My Bad Habit

Cannondale hasn’t been a stranger around my house, but for the most part, it’s been my wife who’s been the fan-girl. I’ve owned one C'dale, an F500 which was ultimately used primarily for cyclocross racing and some off-road duathlons. And while I’ve had that one, my wife has had (or still has) a Scalpel, Rush, Habit, R1000, 1FG, and SL 2...

Anyway, I’ve been looking to fill a gap in my quiver and I’ve been intrigued by the whole 27.5+ segment since renting one in Santa Cruz last year. With that in mind, the Bad Habit has been on my radar ever since my friend Glen sent me one of those “check this out,” text messages.

Well, sure enough, fast forward a few months and that bike is now in my greasy hands. I went with the $3200 aluminum Bad Habit 1, through the good folks at Riverside Cycle in Newburyport.

I know plenty of people that can’t get past the Lefty fork. And while I haven’t owned many Cannondale bikes, I’ve ridden plenty and have no qualms about the proprietary single bladed fork. The argument against the fork purely on aesthetic and symmetric principles is completely unfounded unless you’re riding a bike with a drivetrain on both sides.

Based on my ridiculous, and self inflicted, work and extra curricular schedule, I've only had a couple of rides on the BH1, but so far it's a fun bike. It's definitely a bit different from the mountain bikes I typically ride (my go to bike), but different is good sometimes. I've always been a proponent of using skills and finesse to navigate the rough stuff, but there's a feeling of liberation to just pointing the bike in a direction and letting it do all the work. Sure, 120mm of travel (front and rear) isn't super deep travel, but again, going from fully rigid, it's pretty plush.

As I work to get more trail time in, I'll leave you here with some spec and pics:

• Frame: Bad Habit 27+, 120mm, SmartForm C1 Alloy, Ai Offset, BB30, Flat Mountain Brake, Pivoting Der Hanger, 1.5 Si head tube
• Rear Shock: RockShox Monarch RT w/ high volume eyelet, 120mm travel
• Fork: Lefty 2.0 Alloy OPI, 120mm, Isolated Damper Technology with Trail + tune and updated controls, 55mm offset
• Rims: WTB Scraper 145 27.5, 45mm, tubeless ready
• Tires: WTB Bridger, 27.5 x 3.0 tubeless ready
• Spokes: Stainless 15g
• Hubs: Lefty 60 front, formula with XD driver 148x12 (Ai Offset dish) rear
• Cranks: Cannondale Si, BB30 w/ Ai SpideRing, X-Sync, 30t
• Bottom Bracket: Cannondale BB30
• Pedals: N/A
• Chain: SRAM PC-X1, 11-speed
• Rear Cog: SRAM XG-1150, 10-42, 11-speed
• Rear Shifter/Derailleur: Sram GX, 11-speed
• Grips: Cannondale Dual Locking Grips
• Brakes: Shimano Deore M615 hydraulic disc, 180/180mm with Deore M615 levers
• Handlebar: Cannondale C3 riser, Alloy, 4-degree upsweep, 9-degree backsweep, 760x15mm
• Stem: Cannondale C3, 6061 Alloy, 1.5, 31.8, 5 deg
• Headset: Cannondale HeadShok Si
• Saddle: Cannondale Stage 3
• Seatpost: Cannondale C3, 6061 alloy, 31.6x350 (S, M), 31.6x400 (L, XL)

Full report and video coming soon!