Our latest Staff Bikes feature comes courtesy of off.road.cc and ev.tips editor Aaron Borrill, who has recently purchased this rather rare Cannondale Supersix Evo 4 Lab71 edition. To do the top-tier frame justice, Aaron has meticulously selected components, even switching out the brake pad retaining bolts to create this uber-exclusive one-of-a-kind dream build.
Our Staff Bike features take a closer look at the bikes belonging to road.cc staffers and regular contributors. When we clock out from work, these are the bikes that you’ll find us on.
Aaron’s latest pride and joy is built around a fourth-generation Cannondale Supersix Evo. Aaron has in fact owned every Supersix generation through the years, and still owns a fair few of them. This fourth-generation frameset was released earlier this year, promising less weight, more aero and a threaded bottom bracket.
The LAB71 moniker is new for 2023, and represents the pinnacle of Cannondale’s carbon tech. The end result is a frame weight that is 40g lighter than the Hi-Mod frame, and according to Cannondale makes it “the ultimate version of the ultimate road racing bike.” The appeal for many amateur riders appears to be the exclusivity of the nameplate and exclusive colour schemes.
In Aaron’s words, the frame is “incredibly stiff yet compliant. I don’t know how they do it”
The colour is guaranteed not be to everyone’s taste, but Aaron explained that he selected this one because he has a history of bikes with bright colours. The striped rear quarter and front fork resemble that of a Zebra, a nod to his South African heritage.
The flashier Supersix models benefit from a brand-new bar/stem arrangement thanks to a collaboration between Italian automotive firm MomoDesign and Cannondale. It’s called SystemBar R-One, and features some very nice ‘naked’ mottled carbon.
Aaron’s bar is 40cm wide, having dropped down from 42cm in the name of aero gains recently. He says that there was no chance this MomoDesign bar was coming off, as he’s a motorsport enthusiast and a big fan of Momo products away from the bike.
The automotive theme continues at the saddle. This is a Selle Italia SLR Boost Teknoflow, that racing specialists Dallara helped to create. It weighs just 95g, is a full carbon design and might be the most expensive saddle I’ve ever sat on, with an RRP of £429.99!
> Review: Zipp 353 NSW wheelset
Aaron is a self-confessed weight weenie, and so when it comes to wheels they were always going to impress the scales. Modern trends have been embraced with 23mm internal, hookless Zipp 353 NSW rims paired with 28mm Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres set up tubeless.
The Zipp 353 wheels weighed in at just 1,340g on our scales, and the tyres are the same the likes Jumbo-Visma and EF-Education Easypost have been using for the 2023 season.
This Supersix started off its life as a bare frameset, and was initially built up with the latest Shimano Dura-Ace R9200. However, the bike now runs SRAM Red AXS, and Aaron admits this was a purely aesthetic choice.
On this bike and colourway, he felt SRAM Red has far greater “visual drama”. Interestingly, there was less than a 50g difference in the complete bike weight by changing the groupset, and both are of course 12-speed.
This is no ordinary SRAM Red AXS though. The chain and cassette feature the recently released rainbow finish which is sure to spark up a conversation.
SRAM quietly rolled out the new components alongside the latest SRAM Force AXS, enabling road riders to benefit from the rainbow components that were previously reserved for the top-tier mountain bike groupsets.
The rainbow (or ‘oil-slick’) theme continues across the rest of the bike with seemingly no bolt spared. The bolts, which include brake calliper mount bolts, stem bolts, bottle cage bolts and pad retention pins, are all from betterbolts.com and have a lifetime warranty.
A titanium bolt kit like this doesn’t come cheap, but could be the final bit of bling that your best bike is missing. Of course, they shave off a few grams of weight as well.
The bottle cage looks almost out of place on a bike that has had its components so meticulously chosen, but Cannondale fans will recognise this as the new aero bottle cage.
