Goodbye press

Cannondale also debuts lightest ever (disc brake) SuperSix EVO with Lab71 range

This competition is now closed

By Warren Rossiter

Published: March 1, 2023 at 2:00 pm

Cannondale's much-teased, fourth-generation SuperSix EVO headlines with claims of improved aerodynamics and lower weight, while also promising a more user-friendly design.

At 770g for the new, top-tier Lab71 frame, it's the lightest SuperSix EVO ever. As for aerodynamics, Cannondale claims the new EVO is 12 watts more efficient at 45kph than the previous-generation bike.

Take a quick look at the new bike and, at first glance, it doesn't look very different from the third generation.

However, as we predicted, the new design also brings a return to a threaded bottom bracket and up-to-date tyre clearances.

While the frame shape has changed subtly, it shares the EVO 3's geometry, mirrors its head tube and bottom bracket stiffness figures, and offers the same compliance through the rear end, according to Cannondale.

All told, it's a bike with big boots to fill. The third generation of Cannondale's all-round race bike arrived in 2020 as a radical redesign, introducing aero tubes to what was previously a round-tubed bike focused primarily on lightweight comfort. The result was a bike that won our Road Bike of the Year award back in 2020.

The silhouette of the new SuperSix EVO looks very similar to the outgoing model, though the down tube has been reshaped and the interface between frame and fork simplified. The seat tube profile has also changed and the seatstays have dropped, bringing influences in from Cannondale's aero-focused SystemSix.

Under the skin, however, is where you’ll find the biggest changes. It's an intriguing blend of less proprietary tech and new proprietary tech, without, on the face of it, the downsides of unique hardware.

Starting at the front-end, the new fork uses a ‘Delta’ steerer tube.

Cannondale says this triangular-shaped steerer has enabled it to greatly reduce the head tube sizing of the EVO, while still allowing for fully integrated cable routing.

The new design also enables the use of any handlebar and stem combination.

This includes Cannondale's all-new R-One SystemBar one-piece cockpit (more on that later).

The bike works with Vision cockpits, as used by the EF Pro Cycling team, too. These use FSA's ACR internal-routing design.

Fans of trackstands and low-speed manoeuvres will appreciate that the new design has enabled Cannondale to remove the steering stops found on the previous EVO.

The most user-friendly change to the front end, however, is the adoption of a standard 1-1/8in to 1.5in headset.

This opens up a wealth of options for replacements and upgrades, and means no searching for stockists of proprietary parts.

Following the Cannondale Topstone and Cannondale Synapse, the SuperSix EVO moves away from BB30 and adopts a threaded BSA/ISO bottom bracket.

Again, it's another positive move for aftermarket upgrades and replacement availability.

Cannondale has refined the seat tube design in the name of aerodynamics.

Cannondale said the requirement to fit a Shimano Di2 battery inside the frame previously limited its options when it came to seat tube shape.

The battery on Di2-equipped bikes is now housed in the down tube. Cannondale's lead engineer and aerodynamics expert, Nathan Barry, told us this change enabled Cannondale to optimise the seat tube, narrowing it down significantly.

"By repositioning the Di2 battery in the bottom of the down tube, it allowed us to give the seat tube and seatpost the ideal aerodynamic shape," Barry told BikeRadar. "This is where we saw some of the biggest gains in drag reduction."

Seeing the EVO in silhouette doesn't really reflect how the new post and seat tube really look in the flesh.

The previous D-shaped seatpost was a slender 25mm in effective diameter.

The new flatter, deeper, more aero post is only around 15mm wide, yet still retains the same stiffness characteristics as the previous version, Cannondale says.

Elsewhere, Cannondale has also moved away from its Speed Release axles.

These saw the threaded end of the thru-axle thread into a standard dropout but, at the handle end, the dropout was slotted to enable the wheel to be removed with the axle in place.

The new EVO uses the lightweight Syntace thru-axle standard, which has helped drop a little weight from the bike overall, and allowed for a clean-looking, hidden dropout on the fork.

The geometry of the EVO basically remains unchanged, though the chainstays have been lengthened slightly to accommodate an increase in tyre clearance, up from 30mm to 34mm.

Cannondale has also replaced the two largest-sized frames in the EVO 3 range (60cm and 62cm) with a single, 61cm frame.

Cannondale announced the brand's new super-premium sub-brand Lab71 just prior to launching the 2023 SuperSix EVO.

The EVO is the first bike to get the Lab71 treatment, adding a new flagship tier above the usual range-topping Hi-Mod models.

The Lab71 edition of the SuperSix EVO gets a new carbon fibre layup, alongside the use of Cannondale's ‘nano-resin’.

Road bike product manager Sam Ebert remained tight-lipped about the exact nature of the upgrades over the Hi-Mod frame, only to say: "The new Series 0 carbon construction found on the Lab71 SuperSix EVO makes use of cutting-edge materials and processes rarely seen in the bike industry due to their complexity and cost.

"This advanced fibre and nano-resin composite has exceptional tensile and compressive strength properties, which allows Cannondale engineers to achieve more with less material."

The result, Cannondale says, is an EVO that weighs 770g for a fully painted and build-ready size 56cm frame.

