Originally Posted by
zze86
Let us know how it goes!
My Synapse arrived two days ago (Thursday the 19th). I took it for a 34 mile spin on Thursday afternoon, after putting 38 miles on my Roam that morning. Today I put 52 miles on the Synapse (I get the feeling that my Roam might be getting a vacation for a few weeks
) and I would have done a metric century but rain was moving in.
I am really liking it. Only defect so far is that both wheel reflectors came loose, the rear one fell off and got caught in between the spokes and the frame. It snapped the reflector, and chipped the paint on the frame, but no broken or bent spokes. After that, I removed the front reflector. This happened with 3 miles on the bike.
Odd that my $700 Giant has 7,000+ miles on it, including some off road, no trouble with the reflectors but premium brand Cannondale can't properly attach a reflector to wheels.
Anyway, on to the good. The 51 cm frame fits fine. I’m glad I didn’t get the 48. The bike is quick and noticeably faster than my Roam. The bike weighed in at 21.8 pounds with the pedals attached, but no other accessories attached.
After 7,000 miles on flat bars, the reach to the brake levers on the Synapse feels very awkward. But I am already beginning to get comfortable with it. Speaking of comfort, I instantly liked the varied hand positions available with the drop bars.
There were 24 MPH wind gusts today, and I was impressed by how much getting down on the low bars helped in the headwinds.
The stock seat is surprisingly decent. But I like the $80 WTB Pro that I bought for my Roam better, so I swapped them out. That saved 115 grams (steel vs chrome moly rails), and the WTB branded seat nicely matches the WTB rims and tires that came on the Synapse.
Photos attached, assuming that they will upload.
20180719_162913 shows the bike with the stock seat.
20180721_145309 and 20180721_145500 shows the bike with the WTB seat.
I'm not a big fan of the color, but my Roam is essentially the same color so I am used to it. The Roam is Charcoal and the Synapse is Anthracite (and coincidentally, anthracite is a kind of coal). I'm not sure how I feel about the very low contrast branding on the Synapse, "Cannondale" and "Synapse" are all but invisible. Maybe it is meant as a classy understatement, or maybe Cannondale wants to hide away their non carbon frame Synapse models.
Stock seat.
WTB seat.
Bag is 90% empty. Blinker light on front for safety. Oversize water bottle is kept half empty for trail laps 12 to 25 miles, refilled when back at my car.