CANNONDALE SYNAPSE CARBON 105 SE
£2299 › A toughened up Synapse for the more adventurous rider
Cannondale’s Synapse has a big reputation round these parts – the previous generation won our coveted Bike of the Year award back in 2014. What makes the Synapse such a great bike is just how well suited its geometry is for endurance riding. Our 58cm test bike has a 610mm stack and a 393mm reach, with a 1009mm wheelbase and 58mm of fork trail. All of which adds up to a finehandling machine that’s capable of providing all-day comfort.
Also helping matters is its relatively light chassis: the frame weighs in at 1100g and the fork 367g, which is decent for an endurance bike.
It’s a classy-looking machine too. We love the way its oversized chainstays twist and flatten towards the rear dropouts, where they meet pencil-thin seatstays that work in conjunction with the slender 25.4mm seatpost to introduce some compliance into the rear end.
Perhaps best of all, though, the Synapse handles superbly – it revels in tight technical turns but is just as happy carving through fast, open bends on long descents. It’s a rare thing for a bike aimed at endurance riding to be quite so reactive and nimble.
The Synapse in general has a lot going for it but this SE version in particular is helped by a full Shimano 105 group matched to Cannondale’s own lightweight Si chainset, which performs sublimely. Its wide WTB wheels and big-volume 30mm tyres effectively eliminate road vibrations and Fabric’s Scoop Radius Sport saddle makes for a superbly comfortable contact point.
But those wide wheels and tyres are a bit of a double-edged sword. They may provide some extra on-road comfort and some all-road capability, but they do blunt the Synapse’s nimble on-road handling and speed.
The wheelset’s width is certainly a contributing factor (19mm internal/24mm external) but it’s the weight that’s really holding them back – they come in at close to 1.9kg. Add the extra rubber of those big tyres and the inner tubes inside them into the mix, and you’re really starting to hobble this bike, especially on the climbs. The thing is, this wheel and tyre combination can be run tubeless and we think that doing so would go a long way towards rediscovering the Synapse’s usual flighty, feisty feel.
It’s hard to be too negative about the wheels though, as they enable you to broaden your route horizons. We spiced up our usual test routes by introducing a few unmade roads to the mix, and this wide-tyred Synapse didn’t even flinch. Its combination of compliant frame and capable rubber lets you make some serious progress over surfaces that would stop other endurance bikes in their tracks.
Overall, then, this Synapse SE is a slightly confusing proposition. On the road, it doesn’t quite have the same zing that we’ve come to expect from the Synapse, but off road the zing is very much present. The trouble is, if we wanted a bike that’s great in the gravel and only okay on the road, we’d be weighing up Cannondale’s Slate or Topstone bikes, not a Synapse. Yes, you are getting one of the best endurance chassis around, but to make the most of this SE model on the road you’re probably going to want a lighter set of wheels and some slimmer tyres.