Cannondale SuperSix Evo Hi-Mod 1 review (2024)

It’s safe to say the Cannondale SuperSix Evo has a pretty decent heritage. Thanks to its well-rounded performance characteristics, in its decade-plus lifespan the model has amassed plenty of pro wins and built a reputation as one of the best-riding race bikes on the market.

That said, when this bike launched earlier in the year, four years had passed since its last update. At the performance end of the market that’s a long time. Almost all the brand’s main competitors had launched new bikes since then, but Cannondale says it hasn’t been short of new ideas.

The latest SuperSix Evo is evidence of that, for the bike comes to market introducing plenty of novel design features and considerable claims of improved performance.

For the full introduction to the bike, be sure to check out our Cannondale SuperSix launch story and deep dive into the frameset development but in short, the new bike is said to be lighter and more aero than before, despite being just as stiff and comfortable.

Cannondale SuperSix Evo frameset and build

The new SuperSix Evo frameset design contains a host of interesting features that we explore in depth in this dedicated feature. Despite its novel design, most the of the frameset’s features facilitate conventional interaction with auxiliary components, such as the fork’s Delta steerer, whose clamping zone is normal in diameter.

The Lab71 and Hi-Mod 1 frameset variants use Cannondale’s new carbon ‘SystemBar R-One’ integrated bar and stem, whereas the builds below use conventional bars (that only require a port at the rear of the stem clamping zone to allow cables through) and Cannondale’s new alloy Conceal stem.

The Hi-Mod 1, despite sitting below the Lab71 in terms of frame material, uses a top tier SRAM Red AXS groupset to rival the more expensive bike’s Shimano Dura-Ace Di2.

Groupset aside, the spec is largely similar – aside from the less premium Prologo Dimension Nack NDR saddle, (versus the Lab71’s Fizik Vento Argo 00) the Hi-Mod 1’s Cannondale SystemBar R-One co*ckpit and Cannondale C1 Aero 40 Carbon seatpost are the same, as are the Continental GP5000 tyres.

The two bikes share the new flagship HollowGram 50 R-SL wheels too. Developed by Cannondale, these use a rim shape with a 21mm internal width but a wide 32mm outer width. Together with their middling 50mm depth, they aim to offer a smooth transition from tyre to rim to improve aerodynamics.

The wheels are competitively light at a claimed 1,520g, and use a solid set of subcomponents too, such as DT Swiss’s Aerolite spokes and 240 hub internals.

The bike also makes use of ReGrip bottle cages and Gripper bottles. The cages are normal, but the bottles have the sides shaved off, making them pseudo-rectangular in profile to correspond to the width of the SuperSix’s down tube.

Cannondale Super Six Evo geometry

Before we get into the specifics, a point to note is that for the new SuperSix Evo Cannondale has consolidated the 60 and 62cm bikes into one 61cm size. The brand says it can achieve the same fit by varying componentry and given how comparatively few bikes it sells in those sizes, saw an opportunity to reduce its offering without affecting customers.

Hopefully the cost saving the move presumably created is passed on to customers.

Given the substantial changes almost everywhere else in the design, it’s both a surprise and a relief to see that Cannondale has carried over the SuperSix Evo’s geometry unchanged into the new model, as well as retained its generous 34mm tyre clearance, and that in turn preserves the bike’s beautiful handling out on the road.

Both the fit and handling geometry are bang-on what you’d expect for a race bike. On a size 56, stack is a low-but-accessible 574mm and reach is a middling 390mm, while the 73° head angle paired with 45mm of fork offset and the specced 25mm tyre size creates a trail of 57mm, which is in turn nestled within a 992mm wheelbase.

Riding the Cannondale SuperSix Evo

The string of numbers in the section above might sound like impenetrable jargon, but the takeaway is their cumulative effect on the new bike’s handling, which remains as supremely intuitive as the SuperSix Evos that have come before it. The SuperSix is so nicely balanced that to initiate a turn, there’s more of a sense of shifting your weight at your hips than there is actually steering the bars, for the bike responds so harmoniously to rider direction that technical riding verges on feeling instinctive rather than anything the rider needs to concentrate on achieving.

This feeling of confidence is supported by the bike’s comfort. I wouldn’t be able to say confidently without some back-to-back testing, but it doesn’t feel significantly different to this bike’s predecessor, which was regarded as pretty pleasant by race bike standards. This is surprising given the increased seatpost depth, which I had expected would make the new bike a little harsher. Cannondale’s aerodynamics design engineer, Nathan Barry, says this bike achieves the same compliance levels, but gets there in a more complex way than just the seatpost flex of the old bike.

‘We dropped the chainstays further away from the top tube junction on the seat tube and made the seat tube very thin in profile near the bottom bracket junction, to encourage it to flex like a leaf spring,’ he says. ‘That flex can then be carried up into saddle to help with comfort. It’s a concept we learned from the development of the Kingpin suspension in our Topstone Carbon gravel bike.’

I’m not disputing the efficacy of Barry’s solution, but I would suggest that the small notch out of the seatpost just underneath the saddle may be doing just as much heavy lifting as any of the structural changes lower in the frame. Considering how much a seatpost contributes to the overall amount of compliance a bike offers, that little reduction in tube depth might play a disproportionate role in how happy my bum felt going over rough surfaces.

The Topstone-inspired comfort wasn’t the only cross-category creativity either. Barry says tube shapes across the frame and fork are said to be informed by the aero performance of the SystemSix aero bike, but better optimised for lighter weight. I can’t empirically vouch for the new bike’s aero claims, but I didn’t feel like I was being held back at higher speeds by anything other than my fitness.

