Cannondale Topstone Carbon Gen 3
Wheel Size: 700c
Travel:
- Frame: ~30 mm
- Fork: Varies by build; N/A, or 40 mm with Lefty Oliver Carbon fork
Geometry Highlights:
- Sizes offered: 47, 51, 54, 56, 58, and 61 cm
- Headtube angle: 70.7° (69.9° on 47 cm size)
- Reach: 383 mm (56 cm size)
- Chainstay length: 420 mm
Frame Material: Carbon fiber
Price: $3,400 USD to $7,300 USD / $4,590 CAD to $9,855 CAD (see build details below)
Intro
Cannondale has never been afraid to push boundaries, particularly in the realm of suspension — they introduced the Headshok in 1992, followed by the one-sided Lefty fork design which continues (in vastly updated form) to this day. Mountain bikers may also remember their dual shock-equipped prototype Downhill bike making its round back around 2019/2020.
With a history like that, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Cannondale was also quite early in cooking up a rear suspension design for their Gravel bike, which debuted on the first generation Topstone Carbon. As Gravel riding has continued to see strong popularity and riders have continued to push what can be done on skinny tires, Cannondale has kept up in refining their KingPin rear suspension design along with the Topstone’s feature set. All of that is on display with the new third-generation Topstone Carbon — and while we’re still working to get one in for a proper test, let’s dig into what they’ve done with the latest design.
The Frame
At first glance, the Topstone frame looks surprisingly normal for featuring rear suspension on a Gravel bike. There’s no shock to be found, but a closer look reveals a diminutive thru-axle pivot where the seatstays meet the seat tube. Called KingPin, that small pivot allows the seat tube to flex downward and allows the rear triangle to flex upward when hitting bumps, increasing rider comfort and smoothing out bumps along the trail. Cannondale says that the effective travel amount is approximately 30 mm, though we imagine there’s some variance given that there’s no spring that can be adjusted to different rider weights.
With the third-generation Topstone Carbon, Cannondale claims to have refined the system to make it even more compliant and smooth-riding across frame sizes. That performance is also tied up in what Cannondale calls Proportional Response, where they change the frame construction for each size to tune the flex and ride quality.
Another improvement is increased tire clearance — the Topstone Carbon now fits up to a 52 mm tire out back and a 56 mm one up front. We’ll get into this below in the Build section, but opting for the Lefty Oliver fork reduces the recommended front tire width to 47 mm.
With the updated Topstone Carbon, Cannondale has also jumped on the internal frame storage bandwagon with their StashPort system. It comes with a bag to keep things tidy and paired with the many mounts on the frame and fork, there’s plenty of gear-lugging capacity on hand.
Fit & Geometry
One interesting change with the new Topstone Carbon is a return to measured (centimeters) versus nominal (Small, Medium, etc.) sizing. The old frame had five sizes, while the new third-generation one has six, ranging from 47 cm at the small end to 61 cm for the largest size.
Using a middle-of-the-road 56 cm frame as reference (approximately a typical Large), the new Topstone Carbon gets a 564 mm effective top tube mated to a 383 mm reach. That’s between the second generation Topstone’s Medium and Large sizes in terms of top tube length, but longer than both in reach. Much of that change is down to the steeper seat tube angle, which impacts the effective top tube measurement but not reach — the new bike is a little over half a degree steeper than the old one at an effective seat tube angle of 73.1°.
The head tube angle on the new Topstone Carbon is a negligible 0.2° steeper at 70.7°, and the chainstay length is the same at 420 mm across all sizes.
Full geometry details are as follows:
The Builds
The Topstone Carbon is only offered in complete bike options at this point, and there are five to choose from. The Topstone Carbon 3 GRX is, unsurprisingly, equipped with Shimano GRX parts. Riders can choose from a 2x configuration or a 1x option that ditches the front derailleur and adopts a wide-range cassette out back. In both configurations, the derailleurs are the higher-end GRX 820 level, whereas the shifters, crank, and brakes are GRX 610. Wheels are WTB ST i25 rims laced to Shimano TC500 hubs and many of the finishing parts are Cannondale’s own house brand.
