Odd - but is it a good idea?

"Sparky" <[email hidden]>wrote:

Quoted message said:

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but
it's got this

"Lefty

Quoted message said:

Jake" front fork system. Looks odd - but when I took it
out for a spin - didn't notice the design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea - good? bad?

It's the system with a single shock absorber on one side of
the wheel, right? Well, the sceptic in me says the fork
will develop a certain amount of play as it wears. How much
is hard to say, it's probably a heavy-duty design after
all, but I think it's unavoidable to not at least get some,
and the whole thing looks rather gimmicky to me. I suppose
it's meant to be lighter than a bike with a standard dual
shock fork. 🙂

In article <rrYrc.567642$oR5.422622@pd7tw3no>,

Sparky said:

Hey there.

Out looking to buy my first mountain bike.

Been road cycling with the same bike for about 20 years -
and bikes ain't what they used to be. :-)

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but
it's got this "Lefty Jake" front fork system. Looks odd -
but when I took it out for a spin - didn't notice the
design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea - good? bad?

Also - any other comments on this bike (again - good or
bad) are appreciated.

Looks weird, but Cannondale has been making Leftys for some
time, and the feedback is almost universally positive. The
fork is a winner by the accounts I have read, though I
haven't looked up reliability reports.

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden]
sfu.cawiredcolaOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club

"Lenny" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Sparky" <[email hidden]>wrote:

Quoted message said:

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but
it's got this

"Lefty

Quoted message said:

Jake" front fork system. Looks odd - but when I took it
out for a spin - didn't notice the design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea -
good? bad?

It's the system with a single shock absorber on one side
of the wheel, right? Well, the sceptic in me says the fork
will develop a certain amount of play as it wears. How
much is hard to say, it's probably a heavy-duty design
after all, but I think it's unavoidable to not at least
get some,

and

Quoted message said:

the whole thing looks rather gimmicky to me. I suppose
it's meant to be lighter than a bike with a standard dual
shock fork. 🙂

Lenny: Thanks for the input - I was kinda thinking the same
as you - but the guys in the bike shop pointed out that cars
have "one sided" front suspension system (no dual sided
forks on the front tires of my truck) and they pointed out
that the front folding wheels of jets have the same
unilateral system.... - it's still odd to me... :-)

Sparky

Sparky said:

Lenny: Thanks for the input - I was kinda thinking the
same as you - but the guys in the bike shop pointed out
that cars have "one sided" front suspension system (no
dual sided forks on the front tires of my truck)

Not quite. The typical front suspension on cars has two arms
that hold the spindle.

Quoted message said:

and they pointed out that the front folding wheels of
jets have the same unilateral system....

Again, not quite. Many planes use some sort of folding
triangular syspension, not a simple shock. They also don't
use it to steer with. And planes don't drive on the
ground.... The standards for jet landing surfaces are far
more stringent than most mountain bike trails. :-)

My take on those is that I wouldn't own one. You're asking a
shock to do lots - it has to handle steering torque, shock
absorbtion, flex, off-center loads.... Just seems easier to
use two arms. Any failure in the shock is likely to be
catastrophic.

--Kamus

--
o__ | May your trails be dim, lonesome, stony, narrow,
winding and ,>/'_ | only slightly uphill. May the wind
bring rain for the slickrock (_)\(_) | potholes fourteen
miles on the other side of yonder blue ridge.
| May God's dog serenade your campfire, may the
| rattlesnake and
o | the screech owl amuse your reveries, may the Great
Sun dazzle

Quoted message said:

[] | your eyes by day and the Great Bear watch over you
at night.

/\ | \ \ | - Edward Abbey, Beyond the Wall

Kamus of Kadizhar said:

Again, not quite. Many planes use some sort of folding
triangular syspension, not a simple shock.

True.

Quoted message said:

They also don't use it to steer with.

So what, planes only go in staright lines when taxi-ing into
the hanger, or taxi-ing onto the runway?

Quoted message said:

And planes don't drive on the ground....

Again, do they float or something?

Quoted message said:

My take on those is that I wouldn't own one. You're asking
a shock to do lots - it has to handle steering torque,
shock absorbtion, flex, off-center loads.... Just seems
easier to use two arms. Any failure in the shock is likely
to be catastrophic.

Well the Lefty has been around for a good 4 years or so now.
Lopes used it, Gracia uses it, Anno-caro used it. Havent
heard of any failures. Seems like its holding up OK.

