In what was a very exciting and closely fought race, French national champion Maxime Marotte rode to fourth place at the Albstadt round of the World Cup this past weekend, aboard this new Cannondale F-Si hardtail.
Marotte kindly took some time on Saturday to talk us through the new bike that — like Marco Fontana’s bike which we featured earlier — was still set up for the inaugural short track race the evening before.
We take a closer look at Maxime Marotte's all new Lefty Ocho equipped Cannondale F-Si
Maxime Marotte Cannondale F-Si spec
- Frame: Cannondale F-Si Hi-MOD
- Fork: Cannondale Lefty Ocho
- Brakes: Shimano XTR
- Shift levers: Shimano XTR M9000
- Rear derailleur: Shimano XTR M9000
- Cassette/chain: Shimano XTR
- Crankset: Shimano XTR M9000 with Stages left arm power meter and 36t ring
- Wheelset: ENVE M525
- Tyres: Schwalbe Thunderburt
- Handlebars: ENVE M5 flat
- Stem: Ritchey WCS C220 73D
- Pedals: Look X-Track Race carbon
- Saddle: Prologo Nago
- Seatpost: ENVE / KS LEV Integra
Maxime Marotte Cannondale F-Si
The new bike was, of course, sporting Cannondale’s all new, and highly distinctive, single crown Lefty Ocho. You can learn all you could ever want about the Ocho in this article.
The Shimano-sponsored team runs a mix of Di2 and mechanical XTR groupsets, and Marotte opted for the latter. The left crank arm also featured a Stages power meter.
All of the team bikes were fitted with a super-light chain guide from Leonardi.
Leonardi is an interesting Italian brand that produces a lot of aftermarket components, replacement parts and tools for Lefty forks — that the team should choose to use these guides, when so many other equally lightweight options are available, suggests that Cannondale works closely with Leonardi.
The riders in the team are free to run whatever pedals they choose, and Marotte chose Look's X-Track Race carbon pedals.
Marotte’s bike was fitted with a pair of Schwalbe Thunderburt’s in these pictures, but the front tyre was swapped out for a Nobby Nick — a far more grippy tyre than the outrageously slick Thunderburt — come race day. These were mounted to a set of ENVE M525 wheels.
Interestingly, Marotte chose to run a 180mm rotor up front with a 160mm out back — it's more typical in the usually weight-obsessed world of XC to run a pair of 160mm rotors or even a 160/140mm combo.
Like many other XC racers, Marotte ditched the top-cover of this headset and fitted an aggressively dropped stem in a bid to get the front end that little bit lower.
With each race, more and more XC racers are adopting dropper seatposts. Marotte is among that number and swapped the fixed ENVE post pictured for a KS Integra dropper for race day.
Keen to hear how two amateurs bumbled their way around the course on the same bike? Check our first ride review of the new Cannondale F-Si.
