I have the 2009 Cannondale Synapse 4, and I absolutely love it. I ended up choosing it over another Cannondale because of the SRAM shifters. I couldn't get my head around the Shimano shifters. But the SRAM shifters just made perfect sense to me. I love how easy they are to operate!

I also agonised over triple vs compact double. I'm absolutely terrible at hills, so I thought a triple would be a must. But none of the bikes I wanted came with triples, only compact doubles. I eventually decided I should just HTFU and stop being a baby about hills. Only once or twice have I encountered a hill that I really felt I could've done if only I had a triple. So the compact double really does fit the bill 99% of the time. At least, it does for me. Your mileage may vary.

I agree with the others. You really need to spend a lot more time on your current bike to get an appreciation of what works for you and what doesn't. Once you have that knowledge, you'll get a much better outcome when buying your next bike.


Max