CANNONDALE TOPSTONE DISC SE 105

CCannondale’s first crack at a gravel bike was the overcomplicated Slate, which had a short-travel Lefty fork and 650b wheels with super-wide tyres. With the Topstone, they’ve made the right decision: to go back to the basics.

The frame is lightweight aluminium and the fork is carbon. At first glance it looks like a classic road bike, but it has all the right gravel tweaks: longer wheelbase for extra stability on sketchy terrain, clearance for 700cx42mm tyres, tubeless rims, flared drop bars, hydraulic disc brakes, and mounts galore – for three bottles, a top-tube bag, racks and fenders.

The 2x11 105 drivetrain has plenty of range for everything from mountain trails to long days on the flats. And there’s a model above this one (the Apex 1, only available in the US and Europe) that comes standard with a 50mm dropper post. Genius!

Maybe we can convince the local distributors to add a dropper to this model, too…