Aaron Chase, sponsored by Cannondale for several years now, has been working with the company’s designers and come up with something just a little bit different. The company of course isn’t immune to innovation and ground-breaking bike designs, a look back through its timeline reveals a history littered with mad ideas.
But this is a first. The Cannondale Chase Soft Tail takes an existing Chase hardtail and and plonks a Lefty fork in place of the top tube, creating a bike with 3in of rear travel. Match that with a 3in fork up front, and hey presto – the perfect Slopestyle bike. So says Mr Chase, and who are we to argue with him?
The entire rear triangle rotates around the main pivot which is located directly around the bottom bracket shell, so there’s no chain growth to throw out the chain length. The frame uses exactly the same geometry as the current hardtail.
“It kind of gives it a different feel”, says Chase. “it’s not like the biggest travel or anything. It’s only 3in, but the back end stays nice and tight, nice and short. And it’s no surprise the tyre will never hit the back of the seat or the seat tube. This bike is an all-around bike, and I’m stoked to get it out.”
“This has been my concept, and just thinking back to slopestyles and filming, grabbing one bike and grabbing the other bike, and both of those bikes feeling totally different. I wanted both of them to feel the same. So that’s how I came up with this design, as I wanted the back end to never change, and we put the shock as the top tube. And it’s a real fun bike. It’s nice and rigid. It’s a concept of mine, and Cannondale made it a reality.”
Will Cannondale put it into production? We’d imagine so. Watch this space…
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