Thread: Thoughts on new Cannondale Jekyll?

Anybody put in any time on one? Too good to be true?

I know some guys who live in Novato, CA... Mark Weir's hood. Weir, Jason Moeschler and Ben Cruz all ride/race Jekyll 1's and claim to love them. Now there's a whole lotta regular folks in the area riding either the 1, 2 or 3. I hear 99% good things about it. With that said, a buddy of mine (not in Novato) recently bought the 1 and after less than 5 rides noticed a crack-and-fail in his seat tube Yet to find out how C-dale will handle the warranty. Sure is a beauty of a bike though!

Got a friend with one, she loves it. Super spiffy looking bike, the dual mode thing seems to work as advertised.

I work at a dealer that has sold maybe 25 Jekyll's in the last year and a half, and I've spent some time personally on a Claymore.
My thoughts :
-the travel adjust and dyad shock actually work. I was worried the pull shock may be problematic when I first saw the design, but I have yet to see one person have an issue with one.
-the bikes are super comfy and have great Geo. This is something C Dale excels at. They were making a trail bike with a 65.5 head angle back in 2006 when most competitors were still hovering around 70*.
-we deal with a few of C Dale's factory pro xc guys and they all love the bike and spend way more time on it than I think anyone was expecting them to. It's funny to hear them rave how the bike climbs as well as their Scalpel's in the short travel mode.
-I have seen one broken carbon chainstay, but the bike was crashed and C Dale has a lifetime warranty and we had a replacement in about a week.
-despite all the positives, it's still a single pivot design and is prone to some brake jack. I also feel it doesn't pedal as well through rough stuff as a floating pivot design, ie. Maestro or DW.
-if you were somewhere on a trip that didn't have a bigger C Dale dealer in town and your shock DID fail, you'd have to use another bike because yours would be on ice.

All in all the bikes are pretty sweet and work as advertised.

Same problem as the old jeckylls: proprietary shock means that frame is worthless in 3 years.

Originally Posted by toast2266

Same problem as the old jeckylls: proprietary shock means that frame is worthless in 3 years.

Kinda true, but the only thing proprietary about the old Jekyll 's shock was the externally threaded air can. It's easy to swap and cheap to have an extra air can. The DYAD is another level of proprietary, however it is a Fox product and it isn't out of the question some other manufacturers could start building frames that used it.

For better or worse C Dale likes to be an innovator. For example : 1.5 headtubes, BB 30, Hydroformed tubing (and aluminum tubing in general) are all things they were basically doing first that other manufacturers have followed.

Finstah makes some good points.

One of those YMMV things, but for a jaded old guy like me who has had a lot of bikes during the last 800 years, proprietary shocks are a deal-breaker. And for an all-mountainy kinda bike, I just plain prefer DW or VP2.

Originally Posted by Finstah

For better or worse C Dale likes to be an innovator. For example : 1.5 headtubes, BB 30, Hydroformed tubing (and aluminum tubing in general) are all things they were basically doing first that other manufacturers have followed.

It's true that C-dale has always done things a little differently. A lot of their "innovations" pretty much suck though (see: headshocks, pretty much everything that CODA ever made, the Fulcrum, that dirtbike thing they did, various proprietary shocks with no long term support, 1.5 headtubes that are a different than the rest of the industry, etc.).

The reality is that the DYAD is no more proprietary than the Fox Shox Specialized is using on the Enduro and SX Trail, with their non-standard, custom i to i dimensions. I doubt anyone would claim that a 2012 Eduro will be obsolete in 3 years.

Call me a fan boi if you want, my road bike is a Cannondale but my mtn bike is not. Just giving credit where credit is due.

p.s. C Dale commits to support every product for 7 years. So yeah, if in 10 years your DYAD fails, you may be S.O.L. and I agree, some of their proprietary stuff I wouldn't touch with a 10 ft. pole...

Are pull shocks the only way to get this automatic adjustment? The Genius has its own issues (seems targeted towards old rich guys that want a soft xc ride) but the future of trail bikes is probably something along these lines that changes the geometry of the bike for the up and the down. If the pull shock is the only or best way to get there, you have to imagine that there will be plenty of these on the trail in the next few years. For the time being, you're pretty much fucked if it breaks unless you want to buy a backup.

did you hit your head, Robbie? for reals. if you want, I'll save you some time and trouble, and just come down to the butte and punch you in the face.

Originally Posted by reidhresko

did you hit your head, Robbie? for reals. if you want, I'll save you some time and trouble, and just come down to the butte and punch you in the face.

...then kick'im in the shin....

Seems like the Jekyll would be a killer Endruo/Super D machine.

Finstah, have you had anyone warranty a Prophet (or something similar) and replace it with a Jekyll? I've heard they have been replacing them with RZ 140's, but it would cost extra to get a Jekyll. Any idea how much?

Originally Posted by Dickeymotto

Seems like the Jekyll would be a killer Endruo/Super D machine.

Finstah, have you had anyone warranty a Prophet (or something similar) and replace it with a Jekyll? I've heard they have been replacing them with RZ 140's, but it would cost extra to get a Jekyll. Any idea how much?

I haven't seen many cracked Prophets, period. Judging by the all the recent photos you've posted of yours it looks like that one is still rollin' tough too . But yeah, I'd imagine they'd replace them w/ RZ 140's if they still have them? After that I'd imagine the Jekyll would be next in line and I have no idea if it would cost anything.

Yo, just be sure you're the original owner and you've got the receipt before you start wailing on those welds with your mallet...

Originally Posted by Finstah

I haven't seen many cracked Prophets, period. Judging by the all the recent photos you've posted of yours it looks like that one is still rollin' tough too . But yeah, I'd imagine they'd replace them w/ RZ 140's if they still have them? After that I'd imagine the Jekyll would be next in line and I have no idea if it would cost anything.

Yo, just be sure you're the original owner and you've got the receipt before you start wailing on those welds with your mallet...

I've got my bases covered there. Bought it as a frame directly from Cannondale when I worked for one of their dealers. They had to make it from scratch for me because they didn't have any smalls left (it was the last year they were offered). My rep had to crack some heads to get them to do it. He's a rad dude and would definitely go to battle for me if they were to make an issue of it.

I have no plans to intentionally wreck my Prophet though. I just like it so much that I'm paranoid of it ever breaking because I have no idea what I would replace it with.

Originally Posted by chatton18

Are pull shocks the only way to get this automatic adjustment? The Genius has its own issues (seems targeted towards old rich guys that want a soft xc ride) but the future of trail bikes is probably something along these lines that changes the geometry of the bike for the up and the down. If the pull shock is the only or best way to get there, you have to imagine that there will be plenty of these on the trail in the next few years. For the time being, you're pretty much fucked if it breaks unless you want to buy a backup.

[note that I'm probably a bit biased as I worked for Scott at one point]
The Genius kinda sucks (and I agree with your assessment above), but I really really liked the Genius LT. Shock worked better, geometry didn't suck balls, travel adjust was great.

No experience on a Jeckyll/Claymore, but the Dyad seems to be designed better than the DT Swiss on the Scotts.