Tested: Cannondale's Perp Two

WHAT: Cannondale Perp 2
WHERE: www.cannondale.com
HOW MUCH: $ 3,000

With the Perp, Cannondale set out to create a highly versatile freeride bike. Introduced last year and based off the company’s Judge downhill platform, the Perp offers 7 or 8 inches of adjustable travel, relatively quick geometry and it uses a 1.5-inch headtube with single-crown forks in mind. This bike, however, is not designed for anything resembling a cross-country trail. Versatility here implies the ability to shred bike parks, slopestyle courses, downhill tracks and technical, gravity-fed trails.

The bike is built around a classic single-pivot suspension with a linkage that allows Cannondale engineers to fine-tune performance. What they came up with, essentially, is a rising-rate shock ratio with a wide sweet spot in the middle. On the trail, that means a bike that is slightly soft off the top with nice predictable travel through the middle of the stroke that becomes firmer toward the end to avoid bottoming out.

The frame uses a massive machined yoke that connects the rear end to the front triangle at a wide pivot forward of the bottom bracket. The upper yoke attaches to the shock via a pivoting link. The aluminum frame is meticulously welded at Cannondale’s Bedford, Pennsylvania, factory. Smooth gussets at the head tubes and seat tubes add strength and stiffness while elevated chainstays practically eliminate chainslap.

Our Perp 2 test bike weighed just over 42 pounds and was built with modest parts that included a RockShox Domain single-crown fork, Fox Van R coil-sprung rear shock, Hayes HFX-9 brakes, Mavic EX 325 rims, Ringle hubs, TruVativ Ruktion cranks, SRAM X-7/X-9 drivetrain, FSA bars and headset and various house-brand Cannondale parts.

After abusing the bike for more than a year, here’s what we found: although it’s touted as a versatile bike, the Perp has a true calling in life—to rail tight, steep, challenging technical lines. This bike excels on narrow veins of butt-puckering singletrack, trails that demand razor-sharp precision as well as the ability to absorb big blows. The Perp is quick, responsive and surprisingly agile. Although it’s a bit chattery on high-speed braking bumps, it effortlessly absorbs big hits.

No 42-pound bike will ever be pleasant to climb with, but the Perp seems to maximize efficiency out of its single-pivot suspension. Though it wallows on hard efforts, it does spin well up mellow roads or double-track. Still, climbing on singletrack is probably best avoided, and hitching a ride to the top in the back of a shuttle vehicle might be the best option of them all.

Though it can handle downhill courses and fared well on jump-riddled trails like Whistler’s A-Line, the Perp probably won’t win Crankworx or a World Cup downhill race anytime soon. But if your playground consists of steep, tight, technical trails, the Perp might be the suspect you’re looking for.

Hits: Rails through technical terrain. Feels bottomless on big hits. Solid parts mix for the money. Super-clean welds adorn the made-in-America frame. It is capable on a variety of terrain, though it performs best on tight, steep, rough stuff. Its full-length seatpost can be dropped into an uninterrupted seat tube for descending, or raised for climbing.

Misses: Although it adds stiffness, the 12-millimeter thru-bolt rear axle requires loosening five bolts to remove the rear wheel—less than ideal for fixing trailside flats. Hayes HFX-9 brakes are woefully underpowered, even with 203-millimeter rotors front and rear. Even with the linkage, the rear suspension stiffened during braking, which was especially noticeable on high-speed chatter.