Cannondale SuperX

'Cross season is upon us once again, and no matter how great the innovations in indoor training, there's still nothing quite like cyclocross for maintaining your race fitness through the winter months and having a heck of a lot of fun.

Cannondale's SuperX is their top-flight carbon cross bike - not designed primarily as a gravel bike, not aimed at bikepacking, this is cross through and through. What that means is super-sharp handling (without being twitchy) and a really short rear triangle (the drivetrain is actually offset slightly to allow for extra short seatstays whilst keeping clearance for up to 40mm tyres). This tightens up the handling and makes powering up steeper climbs a breeze.

The bottom bracket is high up for maximum clearance, and the top-tube is shaped to make it more comfy to hoik up on your shoulder for those unavoidable sections where you just have to carry the bike.

Likewise the 2x12 electronic gruppo gives plenty of gears for any race situation and all terrain. 1x may be dominating gravel/adventure, but plenty of cross riders still favour 2x for the smaller gear gaps and that bit of extra speed on the flat.

This is no one-trick pony, and if you want to rip it up at speed on the gravel then the SuperX is more than up to the job of a "superfast gravel bike", but make no mistake this isn't aimed at bikepacking, it's a race machine and a very capable one too.

photos by Bence Bujaki