You actually don’t want full-suspension to trip gravel roads, however the all-new Cannondale Topstone Carbon reveals that perhaps a suspension fork and easy rear journey can take your gravel rides additional, sooner, and even be extra enjoyable. This utterly reshaped 2025 Topstone Carbon options extra journey up entrance with a retuned 40mm Lefty Oliver fork. It revamps the 30mm of Kingpin rear wheel journey to be extra plush for a extra balanced trip. And it will get an enormous enhance in tire clearance to allow you to enterprise even additional off the overwhelmed monitor. Plus, all-new in-frame storage enables you to stash all of the spares and snacks you have to for these massive adventures, and good cable routing cleans up house round bikepacking luggage…
2025 Cannondale Topstone Carbon is an all-new gravel bike
At first look, the 2025 Cannondale Topstone Carbon seems rather a lot like the most recent 2022 iteration of the bike, when it acquired upgraded to 700c wheels. However that perceived similarity is actually solely as a result of the Lefty fork and Kingpin pivot on the high of the seatstays are so placing that it’s simple to gloss over the various different new particulars.
In actuality, whereas the final platform and general bike format stay the identical, just about all over the place you look you’ll spot key variations with the brand new bike.
So what’s new?
All-new Topstone Carbon body layup and Kingpin rear suspension
Cannondale utterly revamped the Topstone Carbon body itself, each reshaping its tubes and redesigning the carbon layup for improved consolation. Particularly, the brand new body’s toptube now tapers much more than earlier than, and the seattube will get a extra pronounced curve to ship extra vertical flex, with out sacrificing out-of-the-saddle lateral stiffness and effectivity for sprinting.
It nonetheless delivers a claimed 30mm of rear wheel journey between the Kingpin 2.0 pivot and seattube/seatpost flex, with easy low-friction bushings and virtually no want for upkeep. However now the rear finish of the bike has rather more of a luxurious really feel to steadiness the trip with the Lefty up entrance.
A giant a part of that was redesigning the person carbon layup of every body measurement to ship the identical plushness to riders of all sizes, particularly necessary for the reason that rear journey depends on materials flex in will not be adjustable. Cannondale calls this Proportional Response Building, and it consists of altering body tube sections and materials layup throughout the broad 6-size vary (47-61cm).
40mm Lefty Oliver gravel suspension fork
Matching the now-plush rear finish, the brand new Topstone Carbon now will get an additional 10mm of entrance wheel journey for individuals who choose up the gen 3 Lefty Oliver suspension fork. Nonetheless sliding on its basic needle bearings, the brand new Lefty Oliver is as supple as ever. And it nonetheless has a 100-hour service interval – 2x so long as most typical suspension forks. Plus, now it additionally will get an up to date damper tune inside to enhance stability with the longer 40mm of journey and large 700c wheels since we final gave it a better look.
Cannondale describes it as “smoother, sooner, and able to deal with the hardest gravel terrain”. After having ridden it on some loopy rocky tracks, I can stand behind that. I believe the one factor holding me again on a Topstone with this new Lefty is concern of shredding no matter gravel tire I mount onto it.
In reality, the brand new Lefty Oliver v3 additionally has room for barely greater tires, now as much as 700 x 47mm. Curiously, the limitation will not be tire width, however fairly top at full fork compression. So be suggested to not get excited and mount a giant XC MTB tire on there simply because it seems like it will probably match. However there may be house for barely greater tires than Cannondale specs.
Greater Tires All Round
Whereas the brand new Lefty can match about 2mm wider (taller) tires than earlier than, the Topstone Carbon body and its inflexible fork get a a lot greater enhance in clearance. The brand new body can now match 700 x 52mm (2.0″) tires and the inflexible carbon fork can match a whopping 56mm tire (a 29×2.2″ tire) That’s much more than the 45mm of the earlier era.
Trendy Integration
Essentially the most fascinating bit for me right here is the brand new Stash Port storage contained in the downtube. A primary for any Cannondale bike, the brand new Topstone Carbon has a locking door beneath the downtube bottle cage bosses that opens as much as supply house for spares. Inside, every body comes with a custom-sized zippered StashBag with room for instruments, tubes, and a mini-pump or CO2 inflator.
Cables at the moment are routed internally for a cleaner cockpit, though the Lefty retains its entrance brake line exterior. Cannondale opted for separate bars & stems with cables hidden however accessible for cockpit place adjustability. And the body options an ordinary Acros headset resolution with cables that go by the higher bearing to make it work with each inflexible and the Lefty suspension fork.
Key Tech Particulars
‘Out Entrance’ steering with 70.7° head angle and 55mm of fork offset for a mixture of nimble dealing with and stability at velocity
BSA threaded backside bracket
customary 27.2mm spherical seatpost
inner dropper publish routing for individuals who need it
basic exterior seatpost binder clamp
standard-dished rear wheel (no extra Ai uneven wheels)
massive 700c tire clearance: 52mm body, 56mm for the inflexible fork, 47mm for the Lefty Oliver
12x142mm Syntace rear & 12x100mm Syntace entrance (inflexible) thru-ales or basic Lefty 50 hub
body fender mounts
UDH for common derailleur compatibility
2025 Cannondale Topstone Carbon – Pricing, choices & availability
Cannondale calls the Topstone Carbon “three gravel bikes in a single”. Rally, Race, or Roam. That’s just about a do-it-all gravel & path shredder, a gravel race bike, or a bikepacking-ready journey bike.
Topstone Carbon with Lefty
Essentially the most iconic I believe is the one which I rode. The $6400 / 6900€ off-road-leaning full-suspension Topstone Carbon 1 Lefty AXS, with a SRAM Rival +GX mullet Transmission and carbon Reserve 40/44 GR wheels. It’s the one full-suspension spec of the bunch. That is the bike for gravel riders seeking to get a bit extra rowdy. After which find yourself on tremendous rocky roads and even what most individuals would extra describe as mountain bike trails.
The opposite bikes all get the identical rear finish consolation of the revised Kingpin design. However they go for a brand new inflexible carbon fork that guarantees improved consolation largely from the power to run an enormous entrance tire and decrease tire pressures. You additionally save round 900g with a inflexible fork vs. the still-light Lefty. Though the Lefty construct makes up for it with lighter wheels.
Topstone Carbon with inflexible carbon fork
4 inflexible fork Topstone Carbon builds can be found. They begin at $3400 / 3300€ for the Topstone Carbon 3 GRX with mechanical Shimano GRX 600/800 12sp groupset (1x or 2x) & alloy WTB wheels. The $4000 / 4000€ Topstone Carbon 2 GRX builds improve to a full GRX 800 12-speed group. Once more it’s 1x or 2x, plus a nicer alloy bar & carbon seatpost.
The $4300 / 4300€ Topstone Carbon 2 AXS bumps as much as a wi-fi digital 1×12 mullet SRAM Apex + GX T-type Transmission combo.
And the ultimate $7300 / 7500€ Cannondale Topstone Carbon LTD Di2 goes all in on a Shimano GRX Di2 digital shift 2×12 groupset. Plus, the sunshine Reserve 40/44 GR carbon gravel wheels and fast-rolling 45mm Vittoria Terreno Dry tires.
Pick your favourite setup at your native Cannondale seller, usually in 1-3 colour schemes relying on spec. They embody: Orange Slice, Smoke Black, Chalk, Deep Teal, Obsidian, Tigershark, Spruce Inexperienced, Jet Black, or Mantis with Caffeine and Quicksand. Cannondale.com
