Cannondale Topstone Carbon Lefty and Neo Lefty

Rupert Radley checks out Cannondale’s intrepid new ‘go anywhere, do anything bikes’

- Rupert Radley

As if the lines between gravel and mountain biking weren’t blurred enough, Cannondale has announced a new ‘full suspension’ Topstone Carbon Lefty and Topstone Carbon Neo Lefty e-bike.

Promising the best of all worlds, the new bikes look to push gravel into murkier waters still. Buckle up for what could become a bumpy ride!

We’ll start with the analog version, which is the Cannondale Topstone Carbon Lefty. The original Topstone was launched featuring ‘KingPin suspension’ – in essence, a thru-axle pivot that sits at the seat tube/seat stay junction that allows 30mm of flex through the frame. This is now partnered to a Lefty Oliver fork at the front end, allowingCannondale to proudly term the bike a full-suspension rig – albeit one with a lot less travel than the full-sus bikes our mountain bike brethren ride.

Those with a knowledge of Cannondale’s mountain biking past will recognise the term Lefty. The brand has long specced single-sided forks on its XC bikes. Most recently this has been in the form of a Lefty Ocho (specced on its newly launched Scalpel models).