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TECH NEWS

Cannondale launch new Slice time trial/triathlon bike

Cannondale's Slice has been updated significantly and is available in five builds foe 2015

Just a couple of years ago Cannondale launched the futuristic Slice RS, but for 2015 it will no longer be available in the UK. Instead they're offering a brand new Slice with features that ensures it will appeal to multi-sport types.

Another significant change is that it's available in five models. Prices start at £1,999 for a Shimano 105 build - pictured here - and rise all the way to £7,499 for the Black Inc model with a full Dura-Ace Di2 groupset and Vision deep-section wheels.

Why have Cannondale dropped the Slice RS and focused on the regular Slice? Because very few people are buying time trial bikes for the purpose of competing in time trials, Cannondale tell us. Instead it’s triathlon - including Ironman - that is driving demand for these bikes. If further evidence were needed, this bike isn’t UCI-legal so don’t expect to see the team racing it; they’ll continue to use the Slice RS.

As well as providing a wider range of price points, Cannondale have focused on improving the Slice with features that will appeal to multi-sport athletes. In a nutshell that means it's user friendly and easy to adjust, so the Slice uses a conventional stem and base bar setup, not the integrated front-end of the Slice RS. That removes the hassle involved in not only assembly but also in changes to the fit.

Cannondale have developed TAP (Truncated Aero Profile) for the new Slice. You can see it most in the down tube. It has the sort of teardrop profile with a chopped off tail that we’re seeing on most of the latest time trial and aero road bikes.

The seat tube, which now hugs the rear wheel very closely, has what Cannondale calls a "windtunnel channel". This is a feature first seen on the Slice RS - a recess channel in the back of the seat tube facing the tyre - and the idea is to “reduce pressure drag caused by air packing up between the spinning wheel and frame.”

How much this feature and the TAP tube profiles makes in the wind tunnel is something we don’t know. Cannondale offer no aero claims, but we’ve contacted them to see if they do have any data.

Comfort is important if you’re doing an Ironman event - with its 112-mile bike leg - so Cannondale have developed Aero SAVE (Synapse Active Vibration Elimination) for the rear stays and fork. These are designed to provide more compliance to smooth out imperfections in the road.

The Naero Tech seatstays are really skinny, just 8mm wide, and to achieve this they’re solid, not hollow. This makes the bike non-UCI legal. AeroPlane chainstays have been designed to be both aero and compliant. The new fork has an offset dropout which Cannondale claims helps to “eliminate road buzz and bumps.”

Another change is the non-tapered head tube, it’s a traditional 1 1/8in design that allows the frontal surface area to be reduced. It's very narrow from the front. 

The frame is constructed from the same Ballistic carbon fibre that Cannondale use in the SuperSix Evo. Cannondale claim this makes it one of the lightest frames in this category, but they don’t specify the actual frame weight. We’ve requested it, however, so we’ll let you know when we do.

Cannondale have partnered with Guru, the fit specialists, to develop what it reckons is the ideal position.

“The resulting design keeps the rider more centred on the bike while in a true aero position for the best possible stability, handling and control,” says Cannondale.

The Slice also features a seat angle that is a couple of degrees steeper than average to keep the rider forward over the centre of the bike.

Brakes are mounted in the usual position on the front of the fork, and underneath the bottom bracket/chainstays at the back. Both brake calipers are direct mount. Other details include full internal cable routing, the cables entering through a new aero headset top cap, and an integrated seat clamp.

The aero seatpost provides two clamping options and a water bottle carrier can easily be fitted. The new Slice is available in five sizes from 48 to 60cm.

The bike pictured is the entry-level model with a Shimano 105 groupset, Shimano RS11 wheels and Schwalbe Lugano 25mm tyres, and an FSA Gossamer Pro 52/36 chainset. The Cannondale C3 base bar uses FSA Tri Max Team clip-on extensions with MicroShift carbon bar-end shifters and alloy aero brake levers.

More at www.cannondale.com

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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6 comments

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Ironmendo | 9 years ago
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First of all let me say I'm a big Cannondale fan since I got my first Raven 700 with Lefty fork 12 or 14 years ago and I still have my 5 Cannondale MTBs although I do not use them anymore...
But since I started on triathlon, changing from trails to Ironman roads, it's very clear to me Cannondale simply DON'T CARE, DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO, or SIMPLY HAS THE WORST TRI MARKETING MANAGERS/ENGINEERS around the whole world. Because they are always late, always late...they came with 2nd Slice generation (the first one was the Six13 Slice) only in 2007 when Cervelo P3 carbon already had almost 5 five years on the market...and let's say the true, the all carbon Slice brought nothing new. A good bike and nothing more.
After 6 (yeah, six) long years they came with the Slice RS and the ugliest seatpost I've ever seen.
God knows how I tried to like the new RS but I could't. As the "new" Slice, the RS has a lot of things which bugs me a lot and are inadmissible nowadays on the TT/tri-bikes market. One of them is the big gap between the edge of the front wheel and the downtube/fork. Come on...you do not have to have a Harward degree to know that...
But there are others...and related to the "new" Slice, no hydration system, exposed brakes and the starting $2700.00 price (no comments)...it's a shame for a company which brought Lefty forks to life...I expected much more, and still dreaming about complete an Ironman bike course on a Cannondale someday which it's impossible currently with these bikes offered.

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giobox | 9 years ago
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I suspect once the UCI's current technical review gets finished we'll see a lot of the innovation in triathlon bike design be permitted in UCI events, hopefully along side disc brakes and a scrapped weight limit. Manufacturers surely must be fed up of either building two models or compromising the design to let the bike work in both classes of event.

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David Arthur @d... | 9 years ago
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Just to clarify, the Slice RS won't be available in the UK next year, only in the US market

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SamSkjord replied to David Arthur @davearthur | 9 years ago
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Darn, so I'd have to import a left hand drive one and swap the bars round  7

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Al__S | 9 years ago
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as this is a 2015 bike the team will be fine to keep using their 2014 Slice RS bikes for, erm, 2014.

As to the seat-stays, it could be that the manufacturer has had the nod and wink from the UCI that the rules will be changed to allow skinny solid seat stays starting next year.

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SamSkjord | 9 years ago
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"this bike isn’t UCI-legal so don’t expect to see the team racing it; they’ll continue to use the Slice RS."

That doesn't sound totally legal, UCI rule 1.3.007;
Bicycles and their accessories shall be of a type that is sold for use by anyone practising cycling as a sport

As a result of production imperatives (time constraints), an exception may be requested from the UCI for equipment that is a final product and that will be marketed in the nine months after its first use in competition.

Or is it ok because it used to be available?
Either way, it's a shame, I loved the crazy look of the RS.

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