Cannondale Synapse Carbon Apex

Here's the thing about the claims Cannondale make for the comfort of the Synapse: they're accurate. This is a really smooth-riding bike.

If you've been into bikes longer than five minutes, you'll know that pretty much every manufacturer claims that pretty much every road bike in their range is laterally stiff and vertically compliant. They transfer power spectacularly well and steer as if they're on rails, but they're as comfortable as a soft featherbed. It's almost as if some of them know what you want to hear and say it, regardless of the bike's actual characteristics. Almost.

The Synapse, though, is a genuinely smooth ride. Cannondale have got the comfort sorted. Of course, you're not going to jump on this bike and have the frame drop down as if you were climbing aboard a full suspension mountain bike. No, it's subtle. You won't even notice it to begin with. But after a while you start to realize that you're feeling... well, comfortable. And you stay feeling comfortable.

Yes, you can get rattled about on this bike. Of course you can. You can feel a bit battered and achy at times... Just not as soon as normal and not as much as normal.

So how do Cannondale achieve this? Good question. I'll answer it. First, the Synapse comes with SAVE Plus stays. SAVE stands for Synapse Active Vibration Elimination - the marketing department must be very proud of that one. Plus stands for... well, nothing. It's just that this is a development of the original SAVE design.

Cannondale call SAVE Plus a 'micro suspension system'. Okay, fair enough, but don't be disappointed by the lack of coil springs. What they mean is that the stays 'feature a flattened area that can deflect vertically to absorb road buzz and shock while the increased width resists side-to-side and torsional flex.'

Told you: laterally stiff and vertically compliant. The profile of each chainstay is flattened down so it's much wider than it is tall. The idea is, it'll flex up and down much easier than sideways. A picture's worth a thousand words so take a look at the photo to save me gibbering on about it.

The seatsays take the scenic route from the dropouts to the seat tube, weaving about all over the place and possibly stopping for a picnic on the way. I'm not convinced this makes a whole heap of difference to the performance - or any difference at all, come to that - but that's impossible to assess. They're certainly skinny, and that lack of material doubtless does contribute to the flex back there.

The second aspect of the SAVE Plus system is the MultiFlex seatpost. Right... the bottom of the post has an aero profile, the same as the seat tube. Then it tapers right in so most of the exposed section is super slim to adds a bit of flex.

The seatpost is actually available in two different types, one firmer than the other. Cannondale fit the firmer one to size 56cm bikes and above on the basis that larger riders will flex this one as much as a smaller rider flexes the soft one. If you like, you can buy the other version aftermarket to fine-tune the ride, although a price for this has yet to be set.

Whichever post you go for, it comes with a removable alloy saddle clamp. What's the point of that? If the saddle is too high and you can't lower the seatpost into the frame any further because of the change in profile, you can cut the top off the seat post then put the saddle clamp back in place.

The final aspect of the SAVE Plus system is the fork which doesn't actually look all that distinctive. Examine it closely and you'll see that the dropout is off centre. Does that make a difference? Maybe. I'd set more store on the fact that the carbon lay up is designed for 'increased vertical deflection and vibration absorption with no loss of steering precision.' You know what that means, don't you?

I didn't actually notice any difference in the level of comfort at the front end of this bike compared to any other. If it is there, it's marginal. As far I'm concerned, it's the back end of this bike where the added comfort is.

So, there you go, that's the SAVE Plus system and although you'll probably feel sceptical, it does work. We're not talking about bags of deep, plush suspension, we're talking about a ride that's a touch more forgiving than usual with slightly less buzz. That's why Liquigas-Cannondale riders often use the Synapse rather than the SuperSix over the cobbles in races like Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. The marketing guys doubtless encourage that but the benefits are real.

So far I've focused exclusively on the SAVE Plus system but the Synapse is far from a one trick pony...

There are nine Synapse bikes in the range, the cheapest three built around alloy frames. Of the six carbon models, the top two - in Shimano Dura-Ace and SRAM Red builds - use high modulus carbon. This Apex version is the cheapest of the carbon models. Pay more and you can get Shimano 105 or Ultegra built, or go for SRAM Rival.

Although it's still very much a performance-orientated bike, the Synapse's geometry is designed to offer a ride position that's a little more upright than the SuperSix's. The head tube on the 56cm model is 18cm, for example, compared to 15.5cm on the SuperSix, and the head tube angle is half a degree slacker.

The reach - the horizontal distance from the bottom bracket to the top of the head tube - is a touch shorter (38.6cm rather than 39.4cm) and the stack - the vertical distance from the bottom bracket to the top of the head tube - is a little higher (56.6cm versus 56.0cm).

We had a stack of headset spacers to play with too, which I promptly swapped from underneath the stem to above it to lower the compact handlebar and get a position I was happy with. Don't get me wrong, the Synapse's ride position isn't as upright as something like the Specialized Roubaix's, but it's a little less head-down than normal.

The head tube isn't tapered, it houses 1 1/8in bearings at each end although you'd do well to notice much difference from an oversized design in use. As you might expect, the bottom bracket is a BB30, the standard that Cannondale themselves introduced to the world. The shell is a chunky piece of work that holds everything firm when you pile on the power. I could induce very little in the way of sway even when I stuck the bike into a too-hard gear and swung off the pedals.

Speaking of gears (I know; seamless!), this bike's SRAM Apex groupset comes in fetching white, matching the frame perfectly. I think it looks cool. In terms of performance, the most obvious feature here is the size of the gears. The compact FSA Omega chainset (50/34T) is hooked up to an 11-32T cassette.

When you're in the small chainring and the biggest sprocket, you're less cycling and more winching. You could ride up walls in that combination (that's hyperbole; don't try it). You might be glad of it, you might not. One thing's for sure, you'll never run out of gears even on the last steep climb of a hilly sportive.

The Synapse climbs well anyway. Weighing in at 18.3lb (8.32kg), it's not the lightest sub-£2,000 bike out there but it's not heavy either. That super-wide cassette means there are a couple of big jumps between the smaller gears that take some getting used to. You go from 24T to 32T in one go which can knock you off your rhythm, so it's probably a good idea to hold that big sprocket in reserve until you need to get out of jail free.

One final thing to mention: the wheels. The Synapse comes equipped with Shimano RS10s which are certainly entry level and not especially light - you're looking at about 1,850g for the pair - but the hubs are good.

Rather than sealed bearings, the hubs use angular contact bearings that you can adjust precisely. The seals work well too. These aren't the fastest wheels in the world but as long as you give them a quick once-over occasionally they should last for ages.

Verdict

Smooth-riding performance bike for getting in the big miles in comfort