Beautiful, dream like, amazing... There are no other words to describe it the new 2012 Cannondale flash 29er ultimate is the lightest, fastest, and a most aggressive bike I have ever ridden. The bike weights in at 18.5 pounds with Shimano XTR pedals, and carbon cages. The seat and post will soon be change to make the bike lighter and more comfortable. Once that is done I expect the bike to weight just over 18.2lbs about 3lbs lighter than my first road bike, back in 2006. The frame is very similar to last year’s so it feels very familiar and natural. The wheels are probably the biggest upgrade, ENVE carbon rims make the wheels so much stiffer than before, no flex in the turns, accelerating and stopping are a breeze because the lack of rotating mass, overall a very lightweight playful wheel set. The component also are making a big difference a full SRAM XX groupo, very crisp and accurate shifting. The brakes also SRAM XX noisy but work with no problem and plenty of stopping power to throw you over the bars.
I went to the trail system in black diamond, WA for my very first ride. I joined my friend and coworker Melanie and her husband Chris for a three hour ride, even though it has been raining like hell the trails were surprisingly dry and fast. The bike handle like I was expecting it to: absolutely no problems. It took me at least a good hour to get use to weight of the bike I would constantly over shoot a corner, or compensate too much in root sections. I quickly found the right balance and was able to have a lot of fun for the rest of the ride. This weekend there is a little local race at soaring Eagle Park in Sammamish,WA, I think it time to get the bike dirty and see what I can do with it!
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