Riding the world's fastest UCI legal road bike

I ride a lot of cheap bikes, so I decided to rent the fastest UCI legal road bike in the world. Riding it over 2 days in nearly 40°C, it turned out to be an interesting choice…

I build and ride lots of cheap bikes, mainly built with parts I source from AliExpress. They are usually endurance style bikes, so tend to have some comfort and compliance built into the frame. So while on a recent trip to Majorca in Spain, I decided to put some cash down, and rent a really nice race bike.

I ended up renting the SystemSix, which Cannondale claim is 'The fastest road bike in the world. Period.' It's an extremely stiff aero focused race bike, with 65mm deep carbon wheels, and Dura-Ace groupset.

Over 2 days, and just over 100 miles, I came to realise that this bike was incredibly fast on the flats, but it was also incredibly uncomfortable. On anything over than completely smooth tarmac, the bike was SO harsh. Any small imperfections were transferred through the frame and seat post, directly into my bum.

Climbs on the bike also left a lot to be desired, the aero frame and wheels really caught the wind, and the front end was very twitchy on the descents.

Regardless I am SO pleased that I chose the Cannondale SystemSix over the other endurance style frames that were in the rental shops, and that Dura-Ace groupset opened my eyes to just how good mechanical shifting can be!

Timestamps:
00:00 – Start
00:29 – Intro
01:41 – Cannondale SystemSix
02:39 – First climb - Cap De Formentor
04:00 – Dura-Ace R9120 groupset
05:57 – SystemSix in a cross-wind
08:50 – Performance on the flat
11:25 – Climbing performance- Cap De Femenia
14:54 – Descending - Twitchy front end
16:22 – Day 2 - Avoiding climbs
18:30 – Why so uncomfortable?
21:19 – Bonus Clip Time & Cam Nicholls

Intro roll:

[Evan-zjmt]

I went past Alberto Contador at the top of the first climb where you are at 3:15. Greatest moment of my life. Admittedly he was stopped to take a photo with his mate but none the less, I went past him!

[ceymaniii]

I'm an older rider (76) who rides with a younger crowd on fast group rides. A few years ago i started getting dropped before the sprints so I bought a Systemsix. Holy $hi#! That bike increased my average speed by 1.5 mph at 10 less average watts over our regular route.
When its extremely windy i change out the 65 deep front wheel for a 35 and have no trouble with handling.

[homoinspirus]

I own a SystemSix and was waiting for you to say that "on flats this thing just files" and sure enough you said it. True - it's not a climbing bike but not as harsh as your first impression. You could het used to it. I actually did 600 miles nad 24 thousand feet of climbing in 3 days just a few days ago on my S6, so it definitely is possible.
Great content and story telling.

[Ballantin]

I think you should do more of this kind of videos, I really liked the format, very entertaining. Glad you had a great time at Mallorca. I am from Spain but moved to the UK 12 years ago and people don't believe me when I tell them that I love British weather. Now you know why hehehe.

[schmidtchen]

I always run my cables in one long piece of cable housing. It's so much Easier to replace the inner cable. You just have to push it through and not have to worry about getting a cable routing tool.

[lesteradriansalinas]

Love this new style of content, glad that you were able to use the top of the line dura ace! 🥖

[Destide]

My usual viewpoint is "If you don't get paid to race, disregard the UCI acquire fun" but looked like you had an awesome time.

[Exupace]

"What an absolute specimen" PML fantastic Luke 😀

[Carftymk]

we all know that guilt of being on vacation and not maximizing time ridden but when it's hot and uncomfortable, it is hot and uncomfortable

[malz]

Liquidised baby food! Then Alphabites, Turkey Dinosaurs and finally the “Princess Blanket” the Hambini metamorphosis is complete!😂🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖

[mrmmccready]

Great video! The way to deal with the heat is to go out just after sunrise and benefit from beautiful light, cooler temperatures and quieter roads. The added bonus is getting brownie points for getting back in time for breakfast 😊

[jameseastwood]

I had a systemsix hi-mod for 5 years before going for more custom builds. Man that bike was FAST. I did plenty of HC quality climbs and honestly had no issue with it, but when you were on the flats and really motoring it absolutely flew. I'll always miss it, but it had a few aging issues (weight, clunky front end) and it was time to move on.

[simplyxuan]

For bikes with cable housing stoppers, I'll run gear cable internally with cable guide plastic tubing within the frame.
This is for me to prevent wear on the internal carbon frame from the metal cables.

For bikes with no cable housing stoppers, I have no choice but run the full cable housings.

[grantboydell]

Use of the baby food is a great option since it's about half the price if an equivalent weight/calorie gel & they actually have good flavour options. I like to take two different flavours on a 100km ride. Practical tip is to find a similarly threaded cap to the no-swallow wide baby proof cap supplied, for each packet you take in your jersey pocket (and don't throw that cap away).

[chrisvanbuggenum]

I used to have dura ace mechanical. I loved it.

[jonburnell]

🥖 That baby grow neck warmer is a hack on a whole different level. The sunburn protection on the back and badass stud design on the front is 👌

[mikeymike]

At the 11 minute mark, it all felt very Francis Cade. Very classy work Luke.

[simonkuzin]

Luke, this format is absolutely fantastic. Love it. Please make more this kind of road movies . More scenery, people, impressions. Can even set aside techie talks at all.
Take us to to the journey ;)

[WhiteMFingRabbit]

Glad you did not have the pleasure of experiencing the classic SystemSix speed wobble! Nice vid as allways! :)

[future]

Loved the format, would love to see you review more "regular" bikes