2023 Cannondale Jekyll 1 Long Term Review

Introduction

My first real mountain bike was a Cannondale. It was a black aluminum hard tail without a suspension fork. In my mind it was badass. Many years later, my wife’s first full suspension mountain bike was a Cannondale. It was a Jekyll with a Headshok fork - an extremely light and capable bike and she loved it. Then 20 years went by and I never even thought about Cannondale mountain bikes. I didn’t know anyone who rode one and I never saw them around the Shore. So it was very interesting when this completely new 2022 Jekyll showed up.

And it showed up in a big way, sporting a Factory Fox 38, a 220 mm front rotor and 165mm cranks. It’s a striking bike that always garners a lot of attention hanging around the bottom of Mount Seymour or even in the Whistler Bike Park. And, as you may know, it's no easy feat to stand out in the Whistler lift line.

Mountain bikers love it when something new and high performing arrives and that is what has happened here. There is a unique and exciting contender in the Enduro bike market.

Design

One of the first things you'll notice about this bike, is that the rear shock is located very low and almost inside the bottom of the downtube. Cannondale calls this shock compartment the Gravity Cavity. It's basically a large diameter split downtube with a bolt on cover to protect the shock. The beauty of this design, beyond its actual beauty, is the very low centre of gravity it allows. And as E-bikes have now clearly demonstrated, a low enter of gravity really improves ride performance.

Cannondale has then taken two of the current best suspension design elements, the high pivot and the Horst link, and combined them to make a platform that is extremely tuneable to achieve a controlled anti-squat and anti-rise as well as a rearward axle path without pedal kickback. A cycling giant like Cannondale has resources. This has helped them to spec every size with a dedicated chainstay length. There are many bike lines out there that don’t have this advantage. Cannondale calls it Proportional Response Geometry, which no one will ever remember, but everyone should appreciate. The result is a bike that is deliberately balanced front to back.

The Jekyll doesn’t actually have any extreme geo measurements. The wheelbase (1264mm) and reach (475mm) are actually on the shorter side for a size large full Enduro bike. Chainstay is a middle of the road 442mm. Head angle comes in at 64 deg which again is fairly conservative these days. The idler pulley, guide and pivots build quality looks fantastic and is very clean for an idler system.

Spec

There are two models of the Jekyll. The lower priced Jekyll 2 and the Jekyll 1 which is being tested here. Both models come in a very cool graphite colour but the Jekyll 2 comes in a striking Purple Haze and the Jekyll 1 comes in an equally striking Beetle Green.

The Jekyll 1 comes with top of the line full Kashima, Fox Factory-level suspension. Up front is a 170mm Factory 38 and the rear is a Factory Float X2 providing 165mm of travel. Brakes are also top of the line with SRAM Code RSC with 220/200mm rotors. Drivetrain is the very respectable SRAM GX Eagle while the rims are WTB KOM i30 Trails which I have ridden before, and which are too soft for a serious Enduro bike. The seatpost is a 170mm Cannondale DownLow clamped and the stem is a 35mm FSA. The Cannondale HollowGram carbon handlebar is a nice touch.

Initial Set-up

Cannondale is known for its proprietary features and suspension like the Headshok and the more famous Lefty fork. In its efforts to be taken seriously, this new big mountain machine thankfully has dispensed with divisive original components.

The stock Cannondale carbon handlebar comes at 780mm so I left it uncut. I changed the 35mm stem out for a 40 to add a little to the 475mm reach as I have a longish upper body.  

I started riding this bike in the winter time in North Vancouver so I swapped the front Maxxis Assegai from a MaxxTerra to a MaxxGrip compound. In the rear I left the MaxTerra DHRII on but I put in a Tannus Tubeless insert to try and prolong the life of the doomed WTB aluminum rim.

As I mentioned in the first look, being 6 feet tall, I find that a 200mm seatpost gives vastly better agility on the bike than a 170mm. I swapped the seatpost out for a OneUp 210mm which has been excellent.

For initial suspension pressures, I set the front to 90 psi and the rear to 215 psi. For the damping settings I simply followed the recommended starting points on the Fox online setup guide and for the other rear shock settings I followed the Cannondale Jekyll suspension setup guide in the owners manual supplement.

Dialing in the Suspension

The Jekyll was extremely comfortable to ride at speed right away. Traction in the corners felt really good to me and I wondered if part of that was I was coming off a series of testing mullet bikes. For me one on of the quickest ways I can separate tester bikes is how calm and stable they feel in fast steep rough stuff on a familiar trail. The Cannondale felt very good before I even starting noodling and turning adjuster knobs.

