Cannondale Jekyll Ultimate Mountain Bike

Article by Mark Taylor on Bikes.org.uk · +Mark Taylor ·

Cannondale Jekyll Ultimate Mountain Bike Review

All-Mountain Bikes are bikes that climb like a cross-country bike and will also descend like a downhill bike. It may sound simple but it’s actually quite hard to produce these at affordable prices.

Cannondale have always invested heavily in research and development, and around two years ago they started to look into the possibility of producing ‘all-mountain’ bikes. Cannondale’s global marketing director, is reported as saying, “We really needed a bike that could be two different bikes. The inspiration was really more of a dogged refusal to compromise”, and continues by saying, “We wanted to create a bike that could hang with the short-travel cross-country crowd on the climbs and with the full-face [helmet], body armour crew on the descents.” It was this that led to the Jekyll being born.

Cannondale Jekyll and Hyde

Given that the project was to develop a bike with split personality, and they named it Jekyll, it is hard not to refer to the legendary Jekyll & Hyde story.

Creating a bike that could deliver everything they aimed for was going to be difficult. Right from the start, Cannondale partnered with Fox to produce a rear shock that gave them so much more than a regular shock. Together they produced the Fox DYAD RT2. The shock and frame were designed simultaneously so the motion ratios of the shock linkage would fully complement the damping characteristics of the shock.

The DYAD RT2 is effectively two different shocks, each offering different amounts of travel with different damping and spring rates all built into one stocky unit. The DYAD RT2 is in theory similar, in some senses, to other travel-adjust shocks, but Cannondale claim that Fox have managed to completely separate the short- from the full-travel damping and have since patented this innovation.

Strong Mr Jekyll

The Jekyll is made from Cannondale’s new high impact carbon ﬁbre, called BallisTec. The ballis comes from ballistic, and was developed by the Japanese military. These are then paired with proprietary high impact resistant hot melt resins, followed by the addition of stiffer, more brittle high- and ultra-high-modulus carbon ﬁbres which are strategically placed in protected areas.

Combining this material technology with the Jekyll’s ultra wide bearing placement, double stacked bearings at the rear dropout pivot, the 12 x 142mm bolt-through rear axle, double clamped pivot axles and a collet shim linkage bearing preload system makes for one hell of a stiff yet lively ride. Along with the new two-in-one DYAD RT2 shock, this proves that the Jekyll is worthy of ‘superbike’ status.

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Cannondale Jekyll Ultimate Bike Specifications

The Cannondale Jekyll Ultimate 2011 Mountain Bike is a go anywhere, ride anything, two-bikes-in-one superbike. Climb like you’re on an XC bike, descend like you’re on a Big Mountain Rig, the Jekyll breaks the rules for long travel bikes. Built around radical new shock technology, engineered and manufactured by Fox Racing Shox in collaboration with Cannondale, Jekyll essentially delivers two different bikes in one.

Cannondale Jekyll Ultimate Video

Based on an original story by Jon Ashelford, Mountain Biking UK.

Compare Prices: Cannondale Jekyll

Cannondale Jekyll Alloy 4 2012... from Evans Cycles £2,699.99 Category: Cycling	Cannondale Jekyll Alloy 3 2012... from Evans Cycles £2,999.99 Category: Cycling
Cannondale Jekyll 1 2012 Mountain Bike from Evans Cycles £4,999.99 Category: Cycling	Cannondale Jekyll 2 2012 Mountain Bike from Evans Cycles £3,899.99 Category: Cycling
Cannondale Jekyll 3 Al Black Medium from Hargroves Cycles £2,999.00 Category: Cycling	Cannondale Jekyll 3 Al Black Large from Hargroves Cycles £2,999.00 Category: Cycling
Cannondale Replaceable CNC Machined... from Rutland Cycling £21.99 Category: Cycling	Cannondale Replaceable CNC Machined... from Rutland Cycling £21.99 Category: Cycling

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Cannondale Jekyll Ultimate Mountain Bike