My Cannondale Slice 105 2010

So I’ve waited about 4 years to purchase a carbon fibre bike. With my recent interest in duathlon, and my occasional dabble into time trials I thought it prudent to purchase an awesome bike which would fair me well in these disciplines (predominantly duathlons). Behold my Cannondale Slice 105…

Now, in my mind, unless you have about 5 grand to spend, you either get a good bike with good kit and wheels or you get an awesome bike with mediocre kit and wheels. I always opt for the latter. I would much rather have a really great frame and fork that I can upgrade as time progresses. The Slice 105 is just that, it comes with Shimano 105 gearset which is actually a little disappointing performance wise if you are used to Ultegra or Dura-Ace. But since the bike comes with Dura-Ace bar end shifters, you only really need to upgrade the cassette and rear derailleur to get some awesome shifting performance up and running (not to mention dropping some weight).

However, the worst piece of kit on this bike was the wheels. Fulcrum Race 7’s. They are not the ones pictured above by the way, those are my new Mavic Cosmic Carbone’s but more about those in a second or two. The Fulcrum Race 7’s are a really awful wheel, heavy and dull to ride. Sure they are strong but so is a bus. The worst thing about the wheelset is the freewheel – it is louder than one of those old skool football rattles. And I’m not exaggerating. It is literally embarrassingly loud. I suppose it motivates you to keep peddling, but I couldn’t put up with it.

So I purchased the Mavic Cosmic Carbone’s and some continental triathlon tyres. Oh my god! What a difference this made, the bike was absolutely transformed. These are great wheels, aero, smooth rolling and stiff. For the money I believe they are the best value aero wheel around. For me I wanted aluminium rims so that braking wouldn’t be an issue (as it can be with full carbon wheels – especially in the wet). At 1700 grams they are not the lightest but they are 200 grams lighter than the Fulcrums that they replaced, plus at the same time I upgraded to an Ultegra cassette so another 100 grams came off there. As for the tyres, they too are awesome – very light and extremely sticky. They roll extremely well and corner beautifully. They have absolutely no tread on whatsoever though so wet conditions may be interesting hehe.

All in all I am loving this bike. It took a while to get the right riding position for me but now that I have it, it’s awesome. The ride is silky smooth thanks to the S.A.V.E stays. When I put power down there is no flex and the all the power is transferred to the wheels thanks to the BB30 bottom bracket. When I jump off the bike at the end of the ride, I still feel like I could put in a fast run, which ultimately is what this bike is designed for.

If you’re scouring the internet looking to get one. Well good luck – especially in a size 58cm, they are pretty much sold out in the UK. This is mostly due to Chrissie Wellington smashing records on this bike, and Triathlon Plus giving it rave reviews. I searched and searched for it. In the end I bought it from biker-boarder which is based in Denmark I think. I was nervous about this but they actually gave me a really great service. Plus they offer free postage to the U.K. and because they sell in Euros, I saved nearly £300 on the bike!!! Bonus!

Happy Cycling guys! I’m off for a spin :-)