Cannondale Six13 or Synapse?

[rayhuang]

Heres a twist-before buying the Six13 I read a ton of reviews (as well as riding the bike for two days on my own) and one thing that stuck out on the Six13 reviews was the weight. 16 lbs out of the store and 15 lbs with some parts changes. Well my 52cm weighs 17.6 lbs (which is fine, but besides the point) with the Ultegra/Dura-ace grouppo, SI carbon crank, Ritchey WCS alum. bar, Thomson Elite post and Specialized Toupe team saddle, Speedplays and my DT240 hub,RR1.1 rims and Rubino pro tires. I am switching to Rival today and that will drop it to 17.2 or so, but what scale did these guys use to get there Six13's so light out of the store?? I know mine was 18lbs with the stock wheels and other components out of the store. It will take another $1000 to drop my bike another 1 + lbs!!


Ray

 

[Bigbananabike]

either frame will be fine for racing no matter what level you get to. Lampre-Cafitta used six13's in 2005 and I think Barloworld are riding them this year.

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Barloworld are using the new System 6 with more aluminium = stiffer frame.

 

[vascdoc]

Heres a twist-before buying the Six13 I read a ton of reviews (as well as riding the bike for two days on my own) and one thing that stuck out on the Six13 reviews was the weight. 16 lbs out of the store and 15 lbs with some parts changes. Well my 52cm weighs 17.6 lbs (which is fine, but besides the point) with the Ultegra/Dura-ace grouppo, SI carbon crank, Ritchey WCS alum. bar, Thomson Elite post and Specialized Toupe team saddle, Speedplays and my DT240 hub,RR1.1 rims and Rubino pro tires. I am switching to Rival today and that will drop it to 17.2 or so, but what scale did these guys use to get there Six13's so light out of the store?? I know mine was 18lbs with the stock wheels and other components out of the store. It will take another $1000 to drop my bike another 1 + lbs!!


Ray

It depends on which version of the six-thirteen you have. I have the Team 1 2005 full Durace. With Look Keo pedals it weights under 16 lbs. The frames are all the same but the parts vary. For example I visited the Cannondale web site and the top of the line 2007 Six-Thirteen does not come with the quality of wheels that I have on my 2005 bike. The new System six is paired with the higher quality parts. I know that the System six frame has approximately a .25 lbs weight saving relative to the Six-Thirteen.

 

[sogood]

According to LBS, there's no cost disadvantage to build your bike up from the frame up at SystemSIX's price range. Will see...

 

[LBCBJ]

Whenever i read posts comparing the synapse to the six13 i find it funny that some think the synapse is a comfort bike with relaxed geometry. Sure it's marketed that way but if you take the time to compare the geometry numbers on cannondales website the differences are so nominal that there really is no difference. For example, head tube length. A popular claim is that the synapse has a taller head tube giving it a more relaxed riding position but the difference between the synapse & the six13 is 8mm. That's this much [....], not a very noticable difference in my book and if you think your back is going to be saved by that 8mm, it isn't. Another claim is the six13 being so much stiffer than the synapse. below are some numbers from the german Tour Magazin testing "light framesets", sub 1500g frames & forks (synapse missed the mark by 82g). When you compare the stiffness numbers of the synapse it fits in the list somewhere between the Isaac, the Scott, & the Cube. The synapse test results are below the list.

Manufacturer/Model | Fork | Pts | Head Tube Lateral stiffness | BB stiffness | lateral stiffness of the fork | weight frame+headset(!)/fork | comfort
Canyon Ultimate F10 Limited SL Smolik Motivation Race 71Pts 114Nm/° 131Nm/° 54N/mm 1179g/305g 3
Cérvelo R3 Cérvelo 67Pts 92Nm/° 122Nm/° 47N/mm 975g/376g 2
Storck Scenario CD 1.0 Stiletto Light UMS 63Pts 83Nm/° 106Nm/° 48N/mm 1205g/286g 3
Red Bull X-Lite 8000 Red Bull 60Pts 89Nm/° 103Nm/° 43N/mm 1068g/424g 2
Isaac Sonic LTD. Isaac 58Pts 74Nm/° 93Nm/° 48N/mm 1048g/406g 1
Scott CR1 Team Issue Scott CR1 56Pts 89Nm/° 101Nm/° 42N/mm 1001g/406g 1
Cube Litening GTC "SCR Edition" THM Scapula SP 54Pts 82Nm/° 99Nm/° 37N/mm 1224g/273g 3
Look KG 585 Ultra "Crédit Agricole" Look HSC5 SL 53Pts 67Nm/° 98Nm/° 43N/mm 1168g/327g 2
Time VXRS Ulteam Time Avant Ulteam Safe+ 52Pts 61Nm/° 88Nm/° 47N/mm 1098g/360g 1
Felt F1C Carbon Easton EC90-SLX 50Pts 63Nm/° 94Nm/° 34N/mm 1064g/283g 4
KTM Strada LC Prime KTM LC 49Pts 83Nm/° 92Nm/° 31N/mm 1163g/337g 4
Storck Scenario C 0.9 "10th Anniversary" Stiletto Light 47Pts 66Nm/° 92Nm/° 38N/mm 1181g/292g 2
Poison Speed Easton EC90 SLX 39Pts 48Nm/° 85Nm/° 33N/mm 1186g/282g 4
Santana Stylus Easton EC90 SLX 39Pts 59Nm/° 72Nm/° 33N/mm 1213g/287g 4

Cannondale Synapse Carbon Carbon S.A.V.E. 64Pts 71Nm/° 99Nm/° 50Nm/° 1184g/398g 7

the only information i could find on the six13 is when the caad7 frame was tested but i'll put it up anyway. i have read that the newer caad8 frame is supposed to be lighter than the caad7 frame but i can't find any stiffness numbers. cannondales website has the new six13 frame weight at 1190g & the synapse at 1090g.

Cannondale Six/13 premium carbon 60Pts 68Nm/° 91Nm/° 44Nm/° 1340g/326g 7


whew. now with all that said, i own a synapse and i rode the six/13 and the r5000 caad8 before buying my synapse (back to back, 15 miles each, exact same route). truthfully i couldnt tell much af a difference between any of them. i wanted carbon, i liked the way the black synapse looked so i went with it. just dont be fooled by the relaxed/comfort claims.

Thank you for a voice of reason! I went to my LBS yesterday convinced that I wanted a Six13 based on all of the chatter I'd heard about it...hadn't given the Synpase Carbon a thought due to the notion of it being a "plush" or "performance" bike. Rode nearly every cannondale in the store, and could feel no difference between the all-aluminum CAAD 9 and the Six13. Got on the Synapse just for the hell of it and WHAM! I instantly connected with it...yet I agonized over the voice in the back of my head saying "this is not a race bike, this is not a race bike". BS. The synapse felt everybit as race-ready as the Six13, and personally it felt even nimbler due to its lighter weight. Asethically, it looked better too - sleeker, fewer decals, glossy. Plus, let's face it, carbon fiber is the material of choice for top-of-the-line bikes, at least for the near future until an even better material is developed.

My advice would be to rid your head of all these false, preconcieved notions and just go with your gut. Mine told me to go with the Synpase Carbon!