The ideal gravel bike is nimble on the road, and can tackle both light gravel and fire roads as well as more technical terrain. The Topstone 1 was capable of all three, but the aluminium frame and seat post, paired with dry-weather tyres, held it back on the more technical sections, whilst it’s more stable geometry meant it feels more like a commuter on the tarmac.
The Cannondale Topstone 1 is built using Cannondale’s lightweight SmartForm C2 Alloy for the frame, with a carbon fibre fork used to assist with vibration dampening at the front. Cable routing is mostly done internally throughout the frame except for along the chainstays where cables exit under the bottom bracket. The frame features three bottle cage mounting holes on the downtube, two on the seattube, two on the toptube, and three either side of the forks. There are also attachment points for mudguards/fenders and panniers.
Keeping things in house, Cannondale supplies its own finishing fit with the bar (16 degree flare and 42cm tops, centre to centre and 50cm drops, centre to centre), stem (100mm) and seatpost (25 degree setback) all being their own branded aluminium components. The saddle is Fizik’s Aliante Delta.
