Cannondale CAAD14 review: The bones of a brilliant machine but misses the mark in several ways

OK, I’m going to get this out of the way right at the top because: The CAAD needs mudguard mounts. It’s not aero, and at this price and the tier below it’s a serious contender for ‘first proper road bike’ for a great many customers, and a surefire contender for a spot in our guide to the best aluminium road bikes. I know it doesn’t rain in California, but it sure as hell does in Connecticut where Cannondale’s head office is, and it sure as hell does in the UK, too, even if the launch media was very Los Angeles. Despite this large gripe, I do actually quite like the latest CAAD.

I think it is going through a bit of an identity crisis of late. The old generation aped the dropped chainstays of the SuperSix Evo, but had mudguard mounts to make it a year-round performance bike. Now the stays are back up where they arguably should be for a metal bike, but with the lowest tier of the CAAD family now the cheapest road bike in the brand’s range, it seems caught somewhere in the middle of trying to be a crit bike of yesteryear while also offering new roadies an approachable package.

Despite this slightly confused outlook, I do like the platform. Rubino tyres on a bike at this price is a let-down, but it has the potential to be a really wicked road bike for those that don’t want carbon for whatever reason.

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Design and aesthetics

As someone who lusts after the Liquigas-Cannondale era SuperSixes, I must say I love the decision to pop the seat stays back up where they should be. That, along with the basically horizontal top tube, makes the aesthetic package very classique and pleasing to behold.

Much like the latest SuperSix I am slightly underwhelmed by the paint options, especially given the crazy custom versions that have been kicking about on socials. The frameset-only option is delightful, as is the raw version, though these are so rare that I suspect they’re essentially a showpiece, like the 100-piece Team Dream Team limited edition. Black, white, or this perfectly handsome but dull cherry option are your choices, and if you want electronic gears, then it’s just this red.

Gone are the mudguard mounts (someone will die on this hill, I assure you, and it ain't going to be me), but there is a round seatpost and clearance now for 32mm tyres with a bit of wiggle room. This mid-tier model comes with the new SRAM Rival, and ‘robust endurance road wheels’ from DT Swiss of an alloy variety, paired with budget Vittoria Rubino Pro tyres. As I’ll get into when I discuss the handling, these are a little bit of a letdown and again point to the slight confusion of the machine.

The cockpit is a separate system, with alloy bars here. Given Cannondale is only offering integrated cockpits on its top-flight SuperSix models, it’s not a great surprise (and no bad thing) to have a two-piece on offer here. At the bottom bracket there is mercifully a standard BSA threaded shell, and there's UDH compatibility at the back, so no mad Cannondale standards of yesteryear.

The CAAD14 is geometrically very similar to the latest SuperSix Evo, a bike which I really, really liked from a handling perspective. In the same size, the CAAD is 15mm higher, which sounds like a lot, but the latest SuperSix cut 10mm from the head tube to make it lower. Same head tube angle at 73º, but a higher bottom bracket for the CAAD by 3mm, and 5mm longer in the chain stays, but all in all the lineage from SuperSix to CAAD is more or less a straight line.

Specs sheet aside, what I do like about the CAAD is the fact you can still mess about with it. Yes, semi-internal cable routing is a pain, but as a serial setup messer-abouterer I love the fact that, hypothetically with a bit of playing around with hoses and spacers perhaps, I could slap a Thomson seatpost and stem combo and some vintage classic drop bars off eBay and have something that looks pretty old school with modern sensibilities, or I could run it 1x with 35mm tyres and an extremely narrow cockpit to keep up with the trendy folks. It’s one of the main reasons I bought a Bowman Palace back in the day, and now run it with a flat bar like a moron.

Taking the mudguard mounts away, though, is dumb. It has endurance wheels; it’s alloy so will appeal to new cyclists and those looking for a winter bike that doesn’t handle like a water buffalo, and if we’re all honest with ourselves, despite the marketing, it ain’t a crit bike either. If you’re serious about racing, why would you get an alloy frameset that isn’t aero when you can get a Quick Pro frameset (as an example) for less money AND have aero gains AND have weight savings?

I hate to burst some of your bubbles, but if you crash and snap an alloy frame, it’s actually going to be harder to repair than a carbon one. It might take little knocks more easily, but the big stuff is going to write it off whether it’s made of plastic or tin.

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Performance

The CAAD14 is, first and foremost, a laugh. There’s definitely something psychological at play, but not being aboard a bike that is carbon or aero, or both in this case, allows the mind to drift into a more playful space, and this is compounded well by the fact that the handling characteristics are pretty much as they are for the SuperSix, which is beautiful to ride. A little more stable with that longer back end, but basically the same.

Compared to my Bowman, admittedly a bike that is many years old now, the CAAD14 is worlds apart. It’s stiff enough in the frame, but like so many bikes it really pays to go up a little in terms of tyre sizes. Even up to a 30c takes some of the sting out of the tail that comes with not having a great deal of seatpost stickup. I have a size down here compared to my usual 56, and it is a little small (ideally I’d have this but with a longer stem, but we are where we are) and even here the seatpost doesn’t extend that far out. It certainly adds to the old school charm in a visual sense, but even a round carbon seatpost can’t do everything.

