Cannondale’s 2017 Beast of the East is a rollover model from last year. Having found out just how much outrageous fun this big-rubber monster is, we’re kicking ourselves for not trying it earlier.
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The ‘ox blood’ colour and gold livery may look vintage but this is a state-of-the-art alloy chassis. The ‘SAVE’ seatstays are wafer-thin vertically and the chainstays flatten out and curve up as they head towards the dropouts. Instead of a Boost rear end, Cannondale uses a unique ‘Ai’ asymmetric offset for the frame and wheel to give plenty of rubber room.
The mainframe is a showcase of the signature supersized, smoothed-weld alloy pipework that made Cannondale’s reputation. A stumpy tapered head tube keeps the front end low despite the 3.0in tyre. The steering geometry, top tube length and wheelbase are balanced between tight agility and confident aggression rather than radically slacked out and stretched. The BOTE uses the BB30 bottom bracket standard that Cannondale pioneered and is ported ready for an internally routed dropper post.
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A dropper is the only obvious omission from an otherwise comprehensive kit list. The SRAM GX transmission is clean, quiet and positive, and Cannondale’s SpideRing Si single-ring crankset makes maximum use of the oversize BB bearings. The RockShox Reba fork is low in weight but syncs with ‘Torque Caps’ on the front hub to create a usefully stiff steering set-up.
Cannondale’s 760mm bar gives plenty of leverage without punching your knuckles into every tree and the 60mm stem keeps reactions fast enough to tweak traction or sneak through tight tyre gaps.
A lively and fun ride
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