I did find myself wondering how a coil shock would feel on this bike, or possibly a lighter compression tune. Granted, it's not a wildly energetic machine, but there's still enough life to it that it it doesn't feel totally glued to the ground, and it more than holds its own on machine-made jump trails. On the Jekyll, that trait isn't as noticeable, and I didn't have to make any adjustments to my riding technique when hitting jumps. It's a bike that feels best at higher speeds, with a solid, ready-for-anything disposition that comes in handy when you're dropping into a brand new trail, unsure about what's around the next corner.ĭepending on how it's executed, a high pivot suspension design can make a bike feel more planted than poppy, due to the chainstay length increasing as the bike goes deeper into its travel. It doesn't completely erase square-edged hits, likely due in part to the shock's medium compression tune, but it does make them much less jarring, which in turn makes it easy to maintain momentum in choppy terrain. The Jekyll is one smooth operator, with the ability to make it seem like someone fast forwarded geologic time by a few million years so that all the rocks lost their sharp edges. I'd say the noise was more noticeable on the Jekyll than on other high pivot bikes I've been on recently, a list that includes the Kavenz VHP 16, Forbidden Dreadnought, and Norco Shore. The issue diminishes when the chain is shifted further down the cassette, but it's worth noting that if you spend a lot of time in the granny gear that rumbling chain can get annoying. There is one fly in the ointment when it comes to the Jekyll's overally climbing performance - in the easiest gear on the cassette there's noticeable drag and noise from the idler pulley, due to chain line that the 52-tooth cog creates. ![]() On the Jekyll, the position I ended up in was comfortable without being cramped, and I could happily head out on long rides without any fit issues. It also makes it easier to weight the front wheel, which is especially helpful on bikes with slacker head angles. ![]() More and more companies have hopped on the steeper seat tube angle bandwagon, and for good reason – the resulting upright climbing position is much more comfortable on long uphill grinds. The 34 pound weight isn't out of the ordinary for a bike in this category, but remember that weight is with EXO+ casing tires – installing heavier duty tires will ratchet the number on the scale up even higher. The Jekyll's level of maneuverability and traction on tricky climbs falls in the middle of the road – it's not the best in its class in either of those categories, but it also never felt like a massive chore to get it up and over chunky rock or root steps. That's a good thing, since that switch is positioned pretty far away, and accessing it on the fly can be challenging. Even when pedaling out of the saddle the shock didn't dip into its travel any more than necessary, and I never felt the need to reach for the Float X2's blue climb switch. I ended up being pleasantly surprised by how unfazed the Jekyll's suspension was on the climbs. A small upper guide is mounted to the frame in order to help ensure that the chain stays where it's supposed to. Steel is a little noisier than an aluminum idler would have been, due to the fact that it won't wear down to mesh perfectly with the chain, but Cannondale's designers felt that the extra durability was worth that tradeoff. It's made from steel rather than aluminum, which Cannondale says means it should last as long as the chainring. The idler pulley is the other obvious talking point about this green machine. Along with helping to keep the bike's center of gravity nice and low, the shock's position also leaves plenty of room for a water bottle inside the front triangle. ![]() A plastic guard is in place to protect the shock from flying trail debris and mud, although the openings at each side do mean that it's not totally sealed off from the elements. On the Jekyll, an aluminum link rotates on a pivot that sticks out from the downtube, activating the trunnion mounted shock. Back in 2019 Cannondale was experimenting with a downhill bike that used two shocks, a bike that also happened to have a split downtube design that's nearly identical to what's used on the Jekyll.
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