Cannondale Bad Habit 1 review: an agile, playful enduro bike that excels in technical terrain, but there's an upgrade I'd make 

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Cannondale’s Bad Habit has seen major success thanks to Ella Conolly on the Enduro World Cup circuit and proves you don’t need masses of suspension travel or the slackest, longest geometry to make a bike capable of winning. 

However, Cannondale hasn’t just gone down the longer, slacker route with the Bad Habit. The angles may look reserved compared to other dedicated enduro bikes and the travel numbers might not be as lofty, but it works really well on the trail. 

The Bad Habit uses its 155mm of rear-wheel travel incredibly well and seems happy ripping down rowdy enduro-style tracks at speed. But thanks to the geometry and suspension tune, it retains a lively, agile feel other enduro bikes lack when ridden on tighter tech or mellower trails. 

The geometry comes with some drawbacks though, and the shorter rear centre might not suit every riding style or, more importantly, all rider heights. 

Solid all-rounder 

With enduro riding covering the widest range of trails going (everything from trail centres through to full-on downhill tracks), we ask a lot of these bikes. Compromise is key, and the Bad Habit does an excellent job of balancing those requirements, never giving too much away in terms of performance in any one area. 

On the climbs, the only thing that’ll really slow you down is the soft-compound Continental tyres in the enduro casing, as the back end of the bike remains calm and stable while you sit, spinning the pedals. There’s also a decent amount of adjustment on the RockShox Vivid Air Ultimate shock, which helps. I ended up with the low-speed compression damper dial set to the mid position, which felt like the best compromise. 

The steep seat tube angle, which sits close to 78 degrees, props you nice and upright over the bottom bracket. That’s important in this case because the Bad Habit’s effective chainstay length is quite short at 430mm on a size medium (for context, the Santa Cruz Nomad’s is 442mm in an equivalent size in the ‘Lo’ flip-chip setting).

A slacker seat tube would shift your weight too far back towards the rear wheel axle, which is tucked in further than on many other enduro machines, making it tougher to keep the front wheel from lifting.  

It was only on the steepest inclines (the ones where you can just about pedal up rather than push) that I felt I needed to lower my chest towards the bar to keep the front end down and the tyre tracking my chosen line.

Dropping the stem a little lower on the fork’s steerer helped with this – the Bad Habit’s stack is quite tall at 641mm (6mm higher than the Nomad), so it’s worth playing around with bar height before cutting the fork steerer down. 

Although the chainstays grow on the two larger frame sizes, it’s only by 5mm, meaning taller riders may find their front wheel lifting more easily on steeper ascents.  

Compact but capable 

Cannondale hasn’t gone super-slack with the Bad Habit’s head angle, opting to keep it at 64 degrees, which is steeper than a lot of similarly intended bikes. 

Coupled with the shorter back end, it’s no surprise that the Bad Habit feels more fun and lively when the trails have more flow and less gradient. 

Considering this is very much the sort of terrain where enduro bikes can feel a little dull, the Bad Habit doesn’t feel like a handful. Instead, I found myself popping manuals over rollers and out of turns as well as hopping off every feature I could find.

It’s not as light or quite as nimble as my Specialized Stumpjumper 15 Expert long-termer, but it’s easy enough to chuck around. 

It helps that the suspension platform offers something to push against. There’s a supple initial touch as the bike sinks into its travel, but push down through the pedals and the back end doesn’t collapse in on itself and easily use up that 155mm of travel. Instead, the bike supports you when you load it, enabling you to work the trail and maintain your speed, rather than just absorbing your energy. 

Spec choice comes in to play here too, with Cannondale opting for soft-compound Continental tyres front and rear, rather than just the Super Soft compound up front, which would roll more slowly. That additional rolling speed comes at a cost, but more on that later.

There's also the lighter RockShox Lyrik Ultimate fork to consider, rather than the burlier ZEB you’d see most enduro bikes come with as standard, helping to keep the overall weight down.

The bike excels when things get tight and technical, where the Bad Habit feels as though it has the edge over longer and slacker enduro rigs.

Drop into something tricky with awkwardly spaced turns and a trail speed that yo-yos continuously, and you’ll be impressed by just how confident the Bad Habit feels.

