Cannondale RUSH Ltd 1 – £4,199

Most people will remember the time they saw their first Cannondale. For me it was the mid nineties, and a rocking Killer V – I desperately wanted one. Cannondale have always been right at the front of the innovation wave, and this year are celebrating 35 years of being out at (or very near) the front.

So where did it all start 35 years ago? In a Connecticut pickle factory, 1971, and the long line of MTBs started life as a bicycle trailer, the perhaps ill-advisedly named Bugger. It was much later in 1983 when the first bike rolled out of the factory, in the shape of an aluminium touring bike. Cannondale continued to work soley in aluminium, and made huge fat downtubes and super smooth welds its trademark.

It was in 1992 that it introduced the world to the HeadShok front suspension system. And the company has had more than its fair share of success on the race scene too – Myles Rockwell, Alison Sydor, Tinker Juarez and Missy Giove are just a few of the racers who have won races aboard Cannondales.

So, to celebrate this landmark, Cannondale have launched a special limited edition extra bling version of the Rush. And damn, it looks good. There’ll be two models available, the range topper LTD 1 will be decked out in the finest SRAM X.O, limited edition black Mavic CrossMax wheels, a Fox RP3 shock and a Lefty Carbon 110 DLR fork up front, and cost a hefty £4,199. The significantly cheaper Ltd 2, at £2,399, will get SRAM X.0/X.7 instead of the X.O. To ensure these are very special bikes, Cannondale are only producing 35 of the Ltd 1, and 400 Ltd 2’s.

You can find out more about these bikes at www.cannondale.com.