Cannondale Claymore

This bike falls under Cannondale’s Over Mountain Line up. It is a new design for this season which they worked with Fox suspension to create the DYAD RT2 rear shock. This allows the Claymore to adjust its rear travel from 180mm to 110mm. Combined with the Fox Talus 180/140 it allows the bike to become a small travel bike for the climb.

The bike weighed in at 32.5lbs on the shop scale, which is quite respectable for a bike this big. I was still apprehensive about how it was going to climb. Half way through the first climb on it, the trail gets quite steep and this is where I was worried most, but it handled it very well. The climbing ability of this bike is where it was way over my expectations. It has a very comfortable seated position and seems to just go and go. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not the fastest bike up the hill, but it you are simply in it for the ride (especially the down) and it’s not just about how fast you can go up, then you can put it in granny gear and the sky is the limit on this bike!


Making the swap from uphill to downhill mode on this bike could not be easier. Hit the Rock Shox Reverb seatpost remote to drop the seat, flick the switch on your handlebars to switch the rear shock back to 180mm mode and turn the knob on the Talas back to 180mm and you are off to the races! You don’t even have to get off your bike if you don’t want to.

Going down on this bike was good, not "oh my god this is the best downhill bike ever", but good. Having 180mm of travel was appreciated for any bigger hits and made for a pretty smooth ride. It felt good in the corners, a little loose when having to throw it quickly into a turn or really put your weight into it to snap through. It tracked well through rougher sections and could hold a high line through off-cambered sections well. Just like going up, the geometry felt good, it was easy to get back through the steeps and stay centered when cruising along. It was easy to manual through rollers and jump off anything. It was a fun bike to play on and did not hold back in any areas. I also did not have enough time on the bike to tune the shock to my preferences and ran the factory recommended settings. If I had more time to fine tune the two air pressure adjustments and two rebound adjustments on the rear shock, it may bring this bike from being simply good on the downhills to very good or better.


My overall impression of the bike is that it is a solid bike that is good at everything. It is not the absolute best bike going up, or down but holds its own at both which is hard to say for many other bikes. If you want a bike that you will have to pedal for all your downhill thrills that you are after, then this is the bike! If you want a bike that goes up fast and the downhill is just an extra, the Cannondale Jekyll may be better suited for you.

As far as durability goes, I cannot comment very much as I only had the bike for a weekend. It seems very stiff through the linkage, but does have a little play in the rear end that a small support beam between the seat stays may solve? (leave that for the engineers) The only issue in my time on the bike was the derailleur hanger broke at the very end of the ride popping off a rock... This is why you should always carry a spare. It could be that the hanger needs to be a bit beefier or it could have been due the rear hub being a little loose.

For full details and specs on the Claymore and other Cannondale bikes, check out their website.

Thanks to Terence and Mike at Skyride Cycle for getting me out on this bike and for all the great work!