(1)Product ID: 265326
Cannondale CAAD13 105 Di2 2023 - Road Bike
Price: £2,750.00 RRP: £3,250.00
The Cannondale CAAD13 105 Di2 a road bike for reliable road performance. Its SmartForm C1 Premium Alloy frame, paired with a full carbon fork, offers a ride that's smooth, swift, and responsive.
Read MorePrice: £2,750.00 RRP: £3,250.00
5 out of 5
Average from 1 customer reviews
Was looking for a new winter bike and decided a quality Aluminum option was better than a lower spec Carbon Fibre. After reading many reviews I kept coming back to the CAAD as it seemed to get industry wide acceptance as the best Alu option available. I had intended to go for the cable operated 105 at the lower price as the RRP for the DI2 version was above my bike to work threshold. However with Tredz lowering their price it made this option accessible to me so I took the plunge. So what's it like, well the frame is lovely to ride very engaging and feel well planted and with some compliance to absorb road shock. My only gripes are that the welds could have been smoothed off to give a better aesthetic but doesn't diminish the performance. Handlebars and bar tape were awful and I changed them straightaway the stock width was too wide for me but maybe OK for a larger rider than myself. The wheels are a combination of cheaper DT swiss rims (R470) paired with Cannondale own hubs. These are functional but heavy and to get the best out of the frame would need upgraded at some point. Tyres are Vittoria Rubino Pro which are not my preference but will do until they wear out. Having mudguard mounts is a real plus as it will eventually become my main winter bike and is one of the primary reasons I choose this model. However the screws provided to mount the rear fender bridge were too short and I had to buy longer 4mm flat head screws at 16mm long rather than the 10mm supplied. The saddle is a budget offering from Prologo but so far I have found it to be OK after thinking I may have to also replace this but everyone is different and its a very personal choice but so far I'm quiet happy with it. As for the gearing and breaks its my 1st time into the use of Di2 and these are my thoughts. The shifting is brilliant, quick and precise and the option of semi shift works really well. Have found it awkward to shift down through the gears on the rear mech with winter gloves on. It can be hard to feel for the lever but I'm getting better with practice and in time I think it will become natural to me but for now it has been a slight issue. Without gloves on its easy to feel for the correct level. Pairing the Di2 with my head unit (Wahoo) was easy. The Shimano app used to set up the gears and monitor battery life is far from best in class as a user interface and could be far better but with some patience you can do what you need. charging is straight forward although at first it wasn't easy to find the connection point so had to google this to understand where and how the cover was removed. As for the brakes they seem an improvement on the previous gen 105 I have on another bike. I had to cut the hoses after reducing the bar width to remove excess length and re bleed them. The method is the same but the bleed ports are slightly different and my opinion better and whilst worried that I may loose some break performance after bleeding myself they were as good as before so whatever Shimano has done they are better than before and very happy with them. So overall delighted with my purchase its what I had expected from the reviews and the bike looks great. Upgrades to contact points maybe necessary depending upon your own personal preferences and lighter wheels combined with better tyres/inner tubes would really light up the performance aspect if you are chasing faster times.
David T., 7 months ago