Cannondale Fork Upgrade from Headhshox

tubsolard

Hi,

I'm considering upgrading the 80mm headshox on my (hardtail) Cannondale F700. Cannondale are running a promotion at the moment to upgrade to the lefty which I'm considering, but I'm not sure the maximum travel the geomatry offers.

I'm planning a trip to the Alps to ride Mont Blanc and feel that 80mm may not be enough, they do the lefty in 100-120mm I know, but is the lefty really the best option? £400 for the upgrade, including a new hub(or amendments to current hub) for the same price is it worth getting a regular fork?

Any advice welcome!
Thanks

Tubs

tubsolard

I now reliaise I should have posted this in the 'buying advice' threads!

supersonic

Contact cannondale to see if it is warrantied for a fork of this length.

Dangerous Dave

Lefty’s, when they are on the ball, are incredible forks: very stiff, very strong, very light, smooth and depending on which damping you get in them, work very, very well.
However, from a cost point of view, than can be costly and hard to keep maintained. I’m sure you’re aware of how the C’dale forks use metal plates and roller bearings, instead of the conventional bushing arrangement.
These plates are prone to getting crap in between them, seizing up, and generally being a problem.
If you’re someone who will be careful not to jet wash the fork, and clean and regrease under the boots after every ride, the Lefty’s will serve you well.
Then there’s the problem of servicing/spare parts – you’ll be able to get either at a Cannondale dealer, and labour costs on servicing can be high due to the length of time it takes to service one.
You’ll probably have to pay £20-30 to have your wheel rebuilt on a lefty specific hub too.

To get a conventional fork, you’ve got to factor in the cost of a new reducer headset, or reducer cups and then the bearings/standard size headset to go into that (your headtube is 1.5, and you need reducer cups to reduce it down to 1 1/8th inch).
Then you’ll have to buy a new stem too, to fit the new steerer tube diameter.
You’ll probably be able to get a half descent RockShox fork with some travel adjustment so you can put it up to what ever suits your frame/riding.

tubsolard

Cheers Dave.
I am getting a new Stem anyway, so that extra cost is not a problem, to be honest, although I'm not loaded, the cost for me is not the real issue. If I'm spending #400 roughly on the lefty then I am prsuming for the same price I can get a decent regular fork perhaps with a little extra cost in the spacer and headset etc.
I'm going to contact Cannondale anyway and see what they say about the travel.
My main concern though, is that the 80mm forks will not be enough for riding the mountains of the Alps!

tubsolard

I've just checked the Cannondale website and downloaded some user guides and the maximum fork length is 500mm from top to bottom including head set. I think this helps, but I suspect I need to take it to my local Cannondale dealer to be absolutely certain.

tubsolard

Maximum is from from the dropout to the bottom of the crown on the frame, 500mm seems enough to get a good pair on there to me.

alfablue

Nice as they are, the service schedule of 40 hours / 2 months riding seems a bit demanding to me (especially if you need the dealer to do it). Of course you can ignore this but ultimately neglect will be expensive. Best thing about the lefty has got to be the wow factor it will create with the "unitiated".

tubsolard

Cheers alfa.
To be honest, part of the reason for choossing the lefty was it felt the natural progression, with owning a Cannondale, from the HeadShok. There was the novelty element too (no disrespect to Cannondale) but this seems to have warn off before I've even bought them.
So I'm seriously considering converting to regular forks, any advice on what to buy from 3-400 pounds?
Preferably white or grey to complement the rest of the frame colour!!

Andy

Can I just advise you to test ride a bike with a Lefty fork on before you make a decision?

Seeing how well they work may well sway your decision.

tubsolard

Hmm, that may be a good idea Andrwe, ta for the advice.

Only thing is, I'm a novice, so it will have to be a reasonable difference to make me notice it. Also, it has been suggested that the lefty requires more than normal due care which, to be honest, I am not capable of (and too lazy)!!!

I certainly haven't made up my mind, but fortunately my local store is a Cannondale store and they have lefty's in there. I will also ask their advice, I just wanted to gauge response from a broad scope before making my decision (which is the whole point of the forum!!)

tubsolard

Ta for the advice, and apologies for spelling your name incorrectly, andrew!

zaynan

I have a f700 and ditched the headshock forks almost as soon as I bought them - with headset reducers I fitted a set of fox vanillas. As you might probably deduce - I'm no fan of headshock!

tubsolard

What about these forks?
100-120 should be enough for riding mountains and won't be too much to throw the geomatry out??

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/index ... 2&brandID=

tubsolard

I went for Fox Vanilla RLC in the end.
They feel superb, although I did fall off my first proper ride on them, but that wasn't the forks fault...