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My take is. The damper is based on the frame which is constant. The leverage ratio on the spring can be changed to suit the style track without effecting the frame leverage ratio on the damper. Actually really simple and very clever. Stock damper ? I don't the the spring carrier has anything in it or very little, or just a bump stop.

By the looks of it when you run one shock, it goes in the downtube. You've gotta hand it to Cannondale though, they certainly live outside the box. 2Stage had a DH bike back in the day that ran two shocks but with a completely different concept. They had one shock for small bumps and one for big hits. Foes also comes to mind. The thing I like about the Cannondale is that their goals seem to be about improving the entire suspension package not just modifying a bike to work better with an existing product.

Maybe if there were a track that required constant accelerations the added weight might be detrimental, but that doesn't really describe a modern DH track. The same could be said about 29 inch wheels, but the fact that almost everyone has made the move to the bigger wheels suggests more of a premium on maintaining and gaining speed, and a heavy tire while being more difficult to accelerate is also going to hold that momentum once up to pace (much like a 29 inch wheel). I believe it was Graves who mentioned this at Worlds in South Africa a few...