Jerome Clementz's Prototype Cannondale - EWS Round 3, Ireland

 At least its not a proprietary shock. This is something that anyone can work on.

 It's a single pivot.

 @fecalmaster: by definition it's not FSR if the pivots are on the seat stays. It's linkage driven single pivot. FSR horst link pivots are on the chainstay, lower than the axle.

 @fecalmaster: This comment was a joke right?

 Everyone knows the correct number pivots to have is summed up in the formula = n + 1

 @fecalmaster: Your comments are slightly worrisome....

 Absolutely. I think it looks great. I wonder how they're going to spin the demise of their 'superior' DYAD shock. This could still be a little way out, but I'd be nervous if I just bought a Jekyll. No disrepect (maybe a little) to DYAD, I love the idea, but the horror stories around service have kept me away from the Trigger and Jekyll.

 @WasatchEnduro: horror stories? Im on 3 DYADs on my bikes since 2011 and never had any issues (alpine terrain) The only thing I hate about the DYAD is its collossal weight. Jerome's bike could be now in the under 12kg range. And that is a good thing.

 Rode a habit SE the other day, conventional works really well for cannondale! absolutely stamps all over the trigger, just because of the weight difference, equivalent build is at least a kg, maybe 1.5 lighter!?

 @WasatchEnduro: metric DYAD is not available yet!

 @radiomir: Have to agree here! I live in a fairly "remote" part of Canada where you can't just drop your shock off at the shop for service. Box it up, send it in the mail and wait 3 months (or more) for it to get back to you. Seeing as our biking season only runs from mid-May til' early November, not the most ideal set up. I've been running the DYAD on my Jekyll 2 for the past 3 seasons without a hiccup, none. Shock preforms great and has been super reliable so far. Yes, its a tad' on the heavier side but I'm also on the heavier side (6'2, 205 lbs) and I like the fact that it preforms and feels "robust". Hopefully will get a few more years for sure out of the DYAD. BTW: Love the new Cannondale design! Looks super dialed and more "conventional" which, is not always a bad thing!

 new engineer, new design

 @Happymtbfr: lets hope

 Gee runs a reach adjust headset?

 you can hand lay carbon, but it looks much different than production carbon. That's probably what they're referring to, is that this doesn't look all blobby like a hand-laid frame would.

 Trek HAS mega bucks and its own production facility for carbon frames. If you are paying for molds at a factory that you don't own, it's a lot more expensive! Plus the Atherton contract is a big deal, they may have even written something about prototype frames into the contract, who knows.

 @thepwnstar39: There are a handful of pro roadies that get custom geometry carbon frames. Definitely the exception and not the rule. I know Peter Sagan had one while he was on a Cannondale.

 You don't need big expensive molds for one offs. You can use less costly materials to make them, HED wheels has used wood molds to make wheels for years. If you have in house CNC capability it really drives the cost down for projects like that.

 We used styrofoam, had that machined coarsly. Then applied a layer of ceramic paste, had that dried out and then machined accurately to the finite shape. That's excellent material for a one-of as the mold last for exactly one single product. Molds for mass production are expensive as they have to be made out of durable materials (like steel) and obviously machining that is expensive as it takes a while and causes your cutting tools to wear more quickly. Styrofoam on the other hand doesn't cause too much wear on cutting tools and you can work quick.

Wood as @zutroy mentioned lasts quite a few products more and as such also takes considerably longer to produce (the mold, that is).

 @groghunter: Hand laid carbon can be made to look as good as production with enough time, care and sanding. But at Trek they have the capacity to make one off molds themselves, so if they made Gee a custom frame they likely made it the same way as a production bike.

 @Fix-the-Spade: What do you mean by hand laid carbon? I'm not aware of fibres not being hand laid unless we're talking filament winding, pulltrusion or using a robot for laying fibres. But for bicycles, it is probably still mostly manual, isn't it? Back in the day they did join pulltrusion tubes in steel lugs or otherwise, but that doesn't really happen anymore with mountainbikes, isn't it? Or do you mean using prepregs (like what we saw in the video of Cesar Rojo's new brand) instead of working with dry fibres and applying resin separately (for instance resin transfer molding)? I thought the latter two were common with bicycles and once you've got a mold, you can use it for single or series production just fine, right?

 @Fix-the-Spade: I wonder, considering Gwin had a blobby hand laid frame last year from Spec. Hand laid carbon isn't really worse in any way except finish.

 @vinay: By hand laid I would mean resin and carbon strips applied to a form and then vacuum bagged for curing. As opposed to pre-impregnated strips of carbon being placed in a mold and compressed. Guess I should be more specific.

