Inside Line: First ride on the Cannondale Habit

Cannondale’s new Habit is a 120 mm travel, 27.5-wheel trail bike. I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon riding one. Here is what I thought.

Habit Hi-Mod 1

Unlike Cannondale’s longer travel offerings, the Trigger and the Jekyll, the Habit has no fancy handlebar actuated travel adjust, just a simple single pivot design with a swing-link actuated shock. Both carbon and aluminum frames have been engineered with enough flex in the seat stays to eliminate the need for a rear pivot.

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Our group rode the Habit Carbon 1, top of the line, save for the no holds barred Black Inc model. The Carbon 1 has RockShox’s Full Sprint remote lockout controlling the trail-tuned rear shock and Lefty fork. The other remote is for the now de rigeur Reverb dropper post.

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Our ride consisted of good sized climb on a mix of singletrack and pavement, and descending a mix of fast, degraded fire road and singletrack.

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The Habit was pretty easy to get along with from the get go, with what I would consider pretty neutral geometry. I didn’t weigh the bike, but it was probably somewhere under 25 pounds. Climbing was fast and efficient, and while I used the lockout at times, it was mostly reserved for pavement. The 30-tooth chainring was a nice touch for the shape I’m finding myself in lately. It was also mighty cool looking.

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I haven’t ridden a Lefty in years, and I’m happy to report there was very little to complain about here. The fork (or more properly, “strut”) was well controlled and felt plenty stiff for such a light chassis. Descending the Habit was a fine blend of nimble and stable. Cannondale did a fine job matching parts to intended use such as the Nobby Nic/Rocket Ron tires, 760 mm bars that can be trimmed to desired width, and four-piston SRAM Guide brakes.

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