Cannondale doesn’t provide watt-saving boasts, but the bottle has a rectangular cross-section which smooths the transition between bottle and downtube. The cage is also compatible with standard bottles. Would you run one of these, or forgo the aero gains and get something both lighter and prettier?
Aaron uses Look pedals across all of his bikes, and the dream build of course gets the top-of-range option. The Look Keo Blade Carbon pedals feature ceramic bearings and titanium axles to bring the weight down, with 16Nm carbon blades to secure the feet just that little bit firmer than the standard 12Nm.
Finally moving onto the accessories, lights and mounts, and you’ll find a Wahoo Roam up front with a Raceware mount that integrates seamlessly with the MomoDesign bar courtesy of 3D manufacturing experts Raceware. Aaron reckons this saves around 15g compared to the original.
A Bontrager Flare R rear light accompanies Aaron on nearly all rides, and this is mounted to the seatpost with a quick-release Raceware 3D-printed mount.
The complete build weighs in at 6.9kg without pedals. Which bits would you change? Let us know in the comments section below…
17 thoughts on “Is Aaron’s new Cannondale Supersix Evo LAB71 the nicest bike in the office?”
Answer to the headline : Not
Answer to the headline : Not with that paint job.
Surprised that build isn’t under the UCI weight limit as well….
Hello. What’s the frame size
Hello. What’s the frame size for this complete bike?
Thank you very much
Impressive paint job! Quite a
Impressive paint job! Quite a feat for Cannondale to make it so garish yet bland at the same time.
Quote:
Ah yes, the famous purple zebras of the Kruger…
Cannondale bikes used to have
Cannondale bikes used to have amazing paint jobs – the current branding is atrocious though – the font and size of the logo make it look like an afterthought rather than an integral part of the design.
“The complete build weighs in
“The complete build weighs in at 6.9kg without pedals. Which bits would you change?”
I would keep the wheels, the groupset and the bar tape.
That is all!
Also, at 6.9kg for an uber super top of the range Supersix Evo Hi Mod??? Really?
This was one of the go to frames for building yourself an ultra light bike that could come in at well under 6kg maybe even 5kg. Now its a middle of the road meh with a poor paintjob. If I can get custom paint from Trek or Spez I think Cannondale have a seriously long way to catch up.
Off the back wrote:
Add pedals, normal round bottle cage(s), computer and it’s well over 7kg. Not especially light and with Ti bolts etc it’s getting ridiculously expensive. Is it that much better than a SuperSix EVO 1 (also SRAM Force AXS) at £6,750?
But it would surely be a hit with the <insert prestige German car marque> driver who wants something to stand out from all the SL8s on the Saturday morning group ride…
And good to see that he didn’t skimp on the rear light.
Cor.. you’re all negative
Cor.. you’re all negative nellies!
I like it a lot, it’s a ‘super bike’ with all the top gear, really what’s not to like.. I did wonder about that bottle cage as it looks a bit odd but a quick google and it made sense..
Personally, I’d have shod it with the latest tan sidewalled Conti’s as I’ve never had much luck with vittoras (I’m presuming the tyres don’t balloon out from the rims), also a bit surprised at the weight, considering all the other little touches I’d have thought it would be lighter, but then again it does have discs and it is an aero bike.. so maybe my expectations are skewed.
All told Aaron is a very lucky boy indeed.
Mega bike
Mega bike
Well if this was my bike..
Well if this was my bike.. would have gone with dura-ace.. no brainer !
My own current xintes 4.5 wheels with dt240s hubs, and swiss stop brake dics.
O and conti gp5000 tyres, personal choices. It is a whopper of a bike !
