Originally Posted by
waters60
Don’t limit yourself to “ endurance “ bikes. I have a 2018 Cannondale Synapse. It is a great bike but I felt there was something missing. I got a 2020 Cannondale SuperSix and found the missing something. Handles more responsively, climbs better. If you can test ride both it would be worth trying. The Synapse was a great descender but is like a pair of GS skis, meant for carving longer arcs. The SuperSix is like slalom skis but not at all a twitchy descender, more like an amusement park on wheels!
I also like the handling of these bikes (I own a CAAD10 which has identical geometry to the SuperSix). Though I like the stable handling of my gravel bike on rough terrain. So different horses for different courses.
That said, I'm guessing the OP doesn't want to have a huge stack of spacers on top of this stem due to the short headtube of such bikes. The consequences of this big stack of spacers range from mild (not pretty) to problematic (not considered safe by the bike maker). I personally think a frame is a better fit if it can be ridden without an enormous stack of spacers. If I were ordering a custom bike it would be designed to fit me with no spacers at all.
[To be clear: I realize that some people may not have the flexibility to be on a standard road bike with no headset spacers. I also think that being able to comfortably ride is more important than whether the bike looks better with fewer spacers. But all other things being equal, see above, and try to avoid buying a bike the requires an excessive amount of spacers when other satisfactory options are available.]