--
Matt

Fear of a flat planet

Sparky said:

Hey there.

Out looking to buy my first mountain bike.

Been road cycling with the same bike for about 20 years -
and bikes ain't what they used to be. :-)

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but
it's got this "Lefty Jake" front fork system. Looks odd -
but when I took it out for a spin - didn't notice the
design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea - good? bad?

Also - any other comments on this bike (again - good or
bad) are appreciated.

I'll be using the bike for some city commuting as well as
some trail riding.

Thanks,

Sparky

--
In the end it is all ok. If it is not ok, then it is not
the end.

I never like proprietary nature of the C'dales. I just like
to be able to buy stock parts for a bike anywhere.

--
- Zilla Cary, NC (Remove XSPAM)

Lenny said:

"Sparky" <[email hidden]>wrote:

Quoted message said:

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but
it's got this

"Lefty

Quoted message said:

Jake" front fork system. Looks odd - but when I took it
out for a spin - didn't notice the design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea -
good? bad?

It's the system with a single shock absorber on one side
of the wheel, right? Well, the sceptic in me says the fork
will develop a certain amount of play as it wears. How
much is hard to say, it's probably a heavy-duty design
after all, but I think it's unavoidable to not at least
get some, and the whole thing looks rather gimmicky to me.
I suppose it's meant to be lighter than a bike with a
standard dual shock fork. 🙂

I ride a "normal" fork with 2 pistons but only in 1 is an
air-spring the other is just show. I had to replace the
bearing in the fork about every 6 months. Only more
expensive forks have in both legs air- or steel-springs. The
damping is allways asymetrical. One leg damps the
compression, the other damps the expansion (optional)
Normally you would expect a symetrical design in a
symetrical fork.

I would prefer rather a one legged fork where everything is
in it instead of a fork which pretends to have everything
which it doesn't.

Greetings, Urs

--
+-------------------------
| Urs Weder N 47°23'23" E 9°39'47"
+------------------------- ( modify address for return email
)

On 2004-05-23, Sparky penned:

Quoted message said:

Hey there.

Out looking to buy my first mountain bike.

Been road cycling with the same bike for about 20 years -
and bikes ain't what they used to be. :-)

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but
it's got this "Lefty Jake" front fork system. Looks odd -
but when I took it out for a spin - didn't notice the
design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea - good? bad?

I went to a mtb clinic taught by a pro racer who's
sponsored by Cannondale. She rides a Scalpel, which also
has a lefty fork.

I asked her what she thought about it, and she said she had
no problems with it. I also asked her wrench/husband about
it, and he said he likes it -- fewer parts to fail.

Now, they're on the C'dale dole, so would they say anything
even if they didn't like it? Probably not. Still, they
seemed like pretty straightforward people.

--
monique

On 2004-05-23, Zilla penned:

Quoted message said:

I never like proprietary nature of the C'dales. I just
like to be able to buy stock parts for a bike anywhere.

I'd never heard this before. Other than the lefty, which
seems to be a unique cannondale thing, what does c'dale do
that's different from other manufacturers? Do they purposely
use different sizings and such?

--
monique

The only thing I don't like about the lefty fork is that
front wheel removal is a pain, you need to remove (or at
least loosen) the disk brake caliper. If you take the wheel
of a lot it could be an annoyance.

Steve.

Sparky said:

Hey there.

Out looking to buy my first mountain bike.

Been road cycling with the same bike for about 20 years -
and bikes ain't what they used to be. :-)

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but
it's got this "Lefty Jake" front fork system. Looks odd -
but when I took it out for a spin - didn't notice the
design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea - good? bad?

Also - any other comments on this bike (again - good or
bad) are appreciated.

I'll be using the bike for some city commuting as well as
some trail riding.

Thanks,

Sparky

RE/

Quoted message said:

What do you people think about this fork idea - good? bad?

Also - any other comments on this bike (again - good or
bad) are appreciated.

I had a Jekyll (also w/Lefty) for a few months.

One advantage of the Lefty is that you can fix a flat
without removing the wheel.

It also satisfied some sort of exhibitionistic tendency
within me.

Downsides to me included:

- Needing a torque wrench to remove/replace the wheel,

- Difficulty mounting a standard speedo (can't recall
exactly what the problem was, but it was a hassle)

- Something about having to remove the brake caliper before
removing the wheel (since fixed, I think...).