Stiffness is another area where I don’t think the bike gave anything up, again feeling as solid underfoot as burlier bikes, despite the narrow width of the BB junction mandated by the specced BSA (ISO) bottom bracket.

‘Our knowledge of frame construction is better than ever,’ says product manager Sam Ebert. ‘BSA mandates a narrower bottom bracket junction, but we can create performance at that junction similar to wider press-fit solutions, but with the added reliability and serviceability of threaded systems.’

OK, but I still think it’s a shame a press-fit solution can’t be made to work by the brand or consumer. In my admittedly limited understanding of mechanical engineering, something like the PF86 standard allows the frame to be structurally superior, and the system is lighter too.

Calculated risk

The sleek, narrow front end plays an important role in the bike’s aero story, which has been made possible by the bike’s triangular Delta steerer. Such an extreme shape (and the industry’s history of steerer tube liability) does make me wary of failure but equally, the concept’s chequered past could be said to play in Cannondale’s favour. With such well-documented risk of a design like this, you’d like to believe the brand has taken a belt and braces approach to guarantee its success here.

Cannondale certainly seems to have taken the necessary steps, for example, using Innegra fibres to toughen the tube up, as well as submitting it to extreme test protocols. Assuming the tube is structurally sound over the long term, it seems like a good way to keep the bike’s frontal profile small because it retains almost all the adjustability and ease of maintenance of conventional front ends.

While the Hi-Mod bike I tested had the integrated co*ckpit, I’d sooner opt for Cannondale’s neat Conceal stem and run a two-piece co*ckpit for maximum adjustability and opportunity to streamline my fit. It’s great to have the option to do that, and the two-piece co*ckpits are more prevalent on the cheaper builds too, so that’s a win-win in my eyes.

Another win is the removal of the steering stopper that must have caused no end of warranty trouble in the old bike. This was a prong of metal embedded in the fork crown that physically prevented the bars turning past a certain point by butting up against a cavity in the top of the down tube. Too harsh an impact there, say, for example, like in almost any crash, could have caused the down tube to crack, so it is nice to see that risk removed in the latest bike.

It’s time to split some hairs

Indeed, there are undoubtedly a lot of large-scale triumphs for the new bike, but I feel it has been let down a little by a few details. The Shimano Di2 battery relocation for starters – sticking electronics down in an area at risk of water and dirt ingress seems like a recipe for failure. I know the sleeve uses a rubber grommet for protection but that has a drain hole in it, which by nature can act as an access point too. It isn’t unreasonable to suggest the grommet may be easily lost too.

While Cannondale says the suggested wire length will prevent the battery from falling out, it is still able to slide out partially should the grommet come off. Were this to happen it would only be a matter of time before the Di2 system sprung a leak and the rider’s gearing fails.

A somewhat related missed-mark for me is the busyness of the inside face of the down tube. There’s a largely irrelevant junction box hatch at its top, and a grommet covering a SmartSense access hole at the bottom too. It clutters up an otherwise very nicely integrated frame design, as evidenced by touches like the enclosed thru-axle thread on the non-driveside fork tip. Given that the top hatch is primarily for gearing that is a generation out of date now (Dura-Ace Di2 R9100 and Ultegra Di2 R8000), and the lower one is for a system that only received a lukewarm reception on the Synapse platform it was designed for, I’d suggest these could have been omitted without any disadvantage.

The Gripper bottles are a nice idea from an aero perspective, but practically for me they miss the mark. Their rectangular cross section necessitates fairly precise bottle reinstallation after removal, otherwise they won’t fit in the cage and will fall on the ground. They are also harder to squeeze than normal bottles too, so if this were my bike, I’d be swapping in round bottles immediately.

Sticking with the details, the top-spec builds in the Evo range come with excellent tyres, but the supplied Continental GP5000s are 25mm. I understand this is a race bike, and 25mm is still a common choice among racers, but in reality the bulk of everyone’s riding on this bike won’t be in a race.

As a prospective buyer, I’d rather receive 28mm tyres as standard. It’s a more practical size that I’d be less likely to want to swap out immediately. What’s more, amateur racers are notoriously individual and specific in their build, so Continental’s GP5000 might not be the 25mm tyre they’d use anyway.

Cannondale SuperSix Evo verdict

I would like to caveat the above 500 words or so with the qualifier that I’m splitting hairs. Despite a few head-scratching details, broadly the new SuperSix Evo seems like an excellent all-round race bike that fuses new features with existing attributes to move that platform forward considerably.

If anything, the new bike might be too good. If Cannondale’s aero claims about the bike are to be believed, I’m struggling to see a case now for the brand’s SystemSix, which isn’t much faster and is over a kilo heavier. Could Cannondale be making a similar move to Specialized and killing off its traditional aero genre? I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens.

I’d also like to touch upon the contentious topic of pricing. I know generally speaking all bikes are incredibly expensive these days, but I’d like to applaud Cannondale for pricing the SuperSix Evo comparatively keenly. The Lab71 spec might command a princely sum, but the Hi-Mod 1 is actually £1,000 cheaper than its predecessor equivalent, and those favourably priced upgrades are representative the entire way down the range.

I’ll hope for some running changes to iron out the wrinkles I found with the new bike, but even as it is, the new SuperSix Evo looks to be an exciting design that delivers on the difficult task of improving upon on already excellent bike.

• Buy Cannondale Supersix EVO LAB71 from Tredz for £12,500

Don’t miss our in-depth review of one of the new Cannondale SuperSix Evo’s main competitors, the Giant Propel Advanced SL 0

Cannondale SuperSix Evo Hi-Mod 1 spec