As for a complete 56cm bike (with bottles and cages in place), that tips the scales at the UCI minimum weight of 6.8kg (14.99lb).

The Hi-Mod and Carbon bikes aren't exactly heavyweights either. The Hi-Mod frame weighs in at 810g (56cm, painted, all hardware), and the standard Carbon model 930g (56cm, painted, all hardware).

Aside from weight reductions the new design is also said to perform better in the wind tunnel.

Nathan Barry worked extensively on the bike's design to reduce drag yet retain the stiffness and compliance of the frameset from EVO 3, says Cannondale.

Barry claims the Lab71 edition of the new EVO, using the new SystemBar and 50mm-deep wheels, saves 12 watts of power at 45 km/h (28mph) over the previous EVO.

"Under the same test conditions, we benchmarked it against the Trek Emonda SLR and saw a 12-watt improvement. Against Specialized's Tarmac SL7, we saw a four-watt improvement," he says.

Cannondale didn't provide details of its test protocol, however.

The new R-One SystemBar found on the Lab71 and Hi-Mod models moves away from Cannondale's pseudo-one piece Knot/HollowGram cockpit, in favour of a slender, fully integrated option. This was developed in conjunction with automotive design team, MomoDesign.

"The SuperSix EVO's fully-integrated SystemBar R-One carbon handlebar and stem uses drag-reducing shapes while hitting the ergonomic shaping and compliance required for a pro-level race bike," says Ebert.

Alongside the new frameset, Cannondale has developed a new wheelset for the EVO.

The new wheels have a rim profile evolved from the previous HollowGram/Knot wheels, with a 50mm-deep rim that's 32mm wide externally and 21mm wide internally. The rims are hooked (as opposed to hookless), tubeless-ready and laced to the HollowGram hubs with bladed aero spokes.

The 50s come in two models. The premium R-SL 50 wheelset, found on the Hi-Mod and Lab71 bikes, has DT Swiss 240 internals, while the cheaper R 50 wheelset, found on the Carbon bikes, uses DT Swiss 350 internals.

The R-SL wheelset has a claimed weight of 1,520g a pair, with the Rs at 1,620g a pair.

Cannondale has looked beyond just the bike and into the essential accessories, too.

Nathan Barry told us "Aero(dynamic) tests historically haven't used a bicycle in full race trim [Cannondale didn't specify whether this test includes pedals or bike computers, etc].

"I wanted to make the EVO faster in the real world too, and that meant looking at bottle design and cages."

The new Aero Gripper cage and bottle are slimmer than a standard cage, so when not loaded with a bottle it sits within the boundaries of the down tube edges and doesn't increase drag.

With the two cages and bottles in place, Cannondale claims the EVO sees a 3- to 4-watt aero improvement at 45kph / 28mph compared to standard round bottles.

Cannondale says this is because the aero bottle essentially acts as a fairing, increasing the effective size of the down tube aerofoil to close to that of its SystemSix aero road bike.

The dedicated aero bottle uses a standard top and has a flat bottom, so unlike most aero bottles, it stands when you’re trying to fill it.

The aero cages can also hold and grip standard round bottles, so if you need to grab a new bottle mid-race or event, there are no worries about compatibility.

Cannondale claims the aero cage and bottles will bring aero savings to "any bike" and will be available to buy separately too.

Of course, not every bike will have a down tube width that matches the profile of the aero cage, but it could be a simple, low-cost upgrade for many bikes.

At launch, the range is somewhat concise and, starting at £6,250 / $5,500 / €6,799 – not exactly cheap.

Prices rise to £12,500 / $15,000 / €14,999 for the flagship Lab71 bike.

Cannondale told us ongoing supply-chain challenges mean it can't expand the EVO range out to where it wants it to be.

That, along with new groupsets coming to market (such as the new SRAM Force AXS), means it won't be expanding the EVO 4 range fully until 2024.

Cannondale expects models with both mechanical and cheaper electronic groupsets to arrive soon.

For the remainder of 2023, the EVO range (much like Specialized did with Tarmac SL7/SL6) will contain a mix of both the EVO 4 and EVO 3 framesets.

Senior technical editor

Warren Rossiter is BikeRadar and Cycling Plus magazine's senior technical editor for road and gravel. Having been testing bikes for more than 20 years, Warren has an encyclopedic knowledge of road cycling and has been the mastermind behind our Road Bike of the Year test for more than a decade. He's also a regular presenter on the BikeRadar Podcast and on BikeRadar's YouTube channel. In his time as a cycling journalist, Warren has written for Mountain Biking UK, What Mountain Bike, Urban Cyclist, Procycling, Cyclingnews, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike and T3. Over the years, Warren has written about thousands of bikes and tested more than 2,500 – from budget road bikes to five-figure superbikes. He has covered all the major innovations in cycling this century, and reported from launches, trade shows and industry events in Europe, Asia, Australia, North American and Africa. While Warren loves fast road bikes and the latest gravel bikes, he also believes electric bikes are the future of transport. You’ll regularly find him commuting on an ebike and he longs for the day when everyone else follows suit. You will find snaps of Warren's daily rides on the Instagram account of our sister publication, Cycling Plus (@cyclingplus).

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