Building the ultimate entry-level crit bike: Shimano 105 mechanical and Cannondale CAAD13

Here at GCN, we’ve taken on many bike builds. From a superbike for under £1000 to the outright bizarre, like the off-road Brompton, our experimentation has led us down many different paths.

Tech wizard Alex Paton recently had the urge to embark on his next epic build, but this time he wanted to create a bike for a discipline that is close to his heart: crit racing. Back in the day, Alex was one of the top crit racers in the country, winning multiple races. He can still be found lighting up local races now, although the wins aren’t flowing quite like they used to.

Alex benefitted from top tech throughout his crit-racing career and most crit races are awash with shiny high-end bikes, but are they really necessary?

To show that you don’t need top-tier tech to compete at crits, Alex decided to build an affordable bike that would overcome the cost barrier using an aluminium frame and Shimano’s 105 groupsets. Check out our breakdown of the frame and components below and watch the full build in the video above.

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Cannondale CAAD13

For the project, Cannondale has provided Alex with a CAAD13 frameset - the brand’s premium alloy road bike.

Many cyclists are reluctant to use aluminium, preferring the lightweight profile of carbon. While carbon has its clear advantages, aluminium offers additional robustness which is especially handy for crit racing where crashes, unfortunately, can happen. That can spell disaster for carbon, leading to a costly replacement. Aluminium isn’t immune from damage but it is more capable of withstanding a knock.

Opting for an aluminium frame doesn’t necessarily mean a massive sacrifice on performance either. From a distance, the CAAD13 can easily be mistaken for Cannondale’s premium carbon race bike, the SuperSix. That’s because it shares the same silhouette and profiles, as well as the same race-winning purpose.

Aesthetics matter too which is why, for his build, Alex took advantage of Cannondale’s Special Projects to adorn the bike with a sleek, custom colourway, courtesy of the project’s senior artist Rob Nicholas. It won’t make Alex any faster but it’s sure to catch a few eyes on the local crit circuit.

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Shimano 105 mechanical

A budget build requires a mid-tier performance groupset, but that term doesn’t do justice to Shimano’s latest 105 groupset which Alex has opted for.

It’s the Japanese brand’s third-tier groupset, falling below Ultegra and Dura-Ace, but you’d struggle to notice much difference between them. That’s because it shares much of the same tech with its higher-end cousins, along with the electronic version of 105 too. Thanks to this tech, mechanical 105 only sacrifices marginal levels of performance over the higher-end options, which for most riders wouldn’t be noticeable, as Alex points out.

“I genuinely think a mid-tier groupset is perfect for this bike build. I also think nobody actually needs anything higher than that. That’s not to say top-tier groupsets or Shimano Dura-Ace or Ultegra are pointless, because I don’t think they are. I just think, for 99% of us who are not professional racers, top-tier groupsets are more of a luxury to have, rather than offering a major performance upgrade.”

• Read more: Mechanical Shimano 105 goes 12-speed and is disc-brake only

Alex is using the latest version of 105 for his build. Released in 2023, it is Shimano’s first 12-speed mechanical groupset, taking advantage of tech that has previously been reserved for electronic offerings.

Let us know what you think of the build in the comments.

We’ll be bringing you an update next week when Alex puts the bike to the test.