Cannondale rider here +1
I was just wondering "How come there are so little Cannondale riders?"
And of course we are the hybrid bunch.
Two years ago , I went to a boutique bike shop and saw a Cannondale SuperSix, CAAD10 or 12. And I liked the colors and components of the Cannondale line. I bought a cheap road bike after only to find out they were to big. I didn't ride it much.
Two years later, last year, the urge to buy a new bike came back. I learned about what I really wanted in a bicycle from the cheap bike. I had a budget of US$2000. It was a funny number because usually a good carbon bike would cost US$3000+. To spend that kind of money, I had to really , really like it. They ended up being Aero bikes that I would probably never like to ride due to their stiffness and aggressive posture.
I ended up buying this Bad Boy 1. I loved the little features it had. You can tell, in every detail, they have thought it through for it to be fun.
But at the same time, they saved on parts that can be cheaper to make this bike affordable. You can just leave it alone, and the parts works fine. At the same time, getting into upgrades, you can see there is potential on this bike that could make its future fun.
The downside is this bike is not meant to be light. 650b wheels and 40mm tires. Internal gears and all.
This bike rides with silence due to the Gates Carbon drive. The chain sounds you make when you stop peddling isn't there. And you don't have to peddle to change gears. Very low maintenence so far.
It feels solid enough to be a touring bike. Just add racks on them. It feels fast enough too. I ride in the cities with scooters and cars, thus I needed a rear view mirror. 35km/hr in the city already feels to fast and dangerous. It can do it just fine with gears left.
I got lots of compliments for this bike. Mostly people who know bikes. Team riders resting, Bike shop owners, expensive bike owners, food vendors...etc. Cannondale gets a certain respect. It seems they find non-road bike parts very interesting. They would ask me whether they can touch and feel my carbon drive. Most people are on 105s, Ultegras, Dura-Aces..etc.
"What is the belt made of..some sort of rubber?", they asked.
"I don't know...some kind of carbon...rubber..yeah. This company makes these carbon-is belts for race cars.", I improvised. "I doesn't make much sound and no grease".
"How about lights? Batteries?"
"Yeah..seat post have batteries, the front is USB charged."
"Wow , really nice components!"
"Thanks!" (I thought to myself, money well spent, I bet I wouldn't get this much attention if I had a Dura Ace group set. I wish it had hologram spider web on it though ).
(The wheel have reflective spokes and I was using flash on my phone camera).