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You can depend on certain things from Cannondale. The bike will function, for example, and that’s not always a given. You never hear said about a Cannondale, “You’ve got to ride an 11-tooth first position cog or the chain will rub,” or “If you try to ride anything wider than a 20mm tire there’s not enough clearance.” Don’t laugh. Each of those comments is true about well-known tri bikes that cost more than C'dale's $3500 Slice3 bike. Cannondales are tested and retested, and so are the parts hung on them. No bike company -- none -- does this better than C’dale. GEOMETRIES There are two geometries represented in Cannondale's tri bike lineup. There's the '06 geometry, and the '07 specs that are actually in stores right now (July, '06), depending on the model. The Slice 3, which is the lesser expensive of C'dale's true tri bikes, is the older geometry. I'll explain what each geometry represents. As regards the '07 geometry, Cannondale is heading in two geometric directions at once, one counter to the trend we see in triathlon, the other ahead of the trend. Counter to the trend, seat angles got slacker -- 2 degrees slacker -- in between its 2006 and 2007 model years. Indeed I considered the 2006 C'dales among the most progressive and well-conceived geometries of any tri bike company going (this geometry is still found in the current Slice 3). And Faris Al Sultan must have liked this geometry too, riding this bike to Kona victory (and winning the race on the bike, a rarity in Kona in the men's field). IRONMAN® 3 SLICE AERO This is a $2000 complete bike, and the one obvious question is, why would one spend this much on a 105 10sp bike? Well, for one, the bike is a geometric winner. Remember, this is the geometry we like. And, it's got Profile's Carbon Stryke clip-ons, a Fizik Arione saddle, and you do get an Ultegra rear derailleur tossed in there. It's a solid value, solidly built, with no spec holes. SIX13 SLICE 2 This is a largely Ultegra-equipped bike, and one thing nice about Cannondale is its attention to usable, functional spec. The saddle is a Fizik Arione Tri, tires are Hutchinsons, Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheels. Nothing needing change here. SIX13 SLICE 1 This Six13 Slice Si frame is hung with some nice jewelry at the Slice 1 position. It's a Dura Ace 10-speed bike, with Cannondale's Carbon si crank. Let's talk about that crank for a moment. Some years back Cannondale came out with that was a really good idea. It made the bottom bracket bigger, allowing the bearings to be bigger. I immediately like its crank/BB system. It seems this idea was ahead of its time, when one considers the industry's trend, which is for bearings to be placed outboard of the BB shell. Cannondale's idea was frankly better, because while each system places less stress on the bearings, C'dale's does it without adding width to the bike. CONCLUSION Cannondale makes really great bikes, and it's a fine company. We really only have one bone to pick: geometrically, Cannondale had it figured out in 2006. That bike had geometries as nice as any ever built in production. That's the bike that won Kona. It would've been nice to see that geometry survive that performance by more than a few months.
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The 77-degree seat angles fell back to 75 degrees, and its more/less straight posts were replaced by a 3cm fore/aft post (adjacent) that gives you either 77-78 degrees or 72-73 degrees. This makes this bike less worthwhile to triathletes (according to us) if used with either a set-back or straight post, and only useful when the bike is in its set-forward position. In truth, we could say the same thing about Cervelo's P2SL, so why are we picking on C'dale's geometry scheme? Cervelo's geometry is built around the 78-degree seat angle, and the rest of this bike's geometry is optimized at a shallower angle we don't think many people will ride.
Cannondale's steering geometry represents a trend-setting direction we like. Indeed, were it not for this, it would be hard to consider this bike much improved over simply retrofitting a road race bike with tri geometry. But this stable, straight-ahead steering allows a rider like Faris to ride this bike in a set-up he'd choose (though we still contend last year's geometry was more "Faris-specific").
And the aero bars feature the most ergonomic S-bends going, the Profile T2 Cobra. From the saddle to the aero bar ends, every place you touch this bike is going to feel comfortable to you.
The SLICE 1 is outfitted with Zipp 404 clincher wheels, and this perpetuates a spec habit I wish companies would avoid. QR's Caliente and Zipp's B2 also have this wheel, and while these are all nice bikes with undeniably nice wheels, is it certain this is the make, model and style of race wheel you'll want? Why not also spec an expensive aero helmet with the bike or, better yet, why not force to to fly to France and enter the Ironman in Nice if you buy the bike? It's certainly a worthwhile idea, but what if that's not what you'll choose to do? Race wheels are a separate purchase.
You can get Cannondale's Hollowgram Si SRM crank with this bike if you want, and it'll set you back an extra $2500. That option is really a pretty good idea, for a couple of reasons. First, an SRM will usually cost you north of $3000, so you get something between $500 and $1000 off by getting the Cannondale's version. Second, you get that nice crank/BB technology I wrote of above, arguably making this the best of several available SRM'd cranksets.
