Cannondale Moto Carbon 1 Mountain Bike – Reviews

About Cannondale Mountain Bike

Cannondale is the world’s most renowned mountain bike manufacturer, specialised in designing and manufacturing high-end performance bikes. They are well known in the specialisation of aluminium touring and racing frame design with natural stiffness. This aluminium technology has a light weight structure and good for all day hard drives, specially used on full suspension MTB. After pioneering its stance in the aluminium frame design, Cannondale also started to develop carbon fibre composite mountain bike frames for their specialised bikes. In recent years Cannondale has launched some carbon mountain bike series with major engineering developments that delivers a perfect mix of exact strength and weight distribution. Cannondale Moto Carbon 1 Mountain Bike with 160mm of travel is a remarkable all-mountain-bike with updated geometric structure and a new force distribution technology.

Cannondale Full Suspension Mountain Bike

Cannondale Moto 1 is the best alternative all purpose mountain bike for those who want to drive light weight mountain bikes with a balanced strength on a challenging trail. The frame geometry is accurately designed with the carbon fibre composite material that delivers a perfect blend of stiffness and strength. The stiffness would enhance the performance of the suspension and the strength would help one to handle the bike in hard rocky trails. This full suspension mountain bike is made with 160 mm of travel, which is considered to be the maximum suspension size for all terrain mountain bikes. This mountain bike weighs less then 30 pounds and matches well with the 6inch front and rear travel suspension. It has an interesting structural design with a geometrical tweak in the mid-section.

Instead of dual suspension, this Cannondale mountain bike is specially made with a rear single pivot suspension system and connected with new links layout. This updated new links would work together and hone the action of the rear single pivot suspension, which accurately responds to small bumps. At the same time the suspension would perform full action and lowers the bottom bracket shell for better control over tight technical terrain. This enables the bike wheels to stay on the ground with firm traction and absorbs the large shocks when jump landing.

Mountain Bike – Carbon Frame

The entire front triangle frame with oversized asymmetric head tube is made with composite carbon fibre except the threaded bottom BB shell mount, which is made up of aluminium. The large sized BB shell and lower suspension pivot is made up of carbon and even the braces that attach them together come with carbon fibre. The specially designed triangular link plate that has been attached on the top of the shock is purely carbon fibre. This Cannondale mountain bike has external side fibre braces that combine with the lower pivot suspension and large sized bottom brocket junction, which together give great stiffness at the crank section. This side to side fibre braces also provide greater support to the lower shock mount, which enables the single pivot suspension perform in its full action.

This carbon mountain bike has an optional 12 mm axle dropout that keeps the frame free from the top-tube shock mount. It enhances the stiffness required for better suspension performance. The shock is driven by the linkage, which is suspended from a structure built onto the downtube. The downtube is a major engineering development and when combined with the 66.6 mm outer diameter of head tube, the suspension system is driven with maximum stiffness. The size of the chainring is built small in size in order to maximise the chain clearance.

Cannondale Bike – Hatchet Drive Suspension

Cannondale Moto full suspension mountain bike has a rear single pivot suspension design named Hatchet Drive because the link looks like a Hatchet and gives 160mm of super smooth travel. The reinforced bottom bracket and massive head tube junction are the most important points in the frame that works together and enhances the action of the linkage layout. The top end of the shock is attached to the upper link, which in turn is connected to the swing-arm through the down link. This linkage design gives a nice floating shock load to the rear single pivot suspension, which is widely different from the normal frame mounted suspension.

The linkage of this Cannondale mountain bike would engage the shock to achieve two most important jobs. The first one is the upper link attached at the top of the shock actuates the shock from two directions for better force distribution. The second job is that the linkage design would send all the shock loads towards the reinforced bottom bracket and massive head tube which acts as the strongest point in the frame. By re-orienting the shock forces on the shocks in two directions, the compression ratio would increase, breaking the seal stiction faster. Ultimately the shocks respond quickly for small jumps and absorb drops, while still performing efficiently on all challenging hard trails.

The performance of the Hatchet drive of this mountain bike is practically explained by Cannondale using regression and aggression curves. In the beginning of the travel, for effective and efficient climbing, the links perform a slight regressive curve. In the middle of the travel, the curve would flatten to produce consistent power distribution. Finally at the speed, the link provides linear feel for better pedalling performance and makes this mountain bike suitable for all mountain options and gives a bottomless feel to the riders.

Design and Components

Cannondale has years of experience in shaping Aluminium frames for better riding performance. The same is effectively added in the Cannondale Moto Carbon 1 Mountain Bike. With the light weight carbon layout and advanced industrial design, this mountain bike has a well balanced frame shape that co-relates to higher speeds. It is available in two different colours like Carbon through clear coat gloss Black mat (BLK) and Berzerker gloss green (GRN). This mountain bike is made with a Fox Shock front 160 mm suspension and rear Fox DHX Air Shocks. The crack section is occupied by Shimano XTR and the drive train comes with 9 speed. The wheel base is 26 inches in diameter and the rear derailleur and shifters come from SRAM X-0. This full suspension mountain bike is available in four different sizes – small, medium, large and extra large. New Cannondale white Mamba lock-on grips are available as extras.

Riding performance

This Cannondale mountain bike has an improved pedalling efficiency with increased acceleration, which can be seen in action when driving on fairly Rocky Mountains. With shaved weight and the boost in stiffness the rider could get a bottomless feel. The oversized head tube with 66.6 mm of outer diameter would deliver precise steering and give greater control over descent. The head tube along with the BB shell plays a vital role while picking on nasty rock gardens. The Hatchet drive with bump-gobbling linkage design would give a plush riding experience.

Our Analysis

This carbon frame Cannondale mountain bike is very expensive but considering the stiffness and light weight, it is worth the money. The carbon frame has low maintenance features and is very durable. The alloy version of the Cannondale Moto 3 and Moto 4 mountain bikes are also available which would bring the price down a bit. Cannondale Moto with 160 mm of travel is really a large mountain bike that is why Cannondale has used expensive carbon frames and less expensive alloy frames to bring down the weight. This full suspension mountain bike is the ultimate machine and suitable for those who enjoy complete mountain biking sports.