Cannondale brings enhanced versatility to new Mavaro Neo urban e-bike

Coming hot on the heels of the Cannondale's new Tesoro Neo X – an e-bike designed for the rigours of both city riding and use on the trails – the new Mavaro Neo is pitched as a utility e-bike designed expressly for city use.

In this update, Cannondale is promising "more power, more comfort, and more confidence." The first of those is easy enough to quantify: with a 750Wh battery, it packs significantly more charge than most e-bikes – it's enough to push the claimed range up 175km (109mi). 

The others are going to take a little more unpacking, so let's take a look at the specs and see what's on offer.

Cannondale Mavaro Neo

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Comfort

Suspension comes in many forms on the Mavaro Neo. Perhaps the most mechanically interesting is the HeadShok Suspension Fork, which uses Cannondale's new Quad Gage needle bearing system to deliver 50mm of supple, low-friction travel. 

Similarly helping to smooth out the bumps is a Parallelogram Suspension Seatpost with a beefy 31.6mm diameter post. The system uses an elastomer insert to provide the cushioning, while the parallelogram linkage helps to control the direction of travel.

The final piece of the puzzle for smoothing out broken and cobbled city roads are the 2.2" / 55mm wide Contact Cruiser tyres from Continental. With their large volume, lower pressures can be used which allows the tyres to better soak up those highspeed vibrations.

Beyond the various forms of suspension, the Mavaro Neo has had its geometry optimised for rider comfort, with an upright and relaxed position. Different wheel sizes have also been specced between the smaller and larger frames, to help keep everything in proportion and preserve the measured ride feeling.

Sizes small and medium get 27.5" wheels, while large and extra large get 29ers.

The final point on the comfort comes from the two frame options, a set-through for ultimate ease of use, or a more traditional look with the classic profile of a toptube. 

Confidence

Wider, grippy tyres alongside an upright and controlled position certainly play a role in boosting rider confidence – but the Mavaro Neo has a few more tricks up its sleeve than that.

Just as with the recently launched Cannondale Synapse, this bike comes equipped with Garmin's Varia rear facing radar. Through a console mounted on the handlebars, it'll tell you if there is a car behind you and how close it is.

Again, similar to the Synapse, there is also integrated lighting on the front and at the rear for enhanced visibility night and day. These all run off the main central battery, so there's still only one thing to charge.

A Gates Carbon Belt makes up the drivetrain, minimising maintenance as it doesn't need nor want oiling or degreasing and it won't get rusty in wet conditions. The gearing comes courtesy of Enviolo's Trekking continuously variable hub, meaning you'll never find yourself stuck between two gears, one too hard and the other too easy.  

Power

With a huge 750Wh battery, the range is phenomenal. Most e-bikes have batteries around 400Wh, so with almost double that the Mavaro Neo is claimed to be able to manage 175km (109mi) on a single charge.

Naturally that range will be less if you load up the integrated pannier rack to its fullest capacity and ride in the highest assistance setting.

There's also plenty of power when it comes to stopping, with 203mm rotors front and rear and Magura CT 2 hydraulic callipers. On the road, typically rotors are 160mm – it's only really downhill mountain bikes and tandems that generally get such supersized braking.

Pricing

Although there are two frames (traditional top tube and step-through), each coming in four sizes (small, medium, large and extra large), there is only one spec option which puts the price at £5,800. You can visit Cannondale's website here for more details.