While I’m on the wheels and tyres, the stock wheels are OK, but the tyres are certainly a weak point for a bike where handling is such a key part of the appeal. Even if you don’t swap the wheels, you’ll have a far better time if you swap the Rubinos out for something moderately premium. Continental GP5000s and Vittoria Corsa Pros are good, but cost a bomb, and realistically, if you’re not dropping top dolla on a race bike then take my word for it and sort yourself out with a set of Hutchinson Blackbirds or Blackbird Race tyres and thank me later; ⅔ the price (or half, when on sale) and they feel really, really good. Same goes for Michelin Power Cups, though they don’t come in the same size range.

The stock wheels make for little to write home about, and I can’t help but feel I’d be writing “these would be a fantastic winter wheelset, and you can save some posh hoops for summer”, but THE RUDDY MUDGUARD MOUNTS ARE GONE.

I don’t lament the separate bar and stem combo, even if to all intents and purposes it’s just as inconvenient as a one-piece given the internal routing. I like the bars, and while they do flex more than I’d perhaps like when cranking out a sprint effort, they’re stiffer than the Seka Spear integrated cockpit. The ergonomics are sound, and being alloy I’m less stressed about leaning the thing up cack-handedly against a wall and it toppling over.

When the road points upwards I did wish I was on the SuperSix, even when I slapped a set of Zipp 202 NSW climbing wheels on. It’s just a little more stolid, but it gets over lumps perfectly well, even ticking off a few PRs on both sustained efforts and uphill sprints. The stock setup with pedals, cages, and computer mount tips the scales at 9.17kg (I did swap the saddle, though), and this isn't exactly feathery; it combines with the additional drag of the tyres, so it does feel sluggish at times, but it is an alloy bike with alloy wheels.

While one can’t necessarily feel the difference in a handful of watts here and there between the best aero road bikes, you absolutely can feel the difference between this and a frame designed to beat the wind. It’s not like having an anchor on or anything so dramatic, but you do have to work harder on the flat. Again, this is aided with better tyres, and you can do a lot with positioning, helmet, and clothing, but fundamentally this is a slower bike than a similarly priced aero frameset, whatever you put on it.

Downhill, though, it’s ripping good. The SRAM brakes are excellent and add a layer of confidence on top of the balance the geometry brings to the table. The same confident turn-in as the SuperSix is at play here, and a front end that is stiff enough to track where you want it to without being so stiff you skitter hither and thither. If this is to be your first ‘proper’ road bike, then there are far worse places to learn to descend than aboard one of these. It doesn’t descend quite as well as the SuperSix, but for a bike that costs substantially less it’s impressive how good an impression it can do if its premium sibling. It’s like the difference between Sprite from the fridge and room temperature Sprite. Same thing really, underneath, but one has a little more ahhhh.

It’s fun, but is that enough? The problem with the CAAD14 is that it’s sort of trying to be all things to all people and hamstringing itself in the process. It’s got the handling of an excellent fast road bike, but without the componentry, and realistically in this day and age if you’re buying a non-aero alloy frameset to race on seriously you probably need your head examining. On the flip side, it occupies the entry-level road bike space for the brand, but without shouldering any of the responsibility to be utilitarian that comes with that market position.

People buying their first road bike will also be looking for something to commute on and use all year round, and without mudguards it can do neither thing well. The Fairlight Strael manages to handle beautifully and be utilitarian enough to be a commuter, winter bike, and light touring masterclass, and if it can be done in steel then it can be done in aluminium, too.

I will also say that I never really got on with the groupset beyond the brakes. The gears were perpetually skipping and mis-shifting no matter what I did to trim and re-trim the rear derailleur. It was frustrating, and again, if this was my first dealings with electronic gears I’d be a bit non-plussed.

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Value

£3,700 is a fair wedge but it’s substantially cheaper than the top-flight bikes I so often review nowadays. What else can you get for that money? An Ultegra-equipped Fairlight Strael… A bike I gave a perfect score to. I know any Nero Show followers will be wailing and gnashing their teeth, but both bikes are not aero, made of metal, and handle excellently. One is just a lot more adaptable and a lot more configurable.

It's also several hundred more than the Winspace M6 aero race bike my colleague Tom just reviewed. That has carbon wheels, a one-piece integrated handlebar, etc and is sure to be a much quicker machine.

From more mainstream competition, you could get an Ultegra-spec Canyon Ultimate, with carbon wheels and race tyres for the same cash. Maybe it ain’t as cool, but it’s more bike for your money. A SRAM Force version of the Ultimate with carbon wheels and race tyres will save you 350 quid over the CAAD, which you put towards a power meter, and you can get it in red not white, so people don’t accuse you of being an influencer on the internet.

What I’m trying to say is the CAAD isn’t particularly good value. It isn’t a good enough race bike to be raced as-is without investing in better tyres, for starters, let alone the wheels, and it isn’t utilitarian enough to be a year-round training machine.

Verdict

I liked riding the CAAD, but I am also here to provide consumer advice. I like riding bikes that are cool (have I mentioned my alloy flat bar idiot wagon?) but ‘fun and cool’ only really gets you to the marketing campaign. You can stick cycling’s most effervescent influencer on one in front of a Porsche, but that’s sort of all there is underneath. It is fun, and it is cool, but if that’s all it is, then why not make it cooler? Why not make it more fun? Give it the paint it deserves, and the tyres it needs. Give people who are coming to road cycling for the first time something to really show off at the cafe, and for pity's sake, give them some mudguard mounts.