Lefty Lockout

skaffen
skaffen Posts: 72
edited May 2011 in MTB workshop & tech
Hi all,

I've got a Carbon Lefty DLR that came with my Flash Carbon last year. Just took it out the other day and noticed that the lockout had stopped working. The lever moves fine, but the fork still travels even if the lever is in the lockout position.

I've spoke to my LBS and it's a "send it away" job, pretty sure there's no-one nearby who could service it quickly (Middlesbrough area). Not great timing though with the bank holiday weekend coming up and I wondered if anyone knew whether I'm likely to cause any (further) damage to the fork if I ride that for a few more days and send it off next week instead. I can live without the lockout for a weekend, but if riding it is going to cause damage internally I'd obviously rather not.

Thanks.

Comments

  • pilsburypie
    pilsburypie Posts: 891
    I'm not sure how the lockout on a lefty works. I would only suggest if you have a big ride planned check how it feels through it's travel first. Does it feel OK? No noises or grinding? If not just ride it and send it away after. Sure the diligent thng to do would be not ride it, but heegh, do what you gotta do....
  • skaffen
    skaffen Posts: 72
    Yep, I know I probably shouldn't ride it, but it's the last bank holiday for a while and I've not had chance to ride much the past few weeks. The travel on the fork feels fine, no noises or anything, but it's an expensive fork if I really manage to mangle the internals...

    Might see if my LBS has something I can demo for the weekend, had a look at the schematics for the Lefty and it looks like there's a lot that could go wrong in there.
  • RevellRider
    RevellRider Posts: 1,794
    Sounds like a possible blown damper. Has it leaked oil at all? Look under the boot for signs of a leak. If there is no oil and the rebound damping works, ride it over the Bank Holiday and get it serviced after. I recommend TF Tuned if it's under a year old and you can try and blag the warranty. If not, Leisure Lakes offer a service but currently have a long turn around time as it's only one mechanic that can do them.

    Servicing a Lefty isn't that hard, but with it being a Cannondale it requires some dedicated tools which can only be bought as a tool kit, last I heard it was expensive to buy.
    Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon.
  • skaffen
    skaffen Posts: 72
    Thanks, no oil as far as I can see, I'll take the boot off in the morning and see if there's anything in there, and have a quick ride around to see if the damping is working (feels like it when pushing down, but probably easier to tell on the bike).
  • skaffen
    skaffen Posts: 72
    RevellRider wrote:
    Sounds like a possible blown damper.

    Got the bike out today and I'm pretty sure you're right, bit of oil that I hadn't noticed and when I knew what to look for, the rebound didn't feel quite right. Going to be sent off to TF Tuned tomorrow so hopefully I won't have to wait too long.

    Thanks very much.

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