Cannondale Topstone Gravel Bike Review

In this video I review my experience owning the Cannondale Topstone 1 for the past 2 years. What I like, what I don’t like, and thoughts on the bike.

Upgrades:

B-Rad 2 by Wolf Tooth: https://www.jensonusa.com/Wolf-Tooth-B-Rad-Basemount-B-Rad-2?loc=usa&gclid=CjwKCAjwseSoBhBXEiwA9iZtxnpLQeEnpP40vUmiLNrSK0XTU0lRiRrE1UrrUMNc-bO0-vTUMhYITxoC3iAQAvD_BwE

B-Rad 3 by Wolf Tooth: https://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Tooth-Components-B-RAD-Mounting/dp/B0845WT23Y

Side Mount water bottle cage: https://www.amazon.com/Lightweight-Bicycle-Bottle-Holder-Mountain/dp/B07GC1HFP7/ref=sr_1_25?crid=1ZWXQU5N4072J&keywords=side+entry+water+bottle+cage&qid=1696222728&s=sporting-goods&sprefix=side+entre%2Csporting%2C146&sr=1-25

Quadlock case Galaxy S20 FE: https://www.amazon.com/Quad-Lock-Case-Samsung-Galaxy/dp/B0936PY5Q8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=39KR4EQ2F1RXX&keywords=quadlock+gs20+fe&qid=1696222961&sprefix=quadlock+gs20+f%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-1

Quadlock Mount knock off from EBAY: https://www.ebay.com/itm/134419653466?hash=item1f4c09235a:g:u2IAAOSwPj5jy0NE&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwBUgyM%2Bv7eCAqwFc7o%2BBQN1U%2F2GsYlIHVQ5g0BO8GxYh7cDYtIwQhGN%2BkVg3FUeBYnU%2FLSquioRnIHL%2FHS7o%2BEieheY71NdfOga%2FpCvK90WTLaSG1FtNkqjmFhHdPUL9B%2FpZk5mH5fhhBYtBBxzsDfQIg%2FXuIK1n1CGDC%2F8o38otYA2ke2JG86647MS88XxLtvhDdI84Id9b9kwuF1hcXWmCJuxUQ4F5%2FjX2865kGFgvNU6VVkvjcTPWH6S6qVMPPg%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7iJp-zdYg

Blackburn bag in size Large (Medium size frame, might not fit all medium frames): https://www.amazon.com/Blackburn-Outpost-Frame-Bag-Medium/dp/B013VQ1E9K/ref=sr_1_1?crid=12HIBVAS2NS92&keywords=blackburn%2Bframe%2Bbag&qid=1696223023&sprefix=blackburn%2Bframe%2Bba%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-1&th=1

