Cannondale’s New Scalpel Bulks Up | 120mm XC Race Bike First Look

Cannondale has given its cross-country race bike, the Scalpel, a refresh for 2024.

An updated frame sees increased suspension travel, race-ready geometry and lightweight builds.

Is the Scalpel sharp enough to take the top spot of the cross-country race bike podium?

And why does it still use a fork with only one leg?

Tom Marvin answers this and other questions after spending some time with the new Scalpel.

What do you think of Cannondale’s updates?

Let us know in the comments!

#cannondalescalpel #crosscountry #mtb

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:22 The New Scalpel
01:13 Redesigned Frame
02:42 New Geometry
03:10 The Lefty
03:55 Models
05:38 First Ride
08:07 Outro

Image Credit:
Dustin Satloff / Contributor

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Canelle has given their XC race bike the scalpel a refresh for 2024 with an updated frame that sees increased suspension travel race ready geometry and lightweight builds is a scalpel sharp enough to take top spot on the cross country race bike poding and why do they still use a fork with only one

Leg I’ve been checking out the tech and riding it to find out just as a specialized epic enters its eighth generation hot on it sails this eighth generation scalpel it’s a bike that’s been in canel’s line for 22 years but rather than a complete reinvention the brand sees this is a

Refining of the old bike as we’ve seen from the XC world in the last few years racing has become even ner with RAC trcks littered with rocks and Roots drops and jumps to reflect this there’s been a trend of boosting travel on XC race bikes to 120 mil canelle has not

Been left behind as a new scalp will ticks all of the boxes for a modern XC race rig but you won’t see any mention that dreaded down country word that’s because the scalpel SE is done and dusted the demands of the modern XE racer are similar to that of the rider

Looking for a proper fast and light down country rig so there’s only need for one family of bikes according to canelle as I’ve already mentioned the scalp is now 120 M travel mountain bike but it still uses a flex day suspension layout called Flex pivot this flexx

Replaces where a pivot might be on a regular suspension Force linkage design being both lighter and stiffer as as well as maintenance free it’s no under such arrangements are ubiquitous on XC race bikes these days in addition to the flex pivot canadel also use its proportional response kinematics meaning

That canelle tweak the pivot Points its position by frame size this the brand claims gives the best traction breaking and pedaling performance across the size range a Twist lot remote is on the bar to lock the shock and Fork though curiously us spy’s bikes will only get a

Shock lockout the shocks lockout cable is neatly Ru through the top tube keep keeping it out of sight speaking of tubes the scalpel have been reduced in their surface area to save weight while still hitting the Brand’s head tube and BB shell stiffness targets and thank

Heavens down at the BB you get a proper threaded BB shell the rest of the frame follows plenty of best practices there’s two sets of bottle bosses on all frame sizes because short Riders get just as thir as taller ones there’s an internal clamping mechanism to keep the

Internally rooted cables and hoses quiet as well as the usual frame protections and yes before you ask perhaps unsurprisingly the cables go through the headset however with a 1.5 in slim down upper bearing canle reckon that the bulk of XC brake levers should fit through the bearing reducing maintenance

Headaches in terms of the bike shape not only the chain stays longer than before ensuring that the geometry is balanced but they also vary with bike size too additionally cendal has steepened the seat angle by a degree and slacken the head angle by around 1 and 1/ 12° making

Them 7 25.5 de and 66.6 de respectively elsewhere reaches have grown 10 to 15 mil for a given size with a size large ey Road measuring 475 mil let’s look towards the front of the bike where the unique Lefty Fork sits canel has long fitted their single-legged upside down Lefty Forks to

Their bikes but there are a number of reasons why canel still forges ahead with a distinctive design chassis stiffness is surprisingly given the looks actually rather good good its internals are also different to a regular fork with the stanion moving over sliding bushings and needle bearings as opposed to a fixed bushing

