Cannondale CAAD13 – The ultimate Aluminium Road Bike?
With the Cannondale CAAD13, the American bike brand presents the next evolution of their legendary aluminum road bike. Here you ́ll find all the important information at a glance.
In our group test of the best aluminum racers under € 2,500, the predecessor of the CAAD13, the CAAD12, dominated its competitors and came out victorious. Accordingly, the stakes are for the completely redesigned Cannondale aluminum platform. After the latest releases of the Topstone Carbon gravel bike and the SuperSix EVO carbon racer, you will find all the details for the CAAD 13 here in the official press release:
“Cannondale […] has been a pioneering force in high-performance aluminum road bikes for almost four decades. Each generation of their legendary CAAD series of road bikes has defined the state of the art for aluminum road racing machines, and today they announced the launch of the most advanced evolution yet, the all-new CAAD13. Faster, smoother, more comfortable, and more broadly capable than anything that’s come before, the new CAAD13 is designed to compete head-to-head with competitors’ carbon fiber bikes, on everything but price. The increased speed comes from a sleekly integrated design that features a new family of highly truncated airfoil tube shapes. Offering the same weight, and equal or better stiffness than round tubes, these minimalist airfoils can reduce aerodynamic drag by up to 30 percent, delivering more speed with less effort.
| Size | 44 | 48 | 51 | 54 | 56 | 58 | 60 | 62 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seat tube | 404 mm | 442 mm | 481 mm | 519 mm | 540 mm | 562 mm | 583 mm | 604 mm |
| Top tube | 510 mm | 520 mm | 530 mm | 546 mm | 562 mm | 578 mm | 594 mm | 611 mm |
| Head tube | 94 mm | 114 mm | 130 mm | 154 mm | 164 mm | 188 mm | 209 mm | 230 mm |
| Head angle | 70.9° | 71.2° | 71.2° | 71.2° | 73.0° | 73.0° | 73.0° | 73.0° |
| Seat angle | 74.5° | 74.3° | 74.1° | 73.7° | 73.3° | 72.9° | 72.5° | 72.1° |
| Chainstay | 408 mm | 408 mm | 408 mm | 408 mm | 408 mm | 408 mm | 408 mm | 408 mm |
| BB Height | 263 mm | 268 mm | 283 mm | 271 mm | 271 mm | 273 mm | 273 mm | 273 mm |
| Wheelbase | 976 mm | 985 mm | 994 mm | 1,008 mm | 992 mm | 1,005 mm | 1,016 mm | 1,028 mm |
| Reach | 370 mm | 374 mm | 378 mm | 384 mm | 389 mm | 395 mm | 400 mm | 406 mm |
| Stack | 505 mm | 520 mm | 535 mm | 555 mm | 575 mm | 595 mm | 615 mm | 635 mm |
“Every new CAAD bike we design improves on the preceding version, but the CAAD13 represents a pretty radical new direction for us,” said David Devine, Global Product Director, Cannondale Pavement. “With CAAD13, we focused on elements that really improve the ride, namely drag reduction, comfort and wide-ranging capability, while not increasing the weight.” To improve comfort and ride-feel over the CAAD12, a bike renowned for its smooth ride, the new CAAD13 design features dropped seat-stays, an internal seat binder and an integrated 27 KNØT seatpost, a combination that doubles the compliance of the frame. The ride is so smooth that Cannondale has declared that the myth of carbon fiber’s comfort advantage over aluminium is effectively over.
The new bike retains the intuitive handling and explosive responsiveness riders have come to expect from CAAD bikes, while increasing clearance to allow 30mm wide tires for additional comfort and capability over rougher surfaces.
With details like a 2-position downtube bottle mount for minimized drag with one bottle (low) or more hydration for two bottle rides (high), Speed Release thru-axles, and sleek easy-to-service internal routing; the CAAD13 is not just the best alloy road race machine Cannondale has ever made. It’s also a fitting tribute to the periodic table’s thirteenth element – Aluminium.”
All the important information you’ll need about the specs
The new CAAD13 line-up features 3 disc brake and 2 rim brake models for men in sizes 44, 48, 51, 54, 56, 58, 60, and 62, as well as 1 disc brake and 1 rim brake women’s model in sizes 44, 48, 51, and 54. The top-end model comes with SRAM Force eTap AXS and Hollowgram 45 KNØT carbon wheels and uses the same Hollowgram SAVE carbon cockpit as the Canndondale SuperSix EVO. It also comes exclusively with disc brakes. The price of this model is not known to us at this moment. The CAAD13 with Shimano ULTEGRA group set costs 2,699 € in the disc version and 2,099 € with rim brakes and is available for both women and men. Based on spec level and price points, you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck with this model. In the Shimano 105 specification, the CAAD13 comes with disc and rim brakes for both men and women and costs € 1,999 in the disc version. The price entry is the CAAD13 105 Rim with 1,799 €.
Our thoughts on the new CAAD13
We’ve been patiently waiting for this: Cannondale gives their aluminium race bike a holistic concept that is optimized for disc brakes. Although the CAAD12 was already available as a disc version, the bike with quick releases was more of an intermediate step than a conceptually new disc model. The aerodynamic updates give the CAAD13 a modern silhouette, which is available at official retailers in some rather fresh colorways from today. Clever features such as compatibility with mudguards and tires with a width of up to 30 mm extend the range of application of the CAAD13by a long shot. We are looking forward to a first test!
For more information head to cannondale.com
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Words: Benjamin Topf, Cannondale PM Photos: Cannondale
