When the Cannondale Factory Racing Team take to the trails of the Cross-Country World Cup, the riders have two new aces up their sleeves: the brand new F-Si hardtail and the Lefty Ocho.

The F-Si introduced in 2015 marked a paradigm shift, as the bike relied on slacker steering angles and a short rear triangle to cope with the steeper and rougher courses in the World Cup. The so-called OutFront geometry was already on board, but this has now been tightened up even further with a steering angle of 69 degrees, which is quite slack for a cross-country hardtail. The heart of the F-Si is certainly the new Lefty Ocho fork, which, with an offset of 50 millimetres on 27.5" wheels for frame size XS and an offset of 55 millimetres on 29" wheels for frame sizes S to XL, is intended to provide additional smoothness and sensitive response.

At just 900 grams, the Hi-Mod frame of the F-Si is around 80 grams lighter than its predecessor, making it the lightest mountain bike frame Cannondale has ever built. And: The asymmetrically designed rear triangle allows short 427-millimetre chainstays for even more manoeuvrability and traction when climbing, as well as sufficient tire clearance for 2.35-inch tires.

On the 2015 F-Si, the rear wheel was offset from the center by 6 millimeters to allow for a stiffer rear wheel with uniform spoke tension. The new F-Si uses Boost hubs, which means that only 3 millimetres of asymmetry are required on the wheel to achieve an offset of 6 millimetres again. The result of this frame and rear wheel design is a flatter spoke angle on the drive side, which in turn results in a stiffer wheel for crisper sprints and better power transmission.

Further beautiful details can be found in the frame: The brake is elegantly integrated into the rear triangle with a flat-mount attachment. And a new Mavic speed-release thru-axle on the rear triangle ensures quick wheel changes. The seatpost clamp is now also elegantly positioned underneath and can be opened and closed via an Allen screw. The new clamp also allows the seatpost to be extended further, which should provide more flex and therefore more comfort for the rider.

Almost invisibly housed on the seat tube are the mounting options for a front derailleur, meaning the hardtail can be ridden with a 1x or 2x setup up front.

Cannondale is launching a total of seven F-Si models. The top models F-Si World Cup and F-Si 1 are based on the Hi-Mod frame, which uses the highest quality carbon fibers. The new Lefty Ocho is always on board, except for the most affordable entry-level F-Si, which has a Rock Shox Reba RL in the head tube.

www.cannondale.com