Advise please - To be or not to be

[letsride]

36 minutes ago, Fitbull said:

I know more people who have bought Cannondales only to get rid of them cos they hate the Lefty! Me being one of them... Worst shock ever invented!

Which lefty? 

[Myth]

9 hours ago, DIPSLICK said:

Bought a scalpel, because I have owned too many SC I WANTED something different I wanted a “NEW” bike/brand

I do not like the Lefty 

in fact it has less km than any of my bikes, I don’t care what anyone says, gimmick and I hate the gyro feel

but I agree you can’t buy a scalpel and not have a lefty for me I should have bought the SC Blur

if anyone wants to swop a basically new large blur with same spec, I’m seriously More than Keen

Its an interesting point of view, and I wonder if it has something to do with where you typically ride.  I've found that the Lefty is very dependent on terrain on how well it does / feels - it feels to me like it does much better in terms of small bump compliance than other forks due to less stiction, however not so well on big hits as traditional forks as its simply has less space for air and dampers etc.  So for me it runs very well on slightly smoother trails and gravel roads, while i prefer my trail bike with traditional fork if the terrain is slightly more rough...

[MORNE]

i wouldnt say they are the worst fork (is this even a fork?). they are super plush, i think they are just crap due to how much they cost to maintain and how complicate they are compared to a normal telescopic fork. i'm sure the new ones are different but when i had one you still had to 'reset' the needle bearings every few weeks as they migrated.  it definitely feels different riding one too imo, maybe it's just a visual thing, but it is enough to make you notice.  Being able to chainge tyres without removing the wheel is nice though. good thing too because stripping out the thread and built in helicoil on a lefty hub used to be very easy haha. Then going around asking for a new one in the right thread literally everywhere was always fun. 

- dont do it. 

[DIPSLICK]

Just now, Myth said:

Its an interesting point of view, and I wonder if it has something to do with where you typically ride.  I've found that the Lefty is very dependent on terrain on how well it does / feels - it feels to me like it does much better in terms of small bump compliance than other forks due to less stiction, however not so well on big hits as traditional forks as its simply has less space for air and dampers etc.  So for me it runs very well on slightly smoother trails and gravel roads, while i prefer my trail bike with traditional fork if the terrain is slightly more rough...

100% also its my lack of skillz, FOR ME most my riding is done on my Ritchey Steel Rigid for the urban/gravel/ smooth flowing single track, the Lefty when I know its technical, When I bought it I still told my LBS my Toppie status and my lack of skillz its a bad idea, moral of the story TRUST your gut. lots of my mates ride Lefty all happy all younger and much more skillz 

[Myth]

And to answer the original question - I wouldn't personally build a Scalpel without a Lefty - the Lefty is really what makes this bike, and I honestly don't think that Cannondale frames and geo's are that great, so if you want to build a custom bike using a non-lefty traditional fork, you might as well just get a  different frame brand to start with.  They have a lot of proprietary items and a press-fit BB, and the geometries are kind-off in the middle ground, not really as modern as some other brands...

 

(And Cannondale boys, please don't bash me for this comment, I own a Scalpel too...I just don't believe that Cannondale's frames are that good to warrant using it in a build above some other brands' frames if you are going to use a traditional fork)

Edited January 14, 2022 by Myth

[TheoG]

10 hours ago, DIPSLICK said:

Bought a scalpel, because I have owned too many SC I WANTED something different I wanted a “NEW” bike/brand

I do not like the Lefty 

in fact it has less km than any of my bikes, I don’t care what anyone says, gimmick and I hate the gyro feel

but I agree you can’t buy a scalpel and not have a lefty for me I should have bought the SC Blur

if anyone wants to swop a basically new large blur with same spec, I’m seriously More than Keen

My neighbor went from a Scalpel to Blur in no time flat.  As far as I can tell he like the Blur much more.

[Fitbull]

43 minutes ago, letsride said:

Which lefty? 

I had the Cannondale Scalpel Si Team with the 2.0 Carbon Lefty. Absolutely awful! Mate of mine had the same also didnt like it. I got rid of mine he was convinced by the bike shop to "upgrade" to the new Scalpel which came with the Ocho because it was supposed to be a massive improvement. 6 months later he got rid of it and and moved to a Scott RC.

Maintainance on them is a nightmare and the maintainance intervals are ridiculous, We both constantly had issues where it wouldnt compress the full amount and then you would have to let all the air out, compress is manually yourself to realing the needle bearing tracks or whatever and then it would work again for a short while.

[DIPSLICK]

2 minutes ago, TheoG said:

My neighbor went from a Scalpel to Blur in no time flat.  As far as I can tell he like the Blur much more.

yip, Its time to sell and get my trusted OLD faithful brand back in the stable

You convinced me🤪

[RobertWhitehead]

Thank you very much for the inputs. The frame got offered to me as quite a good deal but I am still in two minds if I want to actually pull the trigger and get it. I am only going to build the bike for resale 

[TheoG]

Just now, RobertWhitehead said:

Thank you very much for the inputs. The frame got offered to me as quite a good deal but I am still in two minds if I want to actually pull the trigger and get it. I am only going to build the bike for resale 

In that case maybe there is an argument for keeping with a Lefty.  Cannondale faithful guys I'm sure would prefer it that way and you might get a faster sale.

[DIPSLICK]

1 minute ago, TheoG said:

In that case maybe there is an argument for keeping with a Lefty.  Cannondale faithful guys I'm sure would prefer it that way and you might get a faster sale.

THIS

[Mongoose!]

1 hour ago, Fitbull said:

I know more people who have bought Cannondales only to get rid of them cos they hate the Lefty! 

guess all of them bought Brain shocks nê 🥳

[Fitbull]

9 minutes ago, Mongoose! said:

guess all of them bought Brain shocks nê 🥳

Not all but a fair few! Not very Brainy if you ask me! 😉

[Mongoose!]

of course - that's a no brainer !