Team Tested: 2015 Cannondale Jekyll Carbon Team Review
Last year Jerome Clementz won the overall EWS title upon one of these frames (be it with different shock and forks as Jerome is partnered with SRAM), with its fantastic looks, pedigree and ‘light as a feather’ weight, it just had to be tested. This is the high end Team model, equipped with top components and weighing in at a measly 26lbs/11.8kg (without pedals and tyre gunk). I wanted to know if this was the bike that could persuade me to go back down a wheel-size, now a fully committed big-hitting, slack 29er rider, I fancied a change.
Appearance
Lets start with the looks, at first glance you cannot miss the front end! The new carbon 50mm off-set Lefty Supermax, sporting a full 160mm of travel is certainly unsual, many said I should try it with conventional forks, as I wouldn’t like the single legged fork. On asking these people if they has tried the lefty, none said yes, ah that classic UK fear of the unknown or anything that is different! Another way of looking at the Lefty fork is that the design is that of a McPherson strut, maybe you haven’t heard of these before, but you will know some of the things it has been used on. This system is used on many life dependent systems, including most modern-day cars and passenger planes, let’s face it, we don’t worry about them twisting or not being able to take the pressure of landing! The fork comes with a smart ‘poptop’ button to adjust for climbs or descents, stiffening it up on climbs for efficiency. OK there’s no getting away from the fact it looks weird with no right leg, but it’s surprising just how quickly you get used to it after the first few ‘don’t look down’ rides. When it comes to taking the front wheel out (being unnecessary if punctured) It’s a matter of loosening the caliper bolts, then the caliper comes off to extract the wheel after un-doing the center bolt, simple.
See the Lefty in action
This is a full carbon frame (hence the low weight), and the looks, with the stealthy green and black colour scheme is fantastic. The rear end linkage is Cannondale’s special platform, offering fantastic mud clearance, and room for cleaning that is second to none. In the shock linkage and swing-arm pivot the through axle is a beefy 15mm to eliminate twist. The special Fox DYAD twin chamber pull-shock is such a clever design too, with air spring volumes and damping created especially for this frame. This boasts 160mm travel using one chamber, then with a simple flick of a switch you’re down to 95mm of travel on the second chamber, allowing you to set compression and rebound independently for optimum performance in each mode. To me this is the direction I think all shocks should be going in the future, it just seems to make so much sense. The lines of this bike are gorgeous, subtle and very pleasing to the eye.
Check out the shock working in 160mm mode
Wheels are Cannondale’s own Lefty hub on the front and a very silent free-hubbed DT Swiss 142×12 on the rear, both spoked onto strong WTB Team Issue i23 2.75 alloy rims. Cranks are Cannondale’s own Hollowgram SI alloy versions, with the rear of the drivetrain being full XX1 and shifter X01 for mega-smooth efficient running. The WTB saddle is sent up and down by SRAM’s popular Stealth 120mm dropper post. Brakes were a total new one for me to try, Magura’s MT6 system, carbon body, but rather basic looking levers. Bars are Cannondale’s sweet 740 carbons fitted to the (oversized steerer) FSA Gravity Light 50mm stem. The stem is weird, as it’s not clamped down by any system, although at no point was that an issue. The Jekyll comes fitted with a down-tube protector that actually does work, this doubles up as a cable router for the externally fitted cables, why they didn’t go internal (at least up front) is beyond me.
Geometry
This year Cannondale have worked on making the Jekyll more of an Enduro attack weapon with a 67 degree head angle and 74.9 degree seat angle. This large version had a very comfortable top tube length of 620mm (large) and quite high bottom bracket height of 36.4cm. The wheel-base of this bike comes in at 1208mm. Also a thing worth mentioning about the Jekyll is the chain-line, often overlooked in tests, but such a simple test to do with a 1×10 or 1×11 drivetrain. Simply put the bike in 1st (biggest cog) gear and try and spin the cranks back, the further up the block the chain will spin backwards without fouling, the better the chain-line, this bike sports a 440mm length chain-stay. I did this test on the Jekyll and it was a healthy 2nd gear, my Carbine is 3rd and I recently tried a Nomad, which was 5th!
