Cannondale Habit Waves Ride Impression
The Cannondale Habit is Waves is an alloy trail bike specced with mid-tier components and at the time of this writing is $3,300, although in today’s market that is sure to go up. I decided to purchase a full suspension bike because I wanted to ride some of the rockier trails in my area without my body taking such a beating that it does from a hardtail. I basically narrowed my choices to full suspension trail bikes that were sold through my local shops. My budget was about $3,500. Other bikes I was considering were the Kona Hei Hei alloy and the Ibis Ripley AF.
The Cannondale Habit has a seriously beefy frame.
As I mentioned the Habit Waves is specced with mostly mid-tier components such as a Rockshox Yari 140mm fork, Rockshox Select shock, Sram G2 brakes, Sram Eagle SX, and WTB i30 wheels with Maxxis Minion DHF & DHR. I would say outside the SX drive train the spec is pretty decent for money.
First impression of this bike is that it is really heavy! My bike, size large, weighed in at 35.56 lbs with pedals. Everything on this bike is super beefy. The chainstays, the downtube, are all very thick which is noticed upon first glance. Having said that, the bike does not feel super bogged down or sluggish on the trail. In fact, the bike feels pretty nimble on the trail and actually climbs pretty decently for being a super heavy trail bike. I have to say this is one of the most impressive things about the Habit. In addition, the bike feels super stable going over rocky ledges or when pointed downhill. I also haven’t noticed any of the dreaded pedal bob that often plagues low to mid-tier full suspension bikes. I’ve seen mixed reviews online on the Yari fork, but I think it’s fine. I guess the ride feel is not quite as refined as the Fox 34 Stepcast on my Spot Rocker, but it that’s to be expected being the Yari is an enduro fork. It obviously handles the ledges and rocky chunk just fine. I don’t do any big jumps or bike park stuff, so I can’t really speak to that.
Having said all that, this is not a perfect bike and there are some issues, mostly related to some of the lower end components specced on this model. First, the SX drivetrain is not good. The shifter drives me absolutely crazy. It’s cheap and plastic, and I constantly accidentally and unintentionally shift to the wrong gear because the shift mechanism is so soft. It sucks. In fact, I just replaced it with a GX shifter. Also, the SX derailleur does not do a good job of preventing chain slap either. Fortunately, Cannondale did a good job with putting chainstay protection on both sides of the chainstays, which is a nice touch. I’m going to just ride with the SX derailleur until it breaks then replace it with a GX at that time, which I’m sure won’t be long. The other major issue is the WTB wheelset and steel Eagle cassette are really heavy. The one place you feel the Habit’s weight is on those flat “pedally” areas of the trail. And the heavy WTB wheels are likely the biggest contributors. The hub engagement isn’t great either, but I knew what to expect from the Shimano hubs. I think long term I’ll upgrade the wheels and also the cassette to a GX, which I think will make a big difference given the weight savings. I’ll have to save up for that, so it will be a while. In the meantime, I might switch to a lighter tire setup. Probably a Specialized 2.3 Eliminator front and 2.3 Ground Control rear which seems to work well for my area. Lastly, I should probably mention Cannondale’s AI Proportional Response has the wheel offset, so if you want to switch out wheels you have to get them re-dished. It’s not a big deal unless you want to constantly switch out wheelsets with other bikes.
Overall, the Cannondale Habit Waves has been a really great bike, and just what I wanted from full suspension. It’s a great trail bike for my local trails which can be really rocky, and it handles those like a champ. It’s also a lot of fun switching between this bike and my Spot Rocker. It’s sort of like switching between an F150 and a Ferrari. I’m probably a little bit overbiked with the Yari fork, but overall this is a good bike for some of the rockier trails that I ride. The Habit gives me a really great platform to grow over time with some nice upgrades. So overall, despite some of the component shortcomings, I really like this bike.
Thanks for reading.
