Chris Panozzo moves to Cannondale ahead of the EWS season
Matt Rousu caught up with Chris Panozzo at the Shimano Bike Buller Festival to find out about his new ride for 2018.
Words and photos: Matt Rousu
One of Australia’s fastest mountain bikers is preparing to travel to Chile, South America to take on the worlds best at the opening round of the 2018 Enduro World Series (EWS) on 24-25 March, backing it up with Round 2 in Columbia the following weekend.
Chris Panozzo is a 2x Australian Enduro National Champion (2015 & 2016) and has tasted the waters of the EWS before, racing select rounds in 2016 and 2017 and placing as high as 21st at Snowmass, Colorado in 2016. He has been training hard all Summer to rise to new heights and it’s been paying off; he’s won almost every race he’s entered in 2018 so far.
With the likes of Sam Hill and Jared Graves, our Aussies have been doing quite well at the highest level of Enduro mountain bike racing over the last few years. I caught up with Chris Panozzo at The 2018 Bike Buller Festival who surprised everyone with a brand new bike to see if he could be the next Australian to rise to the top of the EWS.
It’s Been a big weekend testing out your new bike. Tell us about your new Cannondale Jekyll? How did this all come about? New sponsorship or just a change up?
"Yeah, it’s been a bike I’ve been watching get developed and always thought it looked great, but to get a chance to ride one now its been good. It’s much more like a mini downhill bike that is still playful on trails. It suits my style better having grown up racing DH bikes. I'm really looking forward to working with everyone at Cannondale. I’m also still with long time and great fam at Shimano, TLD, Fox, Maxxis and Lusty. Even though I’ve changed frames the stable support from everyone else has made the transition pretty smooth to say the least."
Tell us some nitty gritty details about the bike? Any modifications from standard? Back to 27.5in?
"I’m still working through a bit of a program to get up to speed on the bike but it’s coming quite naturally, I haven’t really been thrown any curveballs with anything I’ve ridden so far on the bike, which is pretty good feeling to have as it’s always a bit nerve racking, whether you are racing the bike for a company or riding a bike you’ve just bought after analysing every bit of info on the net. Yeah back to 27.5" wheels, the wheel size is a fair bit easier to attack unknown terrain that is common practice in the EWS, but the wheel size is only one small part of the puzzle."
It seems like you’ve been training like crazy over the Australian summer to be prepared for another overseas racing adventure. The first round of The EWS kicks off in South America on the 24-25th of March Chile followed by Colombia the next weekend, What’s your season look like? Are you going to try and focus on the EWS or do you have other racing goals?
"I have thoroughly enjoyed the Aussie summer, have just spent time enjoying my riding, enjoying the process of training. Road and XC racing, stayed off the gram, spent time with Family and Friends and keeping busy with other things in life. Yeah I’ll be in South America, as well as Europe, which will also be Ben Mcilroy’s first trip into proper EWS racing, even though he has already won a round in Tassie last year. Can’t wait for the season to start!"
Take a look at Panozzo's inspiration and training haven.
Getting the time on the bike in. Photo: Matt Staggs
A closer look at Panozzo's new Cannondale Jekyll
The Cannondale Jekyll is a modern enduro bike, with technology shared from other bikes in Cannondale's range.
The 65 degree head angle ticks off the need for stable handling when the going gets steep and rough, but match that up with 420mm chainstays and the bike remains super-agile, especially when ridden by an esxperienced pilot.
Cannondale use an asymmetirc back end to help get such tight stays, something they've done first with their F-Si hardtail, and then the Scalpel Si as well.
Chris is running Fox 36 forks, a Float X2 rear shock.
What does that mean, exactly? Well essentially the back end is off centre, but then the wheel reverses that. It moves the swingarm to the side to get more clearance for the chain ring, but ends up creating more clearance for the tyre as well. Wheels are built with more even dish which means they are stronger and stiffer too. All up, you should have a better handling bike due to greater stiffnes and strength.
Chris remains on Shimano, with a XTR M9000 shifting setup paired to Cannondale SI cranks and a Shimano XT 11-46t cassette. His wheels are Shimano XT Trail.
A new addition to the PRO bars are the nifty bashguards.
The Jekyll uses a carbon link, and as it sits high there is room for a full size bidon below the link – pretty essential given how long some of the liaisons are in the EWS.
