IchbinJay

Anyone ride one of these?

https://www.cannondale.com/en/USA/Bi...ntid=undefined

I'm wondering how wide of a tire they'd accept.

gus6464

32c

IchbinJay

Do you ride one? Do you know if it's a tight 32 or is there room for dirt/sand?

gus6464

I don't. The Synapse is a road bike so clearance is going to be like the other cannondale road bikes which means tight. The problem won't be chainstay clearance but seat tube clearance. How much dirt we talking about?

IchbinJay

Not a whole lot of dirt, but the occasional rock or two. I want enough clearance for knobby tires, but I think the Topstone might offer too much. I would really only be running 32s.

Esthetic

If the Topstone offers too much, maybe consider the CAADX. Mine came with 37c Riddlers, with room left for 40c.
I'll likely keep this stock setup, and get a lighter set down the road with slicks with to swap .

IchbinJay

That's nice looking! How do you like the geometry? I'm looking to do road riding/light trails. I'm just worried that the straight geometry might put me over the bars.

Esthetic

I find it comfier than my road frames, thanks to that head angle and forward rake. So I used a spare stem,on the negative rise here that I had on my race geo bikes. I'm spot on looking down and seeing my bars intersect the plane of the hubs. If you are that worried I'm sure a positive rise, or even 10mm longer stem, or setback seatpost would give you that space.
Between the tire volume and head angle, to me its already comfortable, I'm a bit more upright and bike feels very stable and confidence inspiring.

Btw, I got this on ebay on an offer of $900 plus ship, nib. Shipped from a bike shop, had may sizes listed. I suppose leftover 2018 stock. Just know this is still on QR's, and front fork this model year is post mount, with rear flat mount. 2019 models both front and rear are flat mount.

IchbinJay

I guess what I meant was on relatively technical riding. I'm used to riding with sloped geometry. The CAADX looks like more traditional road geometry which is good for cross racing.

Hmmm

From my understanding cross geometry is better for technical riding, the CAADX should handle quicker than the Synapse. Also, what is wrong with "too much clearance"? I run 28c tires on my TCX which has room for 45mm or more and I don't notice anything wrong with too much space between the tires and the frame. I love riding it with road tires. If you're already wanting to put knobby 32s on the Synapse I would choose between the Topstone and CAADX. Topstone = A Tiny bit more clearance, more relaxed geo. CAADX = A tiny bit less clearance, more aggressive geo as well as an admittance into the Cult of CAAD.

Esthetic

Oh Ok. Based on your prior comments and looking at an endurance bike to run 32c tires I cant imagine a scenario where the CAADX would not outperform any endurance bike on a like-for-like technical offroad scenario.

I bought it for its all around terrain capabilities, I knew I was getting into a heavier bike. I certainly wouldn't put it thru a single track course meant for a suspension bike. But I love cutting through off the pavement, hopping curbs, etc...things I cant do on my carbon road queens. I was cruising over river rock beds on this thing earlier, coming downhill off a path to it...and ripped back up a long fire road taking me back to the main road-it was awesome.

daoswald

Isn't the Synapse SE a wider-tire-capable bike than the standard Synapse?

May have to ask Cannondale directly to be certain.

My old (but still great) Synapse came with 25c tires. For a few years I rode it with 23cs, but I've moved up to GP4000sII tires in 28c. The GP4000sII tires come in wider than advertised, at least on my Fulcrum Quattro wheels. I put a caliper to them and found them to be about 31mm. They fit with about 2mm to spare in the chainstays. It's a tight fit, but no rubbing so far, and that's after putting 2500 miles on them.

Regardless, you would consider a Synapse for road riding. Th e SE literature says this about the SE relative to the standard Synapse: "The full-day, full-gas performance of the Synapse, outfitted for more. Big tires on wider rims let you get after it on roads others fear to tread." There's nothing in that statement that suggests off-road is part of the bike's design philosophy. It seems to come stock with 30mm tires. I think others are probably right, that 32mm is going to be about the limit.

On my other bike (my Quick CX) I recently swapped from 35mm Kenda Happy Mediums to Conti GP4Season in a 32mm size. It's great that GP4Season tires come in 32mm nowadays. They give that flat-bar bike a more road-oriented ride. But I rarely venture off the pavement.

If your intention is to take it off road I'd look for something other than the Synapse. It's an excellent on-road endurance bike, though.

gus6464

SE models just mean they come with bigger tires stock. The frame is identical to regular. Knobbies is not happening on a Synapse. You want a topstone or a caadx but mainly topstone.

Metieval

ride both, the caadx and topstone and see which one you like riding the best.

Then run your tire of choice. from a 28 - 40

IMO the Topstone was closer to feeling like my synapse than the caadx was. but this didn't make the caadx a bad choice. it was just Less towards the endurance geometry.

Metieval

I also think that the Topstone should have been what the 32c clearance generation Synapse was from the get go.
Then the Topstone should have been the same bike, but built for racks / bikepacking purposes, with midfork lugs.

IchbinJay

That sounds like some of the terrain I'd be riding. As you know, most off road in the Northeast involves rocks. I guess I'm just afraid of flying over the handlebars going down a hill. Maybe the sloping geometry of the Topstone doesn't make a huge difference in that respect. My last cross bike experience was with an older Bianchi Volpe and one of my issues was that it had too much road geometry and with the drop bars, I found it hard to hang off the back going down some hills.

IchbinJay

Yeah, I agree. Although I haven't ridden any of them, it seems like they maybe could've spread the line out a bit more.

Stephenjeffrey

daoswald

Given the direction the thread has gone it is now unclear whether "one of these" refers to the Synapse, the Touchstone, or the CAADX.

I'm pretty sure the answer to 34/35 slicks on the Synapse is no.

Stephenjeffrey

IchbinJay

Good call. Thanks for the advice!

IchbinJay

For clarification, The Synapse SE comes with stock 30c slicks, Topstone 40c, and CAADX 37c. Ideally, I'd like to run a knobby 32c. I'm wondering which bike would accommodate those tires and also handle well off-road. Based on the feedback, I'm leaning more towards the Topstone.

IchbinJay

Yeah, shorter chainstays are nice. Thanks for the feedback about the Synapse too.

shoota 

Not just wider tires but also lower gearing. That's worth noting.

IchbinJay

Gearing is definitely important to consider.