standard.
The lower disc post mount is anchored almost directly into the dropout while the upper post's bonded (and possibly riveted) base is built with lots of surface area to help evenly distribute load on the seatstay. Thorne told us that both front and rear mounts are sized for 140mm rotors with no adapters required.
Cannondale have developed an all-new fork just for this project that weighs just 450g and doesn't resemble anything off-the-shelf from competing companies. "They had it made for this is my understanding," Thorne said.
We don't have any additional details at the moment but rest assured that we'll soon have the full scoop – Thorne has promised BikeRadar an exclusive first look in the coming days so stay tuned for a more complete rundown of Cannondale's new steed.