At the next level up, the Topstone Carbon 2 comes in both GRX and SRAM AXS builds, with the GRX one being a GRX 820 2x arrangement while the AXS one adopts an electronic Apex AXS setup. Wheels are again WTB rims, in this case, WTB KOM Team i25 rims, though the hubs are Shimano TC500 on the GRX build and Formula on the AXS option.
The Topstone Carbon 1 keeps 1x AXS shifting, but also is the lone option in the range with a Lefty Oliver fork. The Lefty Oliver Carbon fork pumps out 40 mm of travel to compliment the 30 mm of travel afforded by the frame’s KingPin system. Shifting-wise, parts are upgraded to SRAM Rival (as are the brakes), and the wheels take a big step up to Reserve 40 I 44 GR Carbon rims on a Lefty front hub and DT Swiss 370 rear hub.
At the top end of the lineup, the Topstone Carbon LTD Di2 comes with Shimano’s new GRX 825 Di2 drivetrain (which we reviewed and were very impressed with). The wheels get upgraded further to DT Swiss 240 hubs, and the Reserve 40 I 44 GR Carbon wheels get Reserve’s dimpled Turbulent Aero Tech surface pattern for aerodynamics.
Details on the full set of builds are as follows:
- Drivetrain: Shimano GRX RX 610 w/ RX 820 derailleurs (2×12-speed) / Shimano GRX RX 610 w/ RX 822 rear derailleur (1×12 speed)
- Brakes: Shimano GRX RX 610 (160 mm rotors)
- Fork: Cannondale Topstone Carbon
- Wheels: WTB ST i25 rims, Shimano TC500 hubs
- Dropper Post: N/A
- Drivetrain: Shimano RX 820 (2×12-speed)
- Brakes: Shimano GRX RX 820 (160 mm rotors)
- Fork: Cannondale Topstone Carbon
- Wheels: WTB KOM Team i25 rims, Shimano TC500 hubs
- Dropper Post: N/A
- Drivetrain: SRAM Apex AXS (1×12-speed)
- Brakes: SRAM Apex (160 mm rotors)
- Fork: Cannondale Topstone Carbon
- Wheels: WTB KOM Team i25 rims, Formula hubs
- Dropper Post: N/A
- Drivetrain: SRAM Rival AXS (1×12-speed)
- Brakes: SRAM Rival (160 mm rotors)
- Fork: Cannondale Lefty Oliver Carbon
- Wheels: Reserve 40 I 44 GR Carbon, Lefty front hub / DT Swiss 370 rear
- Dropper Post: N/A
- Drivetrain: Shimano GRX RX 825 Di2 (2×12 speed)
- Brakes: Shimano GRX RX 825 (160 mm rotors)
- Fork: Cannondale Topstone Carbon
- Wheels: Reserve 40 I 44 GR Carbon Turbulent Aero Tech, DT Swiss 240 hubs
- Dropper Post: N/A
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) We haven’t ridden a Topstone here at BLISTER just yet — so, how well does that 30 mm of rear suspension work, and does it have any downsides?
(2) How do Cannondale’s various other refinements to the Topstone Carbon change the ride compared to the prior generation, and does it feel smoother and more compliant as promised?
(3) There are other Gravel forks on the market, so where does the Lefty Oliver stack up against those more mainstream competitors?
Bottom Line (For Now)
Cannondale’s Topstone Carbon was an outlier when first introduced, but they’ve stuck with the novel KingPin rear suspension design while continuing to refine the features and geometry elsewhere in the design. The result is a truly unique frame design that doesn’t look all that wild at first glance but could bring some attractive ride qualities for long days on rough roads. We’d sure love to get a chance to try one before long, and we will be sure to weigh in further if we can make that happen.