 @Fix-the-Spade: Allright, clear. But then still I don't see why they wouldn't use pre preg material for a prototype as well. If they invest in at least a laser cutter they should be able to cut the pre-pregs to their exact shape as they otherwise would with the dry fibres. I do agree you could get some voids or excess resin in a vacuum bagged product. But voids typically only occur if you have a leaky mold. But I have no experience with pre-pregs. In my mind it not only gets harder to achieve proper adhesion between the layers (especially in strongly curved areas where you could risk bridging the curve if the resin shrinks when curing) and you could get dimples between the fibres on the outside. But that's speculation, I haven't worked with pre-preg. I did get dimples though when shaping (heating and bending) carbon composites with a thermoplastic resin.

As for CNC capacity, something I think companies overlook is the versatility of these standard robot arms. You know, these orange KUKA robots you're may relate to the welding robots in a production line for cars. They're versatile and, due to the large numbers they're being sold in, relatively cheap. I did my graduation project at a company for filament winding and they had a KUKA robot in the production hall that could guide the fibres on one side for the actual filament winding and, when you changed the tool for a router, could turn around towards the lathe and produce the mandrels. So this way a simple lathe turned into a CNC lathe . A few months ago I attended a lecture by Prof. Archim Menges who's also been experimenting with using the relatively cheap robots for winding, fibre laying and CNC machining. They may obviously not be as quick as a dedicated CNC machine like they use at Hope, but they're versatile and cheap for prototypes and large enough to actually machine a bicycle frame mold.

 Listen up children. This guy, @vinay, knows what he is talking about.

 @freestyIAM: Not always, but this time I do, thanks. I made a typo though, it is Achim Menges (so without the "r"). Look him up, the stuff he's been working on is really cool! It will open your eyes to what these robots can do. In a typical mountainbike component production facility all these robots get to do is take components in and out of the CNC machines. And that is only at companies the scale of Wellgo. That is like using a modern computer as if it were an electronic typewriter.

 Stevie was such an insparstion to me and I am gutted as well, however I know he would want us to not forget, which we won't, but continue riding and being happy. RIP

 I always thought the same thing. But the more I watched videos from different mechanics and just random pictures I'd seen here and there it seems that it's fine. I've been clamping mine to the post for 2 years and haven't had a problem. Just make sure it's not too tight and the post is fully extended.

 I wrap a towel around it for peace of mind around scratches. But that's because I have old school park, the Feedback ones are designed with droppers in mind.

 So you don't mash the hose or cable with the clamp.

 Maybe the angle is important too ? I'm confused... :p

 Totally fine to clamp it as shown. I use the same stand and just make sure the clamp jaws are clean before clamping it. I also pull the bike off the stand for any high torque jobs.

 @LucWicklund: I am guilty of it too but one thing i try to keep conscious is to not put rotational torque through idk pulling or wrenching some other part of the bike. I just imagine the blocks or collars jumping out of their grooves and bad things happening.

 Who on earth did you send it to? Shipped my dyad to fox last week and they quoted me 165 with return shipping included.

 @mistermtb: fox!

 @dynamatt: that is not acceptable! a fox dyad service here in EU costs 142 EURO shipping incl., sent on Monday, was back in 3 days. (official fox distributor)

 @radiomir: oh that's one of the reasons I no longer own my Jekyll!! I had it for 2 seasons and every year it took 3-4 weeks door to door for a service. And fox is 3 hours north of me

 It's fine as long as you don't make it too tight.

 Those Feedback Sports stands have a padded jaw that you can do perfect pressure with. It's why they basically replaced everybody else's stands in pro settings overnight. I just wish they made a shop stand, or a retrofitable clamp for park stands. park has a micro-adjust clamp, but it isn't as nice.

 @groghunter: Hey groghunter, you're in luck! Feedback Sports does make a commercial grade Pro-Elite clamp and it's available on the website under the Premium Work Stands tab. This bad boy plugs right into a commercial base.

 @FeedbackSportsTech: Oh wow! that is so rad. know what I'm buying for my stand. Keep making awesome stuff!

 yeah, he is.

 or chumba

 @hamncheez: Or a Transition Covert

 I think it looks dope. Reminds me of Orbea and Liteville. Simple, stiff, sexy.

 @WasatchEnduro: beauty is in the eye of the beholder! Ha ha. Not for me though.

 What happened to all that innovation you ask...? Nobody bought that shit, even with one of the top EW riders in the world killing it on their frame, still nobody bought that shit... people don't want to go riding around on a science experiment that other bike companies don't NEED to make their bikes work!

anyway, I think your crazy, the bikes aesthetics are excellent. Just don't understand why they would do that without a Horst Link? Bo back and weld up a new rear triangle you lunk heads...

 @yetiboyjay: I admit..... it's no Yeti.

 @stiingya: Exactly.... why do a redesign without just going all in and switching away from faux bar to horst. C'mon C'dale!