[Closed] New (Road) bike day - Cannondale Caad12

nice racy position, personally i hate those levers, where the hose joins the lever always sticks in my palm.

Have your legs grown?

The seat post isn’t as high as that now - that’s just how it came, so it’s not quite as racey as that now luckily!

Not quite sure what you mean on the levers, they seemed pretty comfy on the way in this morning.

Versus the Sram Rival 10 speed on my old bike there are pros and cons. The hoods on the 105 are much more comfortable, however the upshifts feel really crap in comparison to double tap. Sram is nice and clicky and positive - the Shimano is really vague.

I've got that bike! It's great. Mine has cosine wheels but I'd rather have the Hunts. Saddle is really crap, it's true. If you want to ditch the conical headset spacer you can get a flat one that fits perfect from here:  https://www.certifiedslammed.com/products/slam-that-stem-bearing-cover

Thanks VW - although I’m quite happy with the height of the handlebars. I’m not as flexible as I once was in my lower back so quite pleased with how the position felt on the cycle in this morning. I just need rid of the horrible device that claims to be a saddle and it’ll be grand.

2nd ride on this to work today. I’d say it feels at least as quick as the Boardman despite being marginally heavier. Legs still getting up to speed after the knee infection I had at ge end of jan / start of Feb so Strava won’t be looking as quick though I’d imagine.

The front disc has so much power, it’s awesome. Even in the wet today it had more power than the rim brakes I’ve had in the dry (I’ve run a few tektro rim brakes, Shimano 105 and Sram Apex - all with decent Swiss stop pads). Even styled out a bit of a stoppie at one point today 😜

I came here to make a joke about all the Cannondale logos.. but that's pretty subtle! Nice. 105 brake hoods do look rather enormous.

Its actually pretty stealthy yes. I’m hoping it doesn’t attract too much attention from scrotes who might want to steal it, yetfornpeople in the know it’s a pretty good bike with nice wheels 😃

Incidentally - the hoods on the 105 are much bigger than the Sram Rival on my last bike. They’re much more comfortable, but the gear shifting feels very vague compared to the nice positive / snappy feel of the Rival.

That saddle angle can't help, your old bike looks like it's level/slightly tilted forward, but the new bike looks slightly tilted back?

I've found angling mine forward very slightly helped lower back and perineum discomfort.

What brakes are they? Dare I ask how noisy (or not) they are when it's wet and you first apply the brakes?

I think they sold you the wrong size.

How you finding the wheels? Worth the money?

The Cannondale looks very nice indeed. I like the colour scheme very much.i like the horizontal top tube too,  rather than the usual slopping style that's so popular these days.

A clasdy looking bike.

I tried a few angles on the saddle - none helped so it’s on eBay now! My trusty SDG Bel Air is on for the time being, but it’s white and a bit grubby looking so it’s ruining the look of the bike. Might try a Bel Air 2.0 at some point as they look a bit more racey without going silly. They seem to be a bit lighter too so that’s a good thing.

The saddle height in the picture isn’t how I’m running it, that’s just how it was from the shop. It’s a good 4 inches lower I’d think - it’s a 54cm frame and the Boardman was a 53cm frame. When I checked the geometry for both, a lot of the measurements were pretty similar.

So far I love the wheels. The bike feels more nimble than the last one despite weighing about 500 grams more. I think the wheels are lighter which is he best place to have a weight saving. Time will tell how well they last - also at some point I’ll get better tyres - probably should go tubeless.

The brakes are br785 / 505. I think essentially the same calliper, but one is post mount and he other is flat mount. Reason being the post mount fork has been carried over from the caad10. They have loads of power so far - I’ve only used them in the wet so can’t comment on dry performance. The back one has squealed a bit so far - but if you do a few hard stops the squealing stops.

I do love a CAAD... but... the 105 shifters... just... no

Nice, I've been coveting CAAD12s for a while.  I also hate those leavers, I had them on my Mason.  I hated them so much I changed them to ultegra ones at some expense, the shape and the positive shifting action is SO much better than the 105 units.

I know what you’re saying about the shifters - it feels a bit vague on the rear shifting. Rival in comparison always felt so quick, positive and more mechanical. You were never in any doubt you’d changed gear.

i think perhaps once he bike has needed in for a few weeks the gears could do with being adjusted and hopefully it’ll be a little better.

It is slightly odd the 105 shifters have the huge bulge at the base of them where the hydraulic hose exits. Luckily it’s comfy both above and below that so I think I’ll be ok. There’ll be no upgrading of this bike now apart from perhaps the saddle and the tyres when they get a bit worn / if they become puncture prone. The wheels are tubeless ready so it would be silly not to get some proper tubeless tyres and give road tubeless a go.

I've never ridden with those shifters. They are just so hideous I couldn't own a bike with them 🙂

I can’t say to my eye they look too much different to other shifters I’ve had or seen on other bikes - but clearly a lot of other people can!