Cannondale Beast Of The East-3 Review

2016 Cannondale Beast Of The East photo-op

Ordered in October,  the 2016 Beast 3 has arrived. "Beast" is a revival of the late 80's-early 90's MTB by Cannondale. Dumping buckets of local blowing rain today, but not deterred, I was off with my backpack full of cycling shoes, helmet, pedals and other nonsense. It was hike, train & bus for me to Nytro Multisport in Encinitas!

2 years ago, I left the rando-MTB thing due to lack of a big tire bike. My other basic C'dale Trail SL4 was ripped off from Fry's Electronics, chain, bag, bottles and all! I was still pissed about the way the whole thing was handled! Back for more dirt, I hurried into Nytro, wet shoes and all.

Beast-3 looked much better than the online photos. Darker grey rather than silver looking and the orange trim didn't blare out. Manager Joe Morgan got a kick out of my matching Crank Bros orange pedals. Big sale at Nashbar! He said  matched it up like a "roadie" would. Pedals on, we wheeled it around to the scale. 29.9 lbs., reflectors and all. (Sans pedals it was 29.4 lbs).

30T SpiderRing on SI crank

Joe took me thru a basic setup with the seat height and also flipped the stem and rotated the bars somewhat. ( At home later I would do the knee plumb-bob thing for final set up). I wasn't very familiar with the thru axle thing and we did some practice with the front 15mm "quick release" thru axle. I thought that was rather neat. Next up the rear with the 12mm axle. I had a little trouble getting that back in. Joe noticed the rear derailleur hanger mini-bolt was loose so he quickly did the Loctite thing and snugged it down. Rear thru-axle also clamps down the hanger so no harm done.

Front shock was a big upgrade from the Trail 29'er, and also of note were the single narrow/wide chain-ring matched with a Shimano "clutch" type rear derailleur. I already liked that concept! Big tires were quite noticeable with the 2.8" width on 45mm 27.5 rims.

2.8" rubber on logo 27.5" 45mm rims

Bike came with various paperwork... Thru axle "quick release, Cannondale book on bike setup and a Suntour DVD on the fork. I hung around a bit and my rando buddy Keith Olsen came in to shop around and check on his Salsa Spearfish status. Chit-chat prevailed as I picked up a few other fuel goodies and then hit the road. Sun was out by now and I was riding north with a load on my back. I soon was snugly warm and dry in the Sprinter train heading for San Marcos and home.

Next up was tubeless... For rando trail work, it seemed a necessity. After my multi-flat experience with my other C'dale Trail 29'er, I knew it was mandatory.

Time to loose some weight!

Complete walk-around video

- randorides