Test: With the Cannondale Topstone Carbon Neo Lefty 1, the well-known US manufacturer presented its first motorized gravel bike and wants to enable unlimited gravel fun with it. In addition to the Bosch Performance Line CX motor, the proven Lefty suspension fork system is also on board. Find out in our test whether this concept works with mountain bike features and e-support.
At first glance, the Cannondale Topstone Carbon Neo Lefty is no ordinary gravel bike. Of course, the electric motor pushes the Topstone Neo directly into the category of e-bikes. What is particularly unusual, however, is the innovative approach in which various mountain bike features such as the 650B wheels, the famous Cannondale Lefty, a small spring unit on the rear triangle and the MTB-compatible 1×12 gears with 10-50T cassette with a dropbar Bike can be combined. The goal of this structure is quickly explained: maximum gravel driving fun!
Cannondale Topstone Carbon Neo Lefty – Reach your destination in comfort with suspension
The frame is based on the Topstone carbon platform, which has made a name for itself as an adventure gravel bike (without an electric drive). In both models, the frame comes with a slightly looped top tube, which gives the bike a sporty but comfortable seating position. The much-discussed Kinpin suspension on the rear triangle is mainly responsible for the look of the frame. This joint on the rear struts is extremely deep-drawn and is attached to the seat tube and is intended to provide 30mm of spring travel. The interaction with the carbon layup specially adapted for this construction hides and minimizes vibrations and shocks, so that the driver can be much more comfortable on the road. Because of the flexible connection of the seat stays to the frame, the entire rear end can move noticeably upwards. When it comes to the layup, Cannondale spared no effort and used a separate tube diameter including the layup for each frame size in order to adapt the riding characteristics and the suspension to the individual sizes.
Cannondale has brought in its proven Lefty, which is well-known from the MTB sector, so that you are also well sprung at the front. An upside-down suspension fork on the left side is used here, which can shine with another 30mm of spring travel and has a significant influence on riding comfort. The new Lefty suspension fork weighs 1.340g in the carbon version and 1.610g in the aluminum version. Thanks to a new damping adjustment and thanks to exchangeable volume spacers, the driving performance is now even more individual. Even if the Lefty looks a bit unusual while driving and you have the feeling that something is missing, the handling is still first class. At no point do you feel unsafe or miss the right steerer tube. In addition, the 30mm spring travel at the front in combination with the WTB Resolute with a width of 42mm offer a full and comfortable driving pleasure even on harder terrain. For those who want it even more extreme, the Cannondale Topstone Carbon Neo Lefty offers tire clearance of 45mm (or 48mm for the 650B) at the front and 40mm at the rear (or 48mm for the 650B).
Thanks to the Sram Force AXS Wireless groupset, the frame looks nice and tidy, since the brake lines are also skilfully routed in the frame. In addition, the bike is designed for hydraulic 27,2 mm seat posts with internally routed lines and already comes with internal saddle clamps. The integration of the Bosch Performance Line CX motor, which is located in the down tube, is also beautifully inconspicuous. However, the cover for the housing on the charging connection seems a bit clumsy, but the cable of the rear light is hidden under the saddle in the seat post. There are small deductions for the external spoke magnet on the rear wheel, which affects the optics a bit.
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This brings us to the heart of the Cannondale Topstone Carbon Neo Lefty. Because the powerful Bosch Performance Line CX motor with 500 Wh battery not only provides plenty of power, but should also have enough range for longer trips. As usual, the support levels are sensibly coordinated and, in our opinion, the ECO mode is the best choice for sporty movement and still benefiting from the power of the motor. Of course, the turbo mode is also a lot of fun and makes every climb seem flat. This is particularly evident when accelerating, because the limit of 25 km/h is reached within a few seconds. Here the drive decouples gently and lets the support fade away up to approx. 27 km/h. This way you don't get an abrupt drop in support.
Even if the drive does not operate completely silently, in our opinion it is not particularly annoying on gravel sections, since there is a certain background noise from gravel and other underground anyway. The good rolling properties of the Topstone Neo are particularly pleasant when the engine is no longer helping. Here you hardly feel any additional resistance and only have to carry a little more weight. There was only one special situation in which we would have liked to swap the Neo for a classic gravel/road bike. On a slightly uphill section with a headwind, we were traveling at around 29 km/h and had to really pedal to get going. It would certainly have made more sense here to simply drive a few km/h slower in order to benefit from the motor support.
With the Bosch Kiox display you have all the data under control, which not only convinces with a great clarity, but also records tracks and sends them to the smartphone via Bluetooth. The intuitive usability of the motor and the display is via a remote control on the left side of the handlebars, which can only be operated in the top link position but is ergonomically comfortable to hold. Small disadvantage, since the Kiox display has no navigation functions, the GPS computer is unfortunately not completely replaced, which gives us a small space problem where to mount the bike computer.
The Cannondale Topstone Carbon Neo Lefty 1 - comfort is king
In addition to the engine's good driving characteristics, the Cannondale Topstone Carbon Neo Lefty 1 is particularly impressive thanks to its first-class comfort. The bike feels particularly at home on unpaved paths and trails and the mountain bike features really come into their own. Due to the additional weight, the bike also lies much more firmly on the trail and offers enormous safety and peace. The kingpin system and the lefty make even rougher passages much more pleasant and are almost reminiscent of MTB fully performance in a slimmed-down version. Even if the bike pushes a good 17 kilos, it also offers pleasant agility on more technical passages and is easy to control.
Thanks to the high-quality Sram components, you never have to worry about stopping, because the discs do a great job and, in conjunction with the crisp wireless circuit, fit perfectly into the overall picture. Something that was noticeable was that we had a few pedal hits during our off-road rides. However, this does not necessarily have to be due to the geometry of the bike, but rather due to the additional thrust of the powerful motor, which means that you pedal earlier here and there or have a different cornering position due to the extreme weight.
