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The top of the Ghisallo and the Synapse has proved itself a capable companion on the climbs (Image credit: Warren Rossiter/Immediate Media)
My 58cm test bike complete with 105 Shimano pedals, Garmin edge 1000, front and rear Fabric lights and two bottle cages weighed in at 8.05kg(Image credit: Warren Rossiter/Immediate Media)
The new seat clamp is based on the SuperX with its under the top tube entry point(Image credit: Warren Rossiter/Immediate Media)
The new Synapse uses 12mm thru-axles — Maxle at the rear and Syntace up front(Image credit: Warren Rossiter/Immediate Media)
Like the rear, the Synapse fork has been redesigned with tyre clearance in mind (Image credit: Warren Rossiter/Immediate Media)
The rear mech hanger is a burly CNC'd aluminium unit borrowed from Cannondale's Beast of the East mountain bike(Image credit: Warren Rossiter/Immediate Media)
The new back-end offers increased tyre clearance over the old model (Image credit: Warren Rossiter/Immediate Media)
The integrated out front mount takes a Garmin on top and a Fabric Lumaray light below (Warren Rossiter / Immediate media)(Image credit: Warren Rossiter/Immediate Media)
My test bike was a mash up between the Dura-Ace Di2 model and the eTap (Image credit: Warren Rossiter/Immediate Media)
The signature Power Pyramid seat tube design remains but is now very asymmetric, with the non driveside far straighter than the crank side(Image credit: Warren Rossiter/Immediate Media)
The Synapse is a very capable climber with an impressive level of stiffness through the drivetrain (Image credit: Gruberphoto)
Rolls like a Synapse, descends like an Evo (Image credit: Gruberphoto)
When you're getting into the higher and steeper slopes of Alpine climbs then SRAM's Red eTap WiFli 11-32 cassette starts to make a lot of sense (Image credit: Gruberphoto)
My first major excursion on the Cannondale Synapse was around Lake Como in Italy. It took me up the challenging Madonna del Ghisallo climb, which gave me a great opportunity to get to grips with the bike.
Sadly this bike isn't an off-peg model as it used the Dura-Ace Di2's colourway, priced at £7,499, and was built with SRAM's new Red eTap Disc, priced at £6,499, so the price of this model would fall somewhere in between the two.
My test bike was a mash up between the Dura-Ace Di2 model and the eTap
Cannondale Synapse Hi-Mod spec overview
Weight: 8.05kg (58cm including Shimano 105 pedals, Garmin Edge 1000, 2 x bottle cages)
The integrated out front mount takes a Garmin on top and a Fabric Lumaray light below
Cannondale Synapse Hi-Mod ride impression
On the road the bike felt instantly familiar. I've been riding the previous Synapse for three years now and the new Synapse feels significantly smoother, which is in no small portion down to the excellent 28c Vittoria tyres sitting pretty on Cannondale's own Hollowgram Si carbon rims.
The rims measure 35mm deep with a blunt aero shape and a wide 19.5mm internal measurement, which do an excellent job of shaping the tyre for maximum grip and comfort — I ran them at 70psi.
The new back-end offers increased tyre clearance over the old model
The hubs are Cannondale's own design but are built on the internals of the highly regarded DT Swiss 240 pairing. The smoothness is just one part of the equation, where the Synapse really scores is just how punchy it feels.
The drivetrain response through the wide and stiff BB30a bottom bracket makes this a bike that you really want under you when launching into a climb, especially on the long draggy sections of the Ghisallo where it was easy to maintain a decent cadence.
The eTap WiFli with its 11-32 range was a hill climbing godsend, but on the sections where the gradient rose to 15 percent, getting out of the saddle, dropping a cog and launching into a gritted teeth effort is met with resolute stiffness and rapid response — so none of your (considerable) effort feels wasted.
The rear mech hanger is a burly CNC'd aluminium unit borrowed from Cannondale's Beast of the East mountain bike
If you want a bike that's simply at its best on big mile adventures, and will still put a grin on your face when you want to get seriously busy in a sprint, then I'd suggest that the new Synapse should be top of your list.
Once the climbing is done and the descending starts, my renewed love of the Synapse was cemented. The Synapse rolls well over rougher roads, but as good as it is when the road starts to rise it's when pointed downhill that all hell breaks loose. This thing is one of the best rides to point downhill that I've tried, in all honesty I thought for a moment I had been riding a SuperSix Evo by mistake.
It's razor sharp steering responses and stability through fast corners is simply brilliant, and the larger tyres offer grip beyond your expectations. The Red discs with their big 160mm rotors offer wonderful brake feel too and a lack of noisy protestations under hard braking.
Rolls like a Synapse, descends like an Evo
In the busy world of bike launches, it's interesting that Cannondale is the one to launch an endurance machine when its racing rivals, Trek (Emonda) and Specialized (Tarmac), are both moving their race-bred machines to more comfort orientated design goals, and Cérvelo has put a rider comfort spin on the R5.
What Cannondale has done is make its already top-of-the-endurance-tree Synapse a racier proposition and far from compromise the comfort — in fact, on the Hi-Mod its most certainly enhanced.
Cannondale seems to have compressed these seemingly disparate categories and blurred the lines between what's race and what's endurance to the point where choosing either option won't mean compromising on the benefits of the other.
The Synapse is a very capable climber with an impressive level of stiffness through the drivetrain
For a confidence boosting machine designed for seriously fast downhill runs, the new Synapse is right up there with our Bike of the Year winner the Specialized Roubaix and Superbike of the Year Trek Domane.
When you're getting into the higher and steeper slopes of Alpine climbs then SRAM's Red eTap WiFli 11-32 cassette starts to make a lot of sense
That the Synapse is doing this with simplicity of design, and without the mechanical suspension aids of its two big endurance rivals, is impressive stuff — but the Roubaix and Domane may have the edge on the Synapse when it comes to the cobbles and sub-par surfaces. However, that in no way diminishes what is another truly exciting and very, very clever ride from the very, very clever people at Cannnodale.