- An intimidating maintainence regimen - although the manual
was so difficult to comprehend (mixing different fork
types and more lawyer-speak than usual) that I can't
really say what the regimen was...

- The steering tube was cut at the factory. i.e. they
didn't leave the user any room at all to move the stem
up or down.

Finally, something to be on the lookout for with C-Dale in
general is proprietary parts. From reading other posts, it
sounds like maybe they're getting the message; but the 1.5"
stem drove me nuts and the 4-hole disc mounts seemed
gratituitous. Neither one is probably proprietary in the
strictest sense of the word - but with the stem,
availability was limited to the point where I couldn't find
the size I wanted.

--
PeteCresswell

RE/

Quoted message said:

Other than the lefty, which seems to be a unique
cannondale thing, what does c'dale do that's different
from other manufacturers? Do they purposely use different
sizings and such?

1.5" stems, 4-bolt brake discs on a Jekyll I owned couple
years ago.
--
PeteCresswell

Sparky said:

Hey there.

Out looking to buy my first mountain bike.

Been road cycling with the same bike for about 20 years -
and bikes ain't what they used to be. :-)

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but
it's got this "Lefty Jake" front fork system. Looks odd -
but when I took it out for a spin - didn't notice the
design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea - good? bad?

Also - any other comments on this bike (again - good or
bad) are appreciated.

I'll be using the bike for some city commuting as well as
some trail riding.

This last sentence has me wondering -- why a 100-mm fork for
the type of riding you're anticipating?

I would think you could find a terrific hardtail (or even
fully rigid) for a lot less money, that would also suit your
intended purposes better.

Bill "not for a first mtb IMO" S.

Monique Y. Mudama said:

On 2004-05-23, Zilla penned:

Quoted message said:

I never like proprietary nature of the C'dales. I just
like to be able to buy stock parts for a bike anywhere.

I'd never heard this before. Other than the lefty, which
seems to be a unique cannondale thing, what does c'dale do
that's different from other manufacturers? Do they
purposely use different sizings and such?

--
monique

That would be enough for me. Who else makes Lefty forks?
Pete C pointed other parts....

--
- Zilla Cary, NC (Remove XSPAM)

Zilla said:

Monique Y. Mudama said:

On 2004-05-23, Zilla penned:

Quoted message said:

I never like proprietary nature of the C'dales. I just
like to be able to buy stock parts for a bike anywhere.

I'd never heard this before. Other than the lefty, which
seems to be a unique cannondale thing, what does c'dale
do that's different from other manufacturers? Do they
purposely use different sizings and such?

--
monique

That would be enough for me. Who else makes Lefty forks?
Pete C pointed other parts....

the headshok is another unique thing they do.

Quoted message said:

1.5" stems

That was just ahead of it's time, as other fork / frame manu
are going that way now

--
===========================================================
mtb-bikes.commtb-bikes.comOpen ↗

Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes They got
them hoppy legs and twitchey little noses And what's with
all the carrots What do they need such good eyesight for
anyway Bunnies,bunnies It must be bunnies

"Sparky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:rrYrc.567642

Quoted message said:

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but
it's got this

"Lefty

Quoted message said:

Jake" front fork system. Looks odd - but when I took it
out for a spin - didn't notice the design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea - good? bad?

My understanding is that this shock is more desgned for DH
(with mullets and bandanas)

Lots of travel - use FS only. On a HT the rebound might
wanna pitch ya

I don't how much the bike cost I'll still smoke them on any
of my bikes.

I MTB 2004

"Ozman Trad" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Sparky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:rrYrc.567642

Quoted message said:

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but
it's got this

"Lefty

Quoted message said:

Jake" front fork system. Looks odd - but when I took it
out for a spin - didn't notice the design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea -
good? bad?

My understanding is that this shock is more desgned for DH
(with mullets

and

Quoted message said:

bandanas)

Lots of travel - use FS only. On a HT the rebound might
wanna pitch ya

My Lefty has a rebound adjustment, I don't see how the rear
suspension would make any difference.

I've watched most of this discussion, I've had bikes with
the Lefty, Headshok, Rockshok, and others, I think the Lefty
is by far the best fork, it's stiffer than most, mine has
been trouble free, it's quite and smooth. As someone
mentioned earlier, it's biggest drawback is with removing
the wheel for transporting, a real pain to haul around.

As far as Cannondale's having priority components, aren't
all shocks priority? I don't know of many parts that would
interchangeable between any shