I’ve just sold my tri bike and I’ve got my eye on the new Cannondale Super Six and the 2019 System Six - both in the ultegra mechanical model.
Would love to hear peoples’ thoughts and opinions on the two bikes. Live in New England, plan to use the bike primarily for training. I will likely buy a new tri bike at some point in the future, but just finished my last race of the season and don’t have any races on the calendar for next year yet.
I vaguely remember the conclusion from the specialized wind tunnel podcast being that the aero bike will be faster in a majority of situations, and is the right answer for most people, but curious to hear peoples’ thoughts. Also intrigued by the “aero” claims C’dale is making on the new evo.
I lived in New England for 40 years before moving to NorCal, so I know the roads and areas pretty well. And while I ride Specialized (Tarmac) and am quite familiar with the Super Six (lots of fellow cyclists ride them out here due to the hills), I just checked out the System Six. So with that as a caveat, here’s my 2c:
It depends on where in New England that you live and the type of riding you like to do. If, for example, you live in Eastern MA, CT or RI, where most of the roads are flat to rolling, you’d probably enjoy and get greater performance out of the System Six (due to its aerodynamic focus). If, however, you live in Western MA, VT, NH or Maine, where there are more hills, you’d probably enjoy the Super Six (designed for dynamics of climbing).
The Cannondale System Six seems to be the equivalent of Specialized’s Venge, a great bike for criteriums or relatively flat road races. The Cannondale Super Six is the equivalent of a Specialized Tarmac, a climbing machine, great for hilly road races or centuries/gran fondos with 60+ feet/mile.
I have a 2019 system six and have a teammate with a 2020 super six
Unless you are doing events that are determined by a significant amount of climbing where you’ll be below 10-12 MPH I would strongly recommend the system six over the super six
Frankly, don’t understand why anyone who isn’t racing as a pure climber on climbing heavy courses would get the super six over the system six.
For my use case, I race mostly rolling road races with between 50 and 100 feet per mile at an average speed of 22-25 mph. For nearly every race on my calendar I am better off with an aerodynamic advantage over a weight advantage on the bike
Sorry to double reply but went back and re-read your post and wanted to add to my reply without editing
The System Six with appropriate aero bars will be very similar to a dedicated TT/Tri bike in aerodynamic advantage. If you think you might end up racing a tri sometime next season before you are able to purchase a dedicate TT rig you could very easily race competitively on the system six
My opinion only on this piece…the aero claims made by basically all bike manufacturers should be taken with a huge grain of salt when comparing to other manufacturer data. To clarify, I think there are significant advantages for modern aero frames over older aero frames or modern non-aero frames, but I do not think Manufacturer A vs Manufacturer B aero frame comparisons are particularly trustworthy and that data in particular is hard to weed through
Thanks all, seems like folks are leaning towards the System Six, which is also the direction I was leaning towards at the outset. I am just outside of Boston, so mostly rolling terrain (on pot hole laden roads). Seems like the System Six is the way to go.
