As one of a handful of trail bikes with a very similar shape and suspension design, Cannondale’s Habit LT had a hard job convincing me it was a truly unique looker. Canyon’s new Spectral, the latest Specialized Stumpjumper 15 and YT’s Jeffsy Core 5 are the most obvious MTB equivalents that spring to mind, and all three four brands have models with similar kit and chassis silhouettes. So what’s so different about Cannondale’s Habit? Well, the simple answer is, not that much. That’s because there’s a reason why the best mountain bikes out there have gravitated towards a parallel place in the trail bike landscape: it just works. The style of bike design this Habit LT uses can be made to work very well indeed and has also proven durable and effective on loads of different models. Need to know Longer travel version of Cannondale’s Habit Carbon trail bike with 140/150mm travel Full carbon frame with 4-bar suspension design, threaded BB, standard shock mount size and UDH mech hanger SRAM GX Eagle mechanical 12-speed drivetrain RockShox Lyrik fork and Super Deluxe shock in Select+ guise 29-er wheels at both ends (27.5in wheel on XS) The basic shape I’m on about is a 4-bar suspension layout with the rear shock in line with the seatstays, and driven by a rocker link. This rocker controls the leverage rate as the rear wheel moves through its travel and a Horst Link pivot on the chainstay helps engineers manipulate the pedalling and braking influence on the suspension to each brand’s exact taste. It’s a layout that’s been around for decades now, with the brands converging so there’s probably just only a few millimetres difference in their geometry figures… modern geometry notwithstanding. Don’t be fooled into thinking all bikes like this are equal though, as subtle differences still mean no bike rides identically to its neighbour. Cannondale’s Habit LT variant is slightly more ‘trail’ than ‘enduro’ bike, and it also has some other tricks up its sleeve like its tuned, size-speci