Cannondale Trail SE...
 

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Cannondale Trail SE 2 or 3 for bikepacking? (SX vs Deore, Judy vs 35)

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I am undecided between these 2:

https://www.cannondale.com/en-gb/bikes/mountain/trail-bikes/trail/trail-se-3

https://www.cannondale.com/en-gb/bikes/mountain/trail-bikes/trail/trail-se-2

I will get them via Evans Ride To Work scheme, so tied to Evans.

Currently the 2 (£779) is cheaper than the 3 (£879), which is suprising.

The main differences are the SE 3 has a RockShox Judy Silver TK air fork, Shimano Deore 11, square bb cranks and tektro brakes.

SE 2 has a 35 coil fork with no adjustments, Sram SX 12 spd with 24 mm axle cranks and TRP Slate 4 piston brakes, it also has a more stealth color for wild camping.

The SE 2 in theory comes with tubeless maxxis, but the bikes they had at the shop had the same non tubeless tyres as the SE 3. Also hubs should be identical but the SE 2 seemed to have beefier unbranded hubs.

I prefer Deore vs SX, and not sure about the coil fork, I guess it will require less maintenance but maybe it's a pogo stick?

Has anyone riden any of these?

Thanks.

 
Posted : 30/09/2023 6:04 pm
Posts: 3783
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If I could only buy from Evans I think id prefer the x caliber to the cannondales

https://www.evanscycles.com/brand/trek/x-caliber-8-mountain-bike-916930#colcode=91693001

Or cheaper version

https://www.evanscycles.com/brand/trek/x-caliber-7-mountain-bike-917789#colcode=91778918

Frame: Alpha Gold Aluminium, tapered head tube, internal derailleur and dropper post routing, rack and kickstand mount, Boost141, 5 mm QR

So you can add a pannier rack for bikepacking. The only downside is the rear QR

Then sell the fork and buy a carbon fork, something like this

https://www.swinnertoncycles.co.uk/bontrager-forks-1120-adventure-touring-29-fork-p90207

Or

https://www.planetx.co.uk/products/selcof-carbon-27-5-or-29er-fork-1?currency=GBP&variant=43837866049766&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&stkn=d630251700e8&gclid=CjwKCAjwseSoBhBXEiwA9iZtxl23Xz2pib-zIwFrnXATY3Lw-GnXmMEmVyNbdGgQXbzUMxZqPKc_ZBoCah0QAvD_BwE

 
Posted : 01/10/2023 9:31 am
Posts: 464
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Initially I was going to go for the Marlin 8 gen 3, but that rear qr thing put me off it.

Also the Cannondale has a bigger triangle so I could potentially fit a bigger frame bag.

I’ll check the x-caliber, cheers

 
Posted : 01/10/2023 12:28 pm

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