It seems like ages ago that I was stood at the top of a mountain in Utah catching my breath after a half hour climb up some fabulous singletrack, taking a good look over the new Cannondale Jekyll that had just made the climb a walk in the park.
Shame then that one of the most eagerly anticipated bikes in recent years should experience considerable delays with issues pushing back its actual delivery into shops by nearly a year. But available it is now. We rushed down to Cannondale’s UK show last week to take a closer look.
It’s a bike with “two personalities” says Cannondale, and achieves this feat with a custom Fox Dyad RT2 pull-shock that offers two travel modes, 90mm and 150mm, called ‘Elevate’ and ‘Flow’ respectively – the first for climbing and the second for descending. The shock works by having two separate positive air chambers and separate damping circuits for both modes. When in Elevate the bike offers just 90mm of pert travel with its own rebound and compression adjustment, and sag reduced by 40%. In the 150mm Flow setting both air chambers are utilised with a more linear spring rate that closely resembles that of a coil shock.
For the frame Cannondale use ‘BallisTec’ carbon fibre, claimed to be super tough to act as a shield to defend against rock strikes, while high modulus fibres are strategically placed to increase stiffness. There are 15mm bolt-thru axles in the shock linkage and swingarm pivot, with the bearings placed as wide as possible in the frame, part of Cannondale’s ECS-TC System to ensure maximum stiffness through the frame. The rear dropouts get double bearings and a unique linkage-bearing preload system.
First ride impressions
This review was first published on 29 June 2010.
We rode was the second rung bike, the Jekyll Hi-Mod 1. It was shod with a Fox 32 Talas RLC Fit 150mm fork, including a 15mm QR, and a mix of Shimano XT and FSA components. Bringing the bike to a speedy halt was the job of the able Avid Elixir CR Carbon brakes with 185mm rotors bolted to a Crank Brothers wheelset (this may change on production models). Tyres were the grippy Schwalbe Nobby Nics.
Other models available include the range-topping Ultimate, for which you get SRAM XX throughout Cannondale SI Hollowgram SL cranks, RockShox Reverb seatpost, Syntace finishing parts and Avid Elixir XO brakes. The Hi-Mod 2 gets SRAM X7, Cannondale finishing parts, SunRingle wheels and an FSA Afterburner chainset.
The lightness of the bike and the clever gubbins inside the shock was immediately noticeable from the first climb, which due to the mountainous region we were staying in, went on for a good while. This offered us plenty of time to get familiar with the bike, and its dual personalities. In Elevate mode, with the geometry and suspension tightened up, climbing was a breeze, aside from the lack of oxygen to my lungs at over 2000m altitude.
Compared to other all-mountain 150mm bikes the Jekyll really does climb with the ease one would expect of a lightweight short travel XC bike. Granted, there’s no getting away from the fact you’re on a ‘big bike’, but it never felt sluggish or wandery on the steeper inclines, the front wheel never got away on the really steep trails and on the flatter stuff I could shove the bike along at a decent speed with little wasted energy.
Reach the top of the hill (or mountain, in this case) and flipping the lever sets the bike up perfectly for the ride back down. In Flow mode the bikes character changes dramatically, from that of an eager climber to one ready to get you down the hill with the biggest smile planted across your face. The suspension is impressively composed and felt bottomless, the geometry was spot on with accurate turn in and confidence inspiring steering, it made for an impressive transformation.
It really was a lot of fun. So much so that the UK journos and our host Mike Cotty just had to make use of one of the working Gondolas and repeat one section of Black graded singletrack descent, ‘Holly’s Trail’ several times. We might have been late for dinner, but it was worth it, for the fun we were having on the Jekyll.
Prices and specs
There are four models in the range, with two aluminium options. The top-end Jekyll Carbon 1 is fully loaded with a Fox 32 Talas RLC FIT fork, Mavic Crossmax ST wheels, Shimano XT/XTR, Avid Elixir 9 Carbon, RockShox Reverb and Schwalbe Hans Dampf tyres.
At the other end of the price scale is the Jekyll 4, with a Smartformed Alloy frame, RockShox Sektor TK fork, SunRingle wheels, Avid Elixir 3 brakes, SRAM X5/X7 parts and Cannondale finishing kit.
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