welcome back to another video this is bananas for bikes today I want to do a quick uh almost 2-year update on my canondale top Stone one this is a size medium 2021 model if you haven’t checked out the 2023 models highly recommend that you do that they uh what they’ve done is they’ve lowered the seat stays to add some more compliance to the rear end although I’ve never ridden a bike and thought man I wish this bike had more rear end compliance they did add a triplicate mount to the fork which is a nice touch to keep it updated however uh again after two years of ownership I’ve never needed to use any front fork mounts I found that they’re probably not very aerodynamic in terms of mounting stuff here and I’ve found it just fine putting a water bottle here I can fit a full frame bag here another water bottle here and another one under here so I haven’t found the need for for a front fork Mount yet um and they increased the the capacity for 45C tires this one by the factory says uh 42c but I have squeezed in WTB Radler 45s in it front and rear and it’s quite tight in the rear but it doesn’t rub so you can put 45s on here although the manufacturer want 42s Max these are 28c I just got done a century ride you can tell it’s got quite a bit of space in here so if you are interested in doing some Road riding you can absolutely um fit some skinny tires on here and have it not look too ridiculous although for me it does look kind of funny cuz I’m used to running uh these WTB Riddlers um which I got right here which I absolutely love I cannot say enough good things about them I know some people um don’t like them or for whatever reason but I absolutely love them you can see the difference 28s versus 37s uh pretty big difference really fills out the frame nicely uh the Riddlers are just the Perfect Blend between onroad um efficiency and off-road grip they’re not super grippy off-road but they’re also 37 these aren’t mountain bike tires you know and so um they definitely offer more cushion and make the road way more comfortable these are pumped up to 75 PSI these are um Schwalbe Marathon tires and they’re very uncomfortable on the road in terms of just like if the road isn’t really nicely paved you can just feel it whereas the Riddlers are like a cushion it’s really really nice I run those at 40 to 45 PSI in any case um I did convert this as you can see to more of a road bike configuration worked out great slay the miles in uh had a really good ride this bike is just awesome when it comes to Road riding I really like I’ve actually come to really enjoy this 11 speed um the jumps between the gears are pretty small so you can really dial in your Cadence that way compared to a 10p speed um I would still Rock a 10 speed no problem with them but the 11 speed is nice this go this is an 1134 with a um 4630 front chain ring shifting is great as you would come to expect with the uh grx I really love this huge rear Poley super easy to clean and service um compared to the 10speed these poliy are much much bigger um just they look cool I really like them and of course the brakes these grx breaks I really can’t say enough good things about them once you get them dialed in they can be a little bit of a pain in the butt to bleed but that’s just the nature of um of hydraulic brakes is sometimes bleeding goes really smoothly and uh and really well and then other times it just kind of sucks I’m just fiddling with them but uh I really love the wide the wide levers and these hoods are huge and in in a good way you really get an awesome purchase on here nice and wide uh really really like them this is a a knockoff mount for my quad lock so what I did I don’t really care for the quadlock mounts for the car but the quadlock mount is kind of unbeatable for the for the bike so bought this for $8 on eBay instead of $40 for the quadlock one and when I need to go Road riding I don’t have a GPS unit you can see this is not it it’s not easy to use per se um I’ll get it on here there we go so that’s really convenient to have your phone out there I don’t have a GPS unit so if you are looking to ride with your phone um this is nice um I just have it on there for that I don’t use it for anything else water bottle right here great setup super super easy to use and grab no worried you don’t have to bend over and Fiddle with this while you’re you know crunching miles you can just have the water bottle right there which I’ve really enjoyed um I just love these forks I know they don’t have the mounts that other Forks do but like I said I haven’t really found the need for front mounts I’ve been able to mount everything that I need on a bike with my full frame bag and the frame bag that I use is uh this Blackburn uh sits on there like that you can actually open it which I really like it zippers open I have other videos showing this bag but it zippers open and fills in the whole frame right up to that bottom water bottle you can still fit a water bottle in here with this full frame bag but I do recommend getting the Brad uh either the Brad 2 or the Brad 3 for your water bottle mounts it allows you to slide slide your water bottle Mount down further so you can fit a water bottle in there and this is a side entry which is really nice because it’s hard to get your water bottles in there um with the top entry if you have a frame bag now a couple more talking points here and then we’ll wrap up um the group sets great Tire clearance like I said you can squeeze a 45 C in here this is the clearance for 28 um comparatively to my Kona Sutra this is the clearance for 40 so I would I would say the clearance for 40s on the Sutra is only is slightly tighter than the clearance for 28s on this the Sutra you can fit 2. ons but this you can only fit four 42 is the manufacturer’s rating um the weight oh my gosh this thing weighs a lot less than the Sutra uh this came in at a non-exact 24 lb uh with the pedals and the mounts the two mounts and the two water bottle cages um probably would come in something like 23 lb if I took all that off or 22 and2 lb um compared to the Kon the Kona Sutra which is uh was closer to 20 6 26 and2 lbs um without petals and one uh one water bottle so this is a few pounds lighter and uh very very noticeably lighter and I really like the hydro I think it’s called hydrofoam tubing it’s just like the unique design of the bends of the tubes and the shape and all the internal routing it’s just super clean all the routing is internal uh which I really really like and it’s just a No Frills bike you know when I first got it I really was kind of comparing it to a lot of the a lot of the bikes Circa 2021 were coming with clearance for 45 SE tires compared to bikes you know 2017 2018 and this bike was outdated in 2021 in terms of not having Fork mounts not having the clearance but I found over the last two years of of ownership that none of that stuff really matters what matters is like do you enjoy riding the bike does it fit you well is it the right size um I’m 5′ 7 and this bike is the perfect size for me the only thing I did differently was I put in this no-name brand um stem I think it’s a 60 mil compared to the larger one but I will say after that road ride I might put the stock stem back on to stretch it out a little bit more it did feel a little cramped but not not much um so I might put the larger stem back on I think it’s 100 Mil stem or 110 mil but uh I’ve come to find that you can get bikes with all the bells and whistles but what what happens is you end up not really needing them in in in practice so um this bike’s great if you want to do Road riding this bike is great if you want to do gravel riding this bike is great if you want to do some touring you can put put some piers on the back here you can put front and rear um fenders on here I have done that but um uh it’s just a great bike I really like it and uh I highly recommend it um but if you are looking for something that’s a little bit more versatile something that you can really go like two or the world with or fit larger tires or that has the front fork mounts you can take a look at the newer models um or you can you know take a look at the Kona Sutra which is a great bike too I just find that um I just find that riding this bike is a little bit more fun on the road uh in terms of when I’m doing my training and my exercising I prefer this over the Sutra but if it’s just a lazy sunde yeah I really like the Sutra too so I’m still trying to work out like I don’t want to keep both bikes but every time I flippy flop like I wanted to sell this bike and keep the Sutra and then and then I did the road ride I’m like well I want to keep this bike I really love Road riding with it so I don’t know uh I’d really like to sell one of them and get a mountain bike but at this point I like like I really like both of them I wouldn’t say that I’m absolutely in love with both of them I really like both of them um I just can’t really decide cuz they’re just two very different bikes but um I would say over all I would probably keep this bike just because when I do Road riding this is just a much better bike for Road riding in my opinion than the Sutra and I really like the grx group set um and I like that it’s lighter weight and then if I need to go mountain biking or gravel riding I can grab a mountain bike but the um I keep flip-flopping a couple weeks I’ll probably like the Sutra more than this it’s hard to say but any case really like the bike seats pretty comfortable um wheel set that’s not been a problem uh if you guys have any questions about it let me know uh it does have uh mounts down here these mounts don’t really work well because you can see there’s like a a way that the the way that they do these the bottom mount here there’s like a lip so you have to use like a rubber washer to make things fit nicely there but it does have a mount here but again you know it’s like if you’re getting this bike you’re not getting it to put offenders and racks all over it you’re getting this bike cuz you want to go Road riding or gravel riding and if you want to toss a pair of fenders on here you can you want to toss a rack on here you can but if you’re going to keep rack and fenders on here and load it up and that’s how you want to ride get the Sutra but if you like it unloaded Snappy responsive up the Hills this thing is feels lighter and more responsive up the hills the Sutra by far um and I really enjoy that when I’m climbing it just feels like it puts the power down a little bit better um so uh yeah and if I want to do more off-roading stuff I’m leaning more towards getting um a mountain bike than uh than necessarily riding the Sutra with big wide 2.1 in tires anyway hope you guys like it let me know if you have any questions thanks cheers