Riding a trail for the first time, I was convinced I’d overcooked it into two roughed-up linked turns. Instead, I found myself slingshotting between the corners faster than my head could compute, thanks to that snappy handling and blistering agility. Rapid changes of direction in tricky tech is where this bike excels. 

Rough and tumble 

Bomb into a proper downhill and the Bad Habit doesn’t shy away when things start getting wild. 

While the ride isn’t quite the same as a pillowy soft 180mm-travel bike, the Bad Habit feels as though it has more than 155mm on tap when things start to get particularly rowdy.  

Through braking bumps, root spreads or rock gardens, where bump edges are clearly defined and harsh, impacts feel nicely muted rather than swallowed entirely, but the feedback doesn’t cause discomfort or make you veer from your line.  

I found opening up the high-speed compression damping dial on the shock upped comfort somewhat, but you’ll need a stubby hex key for this due to where the dial is positioned.  

On faster, high-speed sections of trail, the Bad Habit feels easy to ride fast, but its geometry requires a more dynamic riding style to keep the tyres gripping. Since this isn’t a low-slung, raked-out bruiser of a bike, you’ll need to shift your weight to where it’s needed if you want to get the most out of it – riding passively doesn’t work as well.

Compared to the Nomad, although the differences in geometry may appear small, they make a difference on the trail. The higher stack, steeper head angle and shorter back end mean the Bad Habit feels a little taller and easier to destabilise, which probably explains why it’s so good on technical trails. But it can't quite match the stability of a longer bike such as the Nomad.

What the Bad Habit needs is a stickier front tyre, especially if you’re going to ride it in the wet. The soft version of the Kryptotal Front works well enough in dry conditions, but it lacks the sure-footed grip of the super-soft alternative, even if that rolls a little slower. 

While I like the feel of the TRP brakes, they can’t match the outright power of the SRAM Mavens, which come on the cheaper Bad Habit 2. 

Overall, the Bad Habit might not have quite the same sure-footed feeling at the highest speeds as some enduro bikes, but its nimbleness and capability in more technical terrain goes some way to making up for this. 

Responding proportionally

When it comes to details that grab headlines, while the down-tube storage is handy, it’s Cannondale’s ‘Proportional Response’ that’s worth highlighting. 

As frame sizes increase, Cannondale says it alters the shock positions, pivot layouts and leverage ratios, so every bike size should ride the same no matter your height. 

This extends to Cannondale’s geometry (where the rear centre grows as the front centre lengthens), as well as the way in which it lays up the carbon fibre for each frame size, ensuring that it offers the right amount of stiffness in all the right places. Making the size-small frame as stiff as the extra-large equivalent could equate to a harsh ride for shorter riders on the trail, for example.

Pricey but not perfect 

At £7,000, it’s no surprise to see the Bad Habit 1 bedecked in lovely kit. The Ultimate-level RockShox Lyrik fork and Vivid Air shock are the real standout stars here, thanks to their ease of setup and tunability. 

The Reserve alloy rims and DT Swiss hubs feel great, with just the right blend of stiffness and compliance, while SRAM’s X0 Eagle Transmission delivers dependable shifts even under power. I also appreciate the 160mm cranks that come on the small and medium frame sizes, although these aren’t from the X0 stable – Cannondale steps down to the cheaper Eagle 90 offerings here. The cassette is a cheaper GX unit, too. 

If there was an option to take the SRAM Maven brakes that come on the cheaper Bad Habit model, I would. That’s not because I don’t like the TRP EVO Pro stoppers, but I prefer the power the Mavens deliver. 

Thanks to the super-short seat tube, Cannondale has slotted a 210mm-travel dropper post on the medium frame, meaning standover clearance is not a problem. 

Cannondale Bad Habit 1 bottom line 

The Bad Habit is an interesting take on an enduro bike. It isn’t the longest or slackest bike out there and the compact rear centre comes with pros and cons, which will likely be more pronounced on larger sizes.

Although the geometry doesn't offer quite the same sure-footedness as some of its counterparts, the Bad Habit’s ability to slither through the tightest turns when things get techy really impresses. 

On top of that, the lower travel figures, supportive suspension and lighter build mean it doesn’t feel like a chore to ride when the descents are less extreme. Instead, you get a bike that’s a solid all-rounder and more fun on mellower trails than you might expect of an enduro bike.  

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