The big surprise was how easy the bike was to get off the ground and move around.  I don’t want to say it but I will anyway: it was more poppy than I expected it to be. I was surprised because a long time ago (about one year in bike yrs) whenever you saw a bike being unloaded from a pickup truck with a high pivot and idler you thought, "here comes a sled". That is no longer the case and the Cannondale is another example. Due to the suprising and welcome agility I was able to slowly reduce the rear shock pressure, run a little more sag and still have a bike that I could get off the ground when I needed to. I am currently running 190 psi in the rear shock (down from the intial 215 psi).

After spending more time on the bike I wasn’t happy with the way the bike handled consecutive large hits. To exaggerate only a little, I felt as if I was bouncing along waiting for control to return. After making several adjustments I found the answer was speeding up the fork rebound more than I ever thought was necessary. After I found the rebound sweet spot I could tell on the first 100 ft of trail that I was in business. The bike has been exceptional to ride since then and it stays calm over both small and large successive hits. In fact the Jekyll’s ride is so confidence inspiring that I have now ridden this bike in the Whister Bike Park more than my DH bike. My current fork settings are 90 psi, HSC 5 out, LSC 8 out, HSR 7 out, LSR 8 out.

Components in Use

The idler wheel and upper chain guide has not led to any issues and chain management has been good.

Sometimes when climbing on your own and the world is quiet you can hear the chain running over its extended path but for the most part I don’t notice it. As with any high pivot it is important to keep all the pulleys clean and the chain well lubricated.

After testing a series of mullet bikes, I was worried I would be smacking my rear with the 29” rear wheel in the steeps. This happens to me quite regularly on my DH bike and it's not a particulary pleasant experience. However it has hardly happened at all on the Jekyll which has been great.

The SRAM Codes have been fantastic over the last few months with no issues. Same for the shifting. Except for one operator error rock smash on the derailleur, the shifting has been good with only a few minimal adjustments. Of course I haven't tried standing on the derailleur yet which is seemingly the new thing to do.

The rear WTB KOM i30 Trail aluminum rim did not survive the spring riding season and has been replaced. These rims really do drive me crazy; it's even tricky to get a good tubeless seal with them. The have a very narrow and deep center channel that uses a little plastic rim strip (under the normal rim tape) like the old days and they require a narrow valve rubber end design to fit in the channel. I have broken a couple of spoke nipples on the replacement rim as well which put a damper on a big mountain ride in Revelstoke BC. I hope WTB comes out with a new generation soon. In addition to the rim, the rebranded SRAM MTH 746 rear hub also developed play sooner than should be expected.   

The Gravity Cavity cover was a design feature that I was unnecessarily worried about. The cover protrudes below the downtube to create a space for grime and water to escape. I have not had any cases of rocks jamming in there and mud and debris have not been an issue. For aesthetics I think the cover would look better if it was flush to the downtube but I understand this wouldn’t really work.

Something that is worth mentioning is that this bike has no wireless components, no flip chips and with an air shock (compared to a coil) doesn’t require the use of a climb switch. As Chris Hall says on his ubiquitous Downtime Podcast, just “get out and ride”.

Keeping it Running

I have had this bike for several months now and have put some good abusive mileage on it; everything from snowy North Shore rides to Whistler's Top of the World to A-line. Other than my wheel woes and a couple of small issues such as a bent rear derailleur, the bike has performed quite well. The main pivots came loose in the beginning but that is not really unusual. They have been fine since. I didn’t do a good job keeping the Horst link linkage tight however in spite of this there was no play after tightening. It's worth noting that there are actually two bearings on each side - similar to other high end bikes - which makes for a robust link. 

For those that like to service their own bikes, the exploded parts diagrams in the service manual are really excellent. They are still not perfect as the bearing designations are frustratingly not included.

Conclusion

If you took the time to read all of the above I don’t think it's any mystery that I really liked this bike. I have ridden quite a few enduro type bikes the last couple years and I would say that the Cannondale Jekyll is my favourite. Part of it for sure is that it is a full 29er and I really like the straight line speed they provide. The frame felt stiff, the suspension worked well and the bike was fast, predictable and extremely capable. Pricing is competitive and Cannondale did not skimp on the all important suspension and brake components. The wheels are not great but a set of carbon hoops would make everything right in our first world world.  

As I alluded to in the intro, and as a stranger said to me recently in the bike park line, it's really good to have another serious enduro bike option on the market.

Jekyll 1 MSRP 8505 CAD or 6250 USD (currently on sale for an astounding 6000 CAD if you are okay with graphite)

Jekyll 2 pricing is 6085 CAD or 4150 USD (Also on sale at 4250 CAD for graphite)