In a regular Fork this canell claims makes the fork smoother when you’re breaking down steep terrain as there’s less binding friction going on with this construction which AIDS comfort and grip like the frame the fork is also bumped up to 120 M of travel how does it ride

Though stay tuned to find out before I do that though a brief look at the model range many brands have a range topping Halo product in their lineup and Canon del is no different with their lab 71 bikes the scal lab 71c super high-end High modulus series zero carbon fibers being used

Named mr70 and M40 XC this makes the frame lighter and including Hardware a medium comes in at just 1,780 G which is a whole 20 G lighter than the previous generation that might not sound like much but given that these are much larger frames thanks the updated geometry It’s actually an

Impressive achievement lab 71 frames are around 300 G lighter than the series 1 carbon frames found on the other bikes in the scalpel lineup and give a claimed weight of around 10.4 kilos for a full bike in a size medium interestingly can andelle are running two sets of build

Families for the scalpel with a family of North American models and a rest of World family perhaps even more surprisingly given the Brand’s us Roots its native customers bikes will all come with traditional two-legged Forks unless you are for the Lefty equipped lab 71 the rest of the world has Lefty options

In some models likewise outside of the lab 71 none of the North American builds will come with a fork lockout while the rest of the world versions do this apparently is due to Market preferences as a result there are quite a few options I’m not going to cover all the

Specs here if you want to head over to bik r.com you’ll be able to find far more details the link is in the description the long and short of it though is that the range kicks off to the £ 3,950 or $4,000 scalp 4 and tops out the £10,000 or

$14,000 lab 71 but without any further Ado let’s tuck into those first ride Impressions I was lucky to ride the 8,550 or 9,500 scalp one on the launch in Portugal over a couple of rather damp days early this year the Lefty oo carbon Fork was specked while the rear shock

Was a rock shock Sid luux as this was a non us spec bike both were hooked up to the twist lock remote stram supplies the EXO AIS transmission on this bike while Wheels come from DT Swiss a 2.4 in Recon race at the front and a 2.4 in Aspen at

The back give any bike an aspen rear tire and a firm lockout and unless the frame is built from noodles it’s going to climb smooth climbs with at least some level of liveliness the scalpel is no Noodle and despite a slim down profile over the last version of the

Bike it doesn’t swing and sway under your power as You Haul on the bars while climbing the twist lock is easy to operate and on smoo climbs even on dirt I was happy switching to the locked position when you do hit chunkier climbs switching to the open mode reveals a

Bike that’s still no slouch during seated pedaling the suspension remains still enabling efficient ascent and when it gets loose there’s just enough free movement available to the rear wheel to help it generate more grip than you give the aspin credit for the steeper seat angle feels good too while the front and

Rear proportions of the bike feel very balanced overall it’s a very competent climate as you’d expect moving on to the Thun bits and with it updated geometry the new scalpel is a more confident Beast than the previous generation the longer reach and slacker head angle give it stability at speed and through

Corners while again the front and rear balance is good though it’s a race Focus bike there’s still the ability to pick it up and play around the OD jump and drop doesn’t seem to phase the bike up front the Lefty might split opinions when it comes to Aesthetics but it is a

Solid Fork it might only have one leg but it’s got plenty of stiffness and though it’s motion through the travel feels a little different to a traditional Fork I believe due to the needle bearings it’s reactive and smooth nonetheless I’d like to place this fork

In a head-to-head with a sid or Fox 34 stepcast to really delve into the relative performances is that something you want to see let me know in the comments overall the new scalpel has certainly been bought up to date with a new shape suspension fill and modern

Parts package though I’ve only ridden it briefly the scalpel feels confident and capable up and down Hills it’s not quite as radical as a new special size epicat in terms of it shape however it’s only a few millimeters here and half a degree there but this is surely the bike that

The scalpel will be instantly compared to I’m looking forward to spending more time on both of these bikes in the coming months make sure you subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss out on any of our upcoming XC content and if you want to see my thoughts on the new epic

8 then check out this video