Keesvant wrote:
Dura-Ace is a no-brainer alright. Anyone still having a brain would buy 105. All the functionality at a fraction of the price. You can always stick a Dura-Ace label on 105 to impress the bike fashion frockers and poseurs. 🙂
This is such a pointless
This is such a pointless comment. As the article states, this is a ‘dream’ build, not a ‘how to get 90% of the performance at 50% of the price’ build. We’re all familiar with the concept of diminishing returns, and it doesn’t mean you’re an idiot to pay the extra 50% for 10% performance provided you can afford it. One of the main reasons 105 is so good is that Shimano invest so much money in developing the technologies in their flagship groupset, which then trickle down to mid range groupsets at a lower price point. You’re entitled to prioritise ‘value’ of course, but to suggest that people that buy ‘halo’ products are brainless and unaware that they could get most of the performance at a significantly lower price is just a bit ignorant IMO. Not to mention hugely unoriginal, as these ‘don’t you realise how much less you could spend’ comments adorn pretty much every article on a high end product.
Dadams7378 wrote:
Well, you’re right I suppose to point out that if one is buying a bike-frock (for promenading and displaying to other bike-frockers) Dura-Ace is better than 105 as it has more bling value in the bike-frocker echelons, clubs and fetish-groups. On the other hand, it should really be Campagnolo’s latest and highest to be “a dream” eh? 🙂
But I’d assumed that a RoadCC person with a bike would want it for cycling, not wearing. Functionality then becomes “how to get performance” as a bicycle, not a frock. Whilst bike frock fashionableness might demand the biggest spend for the most bling, functionality suggests “how to get 90% of the performance at 50% [or even less] of the price”.
Elsewhere there’s a thread about the rising and increasingly unaffordable price of bicycles. Expensive bling-draped frock-bikes are part of this problem, which is very definitely a problem for those who want a bike rather than a frock but have found themselves with the same wage now as they had in 2007.
RoadCC or BikefashionCC?
I agree the high price of
I agree the high price of bikes is an issue, but that’s an issue applicable to numerous sectors, it isn’t limited to bicycles. Furthermore, this isn’t an article on bike prices, it’s an article about the dream build of a guy whose career has been spent in bikes, and (read his bio) is clearly a pretty serious competitive cyclist, not a cafe poseur or a member of whatever other ‘fashion’ influenced group gets your goat.
I’m not sure what your point is. You appear to have a chip on your shoulder in relation to those people who can afford to spend silly money on a pastime, and are accordingly desperate to prove what worthless idiots they are. If only they’d tapped into your wisdom before buying, surely they’d have found cycling nirvana, improved themselves as people and saved themselves a fortune!
There are, of course, plenty of people for whom the additional 10% isn’t ‘necessary’. On the other hand, for Aaron as a competitive rider, it may well make a difference in his results, and if he can afford to pay for that difference, why shouldn’t he?
Your marketing point is true, and I agree that bike websites are unlikely to bite the hand that feeds, however what are you expecting? Every high end bike to be rated one star and mercilessly slated on the basis that you could get performance in the same ballpark for significantly less money? Presumably though, anything over ‘decently functional as a road bike’ (say £750) should therefore be treated the same – why have 105 when you can have 8 speed Claris? Why have £20 tires when a £10 set provides 90% of the performance at half the cost? I hope for your own credibility that you therefore own a bike that encapsulates all these principles?
Cugel wrote:
Dura Ace is completely unnecessary, but it’s really nice, and if you can afford it, what’s the problem?
Is that weight correct? I’m
Is that weight correct? I’m actually struggling to see how it is so high given the build spec. My SL7 is 6.3kg (including dura ace pedals) with Roval Rapide CLX wheels, which are heavier than the Zipps. Granted, I have a few parts that are lighter, but not which would explain such a big weight difference. Apart from that, I love the fact it is such a personal build. Very easy to criticise, but Aaron clearly has reasons for all his choices which the article explains. Much better to have a ‘dream’ build that doesn’t follow the herd IMO.
Dadams7378 wrote:
As with so many fashion-based fads, the “dreamers” are merely following a different herd. It might be a smaller and more exclusive herd but it’s still being driven about by a marketing sheepdog. 🙂