Cannondale Lefty vs Conventional Fork

[Terminator]

What are the advantages or disadvantages of the Lefty over a conventional fork. I'm looking at a Scalpel, but am not convinced about the Lefty.

 

Not knowing them at all, the Lefty just looks weird, and I would imagine limits you on wheels to a degree.

[_BBi]

Lefty looks so cool.

[GoLefty!!]

The material on the www.cannondale.com website pretty much sums up the advantages of Lefty.

 

it's far lighter than any other fork of similar travel. Mines 1432gr for 110mm travel and that includes the axle for the wheel. even with steerer tube fitted , compared to a RS SID with a axle in the dropouts, it's still over 100gr lighter.

 

Its a lot stiffer than any other fork in resistance to twist which makes the steering very quick. Cannondale tame this slightly by providing their bikes with a slightly slacker head angle.

 

With FOX RLC internals its superior even toFox own products.

even the Headshok DLR2 cartridge is superb.

 

Maintenance is simple. lift boot, oil or grease sliders, go ride.

 

They last a long time.

 

I've been on them for 10yrs now, never had an issue with any of the 4 I've owned.

 

[Racer X]

Lefty is lighter, in theory stiffer and is one of the smoothest forks on the market.

 

Bad news is that it uses a 1.5"steerer so if you want to run it on something other than a dale you have to knock out the steerer tube, stick a shim in as well as a traditional 1 1/8" steerer. Also they are very pricey and so are the replacement bits.

 

If you have the cash then go for the dale with the lefty. Buying a Cannondale with a standard fork is like buying a Ferrari F430 only to find that there is a 1.8 litre straight 4 engine under the hood.

[Terminator]

 

Thanks. Is there no issue or price penalty when looking at wheels?

Terminator2009-05-26 08:58:28

[Terminator]

And how do you get around a rack that clamps on the fork?

[no.one.knows]

advantages of having that fork are:

 

You can change a flat without having to remove a wheel.

If your wheel buckles, you can still ride it.

Easy to maintain.

Good looking

lighter

stiffer.

 

and just lefty! nuff said!

 

[jagwil]

Call me old-fashioned, but I believe that a car should be rear-wheel drive and that a fork should have two sides to it. Having said that I must admit that I have never ridden a lefty. I hear they are pretty good.They just look wrong to me. 

[WillemT]

Putting a lefty on another bike is just wrong!!! I have a headshok wich basicly work the same inside... it has a 8 sided "rod" inside and there's neadle bearings running on 4 of the sides, running on needle bearing just make it so much smoother than, well any other fork not running on them.

If you take good care of your lefty or headshok they should last very long. Just be sure to inspect the boot every two weeks or so to make sure there is no hole or tear in the boot.

 

And then again the weight. the headshok weighs 1.24 kgs for 80mm travel and I believe the carbon lefty weights in at about the same, with the rest of them at +-1.45kgs.

 

your front wheel just obviously need a lefty hub, so if you're planning on building a bike over on the scalpel you'll have to get hold of a lefty hub and have the front wheel rebuilt.

 

[TYGA]

My mate has had a Jeckyl and is on his second Scalpel, all obviously with Lefty, and all of these bikes had the craziest and rather violent "speed wobble" up front when you took your hands off the bars cruising along at speed. Anyone else experienced this, is it a common Lefty issue or know what causes it?

[Tumbleweed]

advantages of having that fork are:You can change a flat without having to remove a wheel.

 

love that feature!

 

disadvantage of a lefty:

 

pitching up at the start of a race, and the two common questions:

 

"hey, did you leave the other bit behind?"

 

"hey couldn't you afford the whole fork?"

 

really funny...er, not...

[DawieO]

Another drawback, and one or your questions, is that sourcing Lefty hubs is quite difficult.

 

Under correction, I think there are only 3 brands available, Woodman, Mavic ($$$) and the original.

 

You are then also limited by the spoke count etc of these types.

[Tumbleweed]

Another drawback' date=' and one or your questions, is that sourcing Lefty hubs is quite difficult.

 

?

 

Under correction, I think there are only 3 brands available, Woodman, Mavic ($$$) and the original.

 

?

 

You are then also limited by the spoke count etc of these types.

[/quote']

 

 

 

the other thing i once had hassles with - and this may just have been a temporary thing - is when the needle bearing sliders(?) had to be replaced. took about three months to get new ones. was okay though. i got to borrow the shop owners f900 with a headshok, which, and i know go lefty ain't gonna like this, i actually preferred to the lefty...

[Mutt]

Call me old-fashioned' date=' but I believe that a car should be rear-wheel drive and that a fork should have two sides to it. Having said that I must admit that I have never ridden a lefty. I hear they are pretty good.They just look wrong to me.?[/quote']

 

 

 

I can't agree more. Those things look strange. Like something out of a freak show.

[Tumbleweed]

Call me old-fashioned' date=' but I believe that a car should be rear-wheel drive and that a fork should have two sides to it. Having said that I must admit that I have never ridden a lefty. I hear they are pretty good.They just look wrong to me.?[/quote']

 

 

 

I can't agree more. Those things look strange. Like something out of a freak show.

 

 

 

the jim rose of bike forks!

[WillemT]

I ride a dale with a headshok, only 80 mm of travel but great performance on the whole 80mm. I've heard from friends who rides leftys, that the maintenance can be costy... the headshok probably the same but in the last 4 years I haven't had any expenses on it. Also with the headshok you can use normal wheels etc...

 

I also had speed wobble in my bike for quite a long time. retensioned the rear wheel spokes and all was fine again... seemed that they weren't all the same tension and then as you ride the rear end of the bike moves from side to side, only a little and you can't feel it, but enough to start the wobble.

 

the other companies doesn't have the engineers to make something like a lefty work so they need two sides to make it more simple...

night tider2009-05-28 06:50:28