The Ride
From the off the first thing you notice about this bike is just how ridiculously light it is. It can be flicked from side to side with so much ease, it just nails tight and steep switchbacks like a true boss. The forks did take a while to get used to, but I do think this was just psychological, I did tend to find myself not holding some tight corners at first, due to not wanting to lean on the fork too much. Firstly the forks were too hard and only gave a mere 125mm of travel. A bit of trail-side faffing and then they were running too soft, diving like premiership footballer! Finally I got them right, got used to them and eventually started to trust them. Now with the right amount of sag and ‘trail feel’ they are offering the full 160mm of travel, and I can honestly say I cant really tell the difference in feel from a conventional option, except maybe the lack of compression adjustment.
There is one major hindrance to the performance of this bike, and quite annoying too as it is not a fault of the bike, just the tyres. I know that tyre choice is a personal thing, the Trailstar Schwalbe Hans Dampfs are fantastic in most terrains, especially dry peaty soil and the hard stuff. However, I found that on the wet slippy rocks where I ride, they just take every bit of confidence away, slipping like stilettos on a marble floor, this would be my first immediate change to the bike. Also a noticeable trait of this bike is just how light it feels on the high-speed bike-park/trail-centre type stuff. Sometimes it can feel like it gets a bit twitchy, taking every bit of concentration to keep her at full tilt. This was especially noticeable on high-speed sender jumps, it really is like a kite, just going up and up whilst the sphincter clenches, eventually coming down for more high speed madness. There is definitely a thrill and lots of adrenalin involved in going flat out on such a thoroughbred race machine, I can honestly say with carbon wheels it could become too light for comfort.
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Full confidence in the Lefty was eventually reached.Braking performance really did shock me, I wasn’t expecting much out of these brakes, but their performance is incredible, ridiculously powerful and fantastically predictable, this thing really would stop on a six pence, full marks to Magura. On the uphills and the flats, the bike really did come into its own with the switchable suspension, I tended to use the levers more and more every ride, engaging the 95mm rear and uphill mode on the Lefty it just flies up the climbs, still retaining its traction up over the bumps, unlike certain fully locked out other versions of switch levers. As for unlocking the setting for the downs, just a simple sideways press of the index finger knuckle pops the rear back down to 160mm, whilst after a bit of a search, press quite hard on the outer red circle of the poplock to sort the fork out ready for action.
Niggles
There are a couple of little gripes with this bike, but nothing that isn’t easy to sort out. Some of the finishing is a bit poor, like the fork bump stop rubber fixed to the frame and the chrome frame protector glued on to the swing-arm behind the chain. The latter of which fell off and had to be re-fitted, for over 5k I want the best glue and a tidy fitting job. Also the tough fitted plastic chain-stay protector is a nice touch, but as it’s so hard, the chain-slap is still noisy, this was soon sorted by adding inner tube to silence the beast. The XX1 lever fits to the Magura brake lever body, but is too far away for my thumb for comfortable gear shifting, too much of a stretch is needed from brake to shifter.
Bottom Line
OK so this bike had a few little issues of finish and may feel a bit twitchy in some situations, but is it fun? The answer to that is most definitely yes, it really is a nimble little racer and maybe I struggled with the twitchyness, as I’m now used to the stability of a low slung 29er. But the Jekyll definitely knows how to put a smile on your face, as when you nail a section right on this bike it’s just amazingly rewarding. It looks tops and draws a lot of attention plus I really have no qualms with the lefty fork, although that’s one of those things where time will tell. Did Cannondale persuade me to drop down that vital 1 ½ inches of wheel-size to become a normo, sorry not just yet!
Price 4,999GBP
More information on www.cannondale.com
Words: Jim Buchanan | Pics: Doc Ward & Jim Buchanan
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