Cannondale Habit 1 Review

The Cannondale Habit 1 is a great all-around mountain bike, it’s a full suspension carbon fibre framed trail bike designed to have no compromises - allowing riders of all abilities to enjoy it’s versatile yet playful nature. The Habit 1 has always been a bike designed to perform in the real world. It’s designed without many of the gimmicks that adorn full suspension mountain bikes these days, and these gimmicks are not missed when you take the Habit 1 out on the trail.

Frame and Geometry

The Habit 1 offers a progressive geometry that feels bang up-to-date for modern mountain biking and trail riding. The head angle is a slack 65.5 degrees, and the seat angle is steep at 77.9 degrees. This geometry works really well together, meaning the bike descends well, alongside making light work of climbs, remaining efficient throughout. Riders will enjoy feeling well-centred on this bike.

The BallisTec carbon frame is as tough as it sounds - the carbon on this bike provides a stiff yet compliant feel, and the design of this bike looks great too - this bike looks fantastic, without looking overly flashy and in your face.

Suspension

The Habit 1 is equipped with 140mm of front travel, delivered by the well proven RockShox Pike Ultimate fork, and 130mm of rear travel courtesy of a Fox Float Factory DPS shock. This combination feels absolutely spot on for trail riding. The amount of travel here does a really good job of soaking up chunky rock gardens and roots, but it does not feel wallowy and too much when riding on less harsh terrain. The suspension also keeps the bike planted during ascents too, so there’s no wasted energy.

Components

Cannondale doesn’t skimp on the components for the Habit 1, with it being the top specification pick of the bunch; there’s the excellent SRAM X01 Eagle groupset which provides crisp and reliable gear changes, there’s a wide range of gears available here - making even the steepest of ascents feel manageable. Brakes are also from SRAM - the G2 RSC which provide all of the performance you would expect, on the trails these brakes felt consistent - which is a good feeling, being able to accurately deploy the brakes and feel confident in the amount of braking power you will get. Cannondale have also given this bike it’s own set of carbon wheels, in 29’’ guise.

Ride Quality

This bike is fun - it’s nimble enough for those who love singletrack - and there’s also plenty of stability and toughness to pedal this bike through the roughest cross-country terrain. It’s a trail bike rather than an XC bike, but it climbs really well, especially given the large travel numbers.

The Cannondale Habit 1 is ideal for riders who want one bike to handle most trails and cross-country use. It’s perfect for those who want a machine for recreational blastouts, but also those who want to enter competitions and races too.

Buy Cannondale Habit 1 Online

The Cannondale Habit range is available to buy online from us, we stock the full line up of Cannondale Mountain Bikes - and if you have any questions about the range, or the best MTB for your exact requirements, get in touch and we will be happy to help.