He’s an avid collector of fast and fancy cars, a hobby that comes naturally after four decades of rising through the ranks of auto-parts giant Magna International Inc. These days, however, Manfred Gingl has shifted gears from four- to two-wheelers.

As Magna founder and chairman Frank Stronach positions his company as a leading manufacturer of propulsion systems for electric vehicles, Gingl, a former chief executive of Magna and one of Stronach’s closest confidants, is thinking beyond the automobile. The electrification of transportation, in his view, must include electric bicycles if communities are to deal with problems such as highway and urban congestion.

"Most people from the bicycle industry go into the auto industry," says Gingl, 60, president of Magna’s aftermarket-products subsidiary Magna Marque. "I’ve made a complete circle, and have gone from car industry to bicycle."

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The shock is so complex in fact that the bike we tested for our Bible of Bike Tests—just a few short months before the Jekyll’s official launch date—was equipped with a DYAD that was still considered pre-production. Maybe it’s just me, but Cannondale’s new Jekyll is one powerful finalist in the Most Anxiously Awaited New Bike category for 2011. Perhaps it’s the unique and complex Fox Racing Shox DYAD RT2 rear shock that can change the Jekyll’s rear-travel characteristics at the flip of a lever. Setting up the DYAD takes a bit of patience, because each travel setting (90-millimeter “Elevate Mode” and 150-millimeter “Flow Mode”) is done separately. In its long-travel setting, the DYAD almost feels as linear as a coil-sprung shock. Maybe it’s the sleek, sculpted carbon-fiber frame and wide linkage that promises an incredible amount of what Cannondale calls “center stiffness. The beating heart of the Jekyll is definitely the DYAD rear shock. $8,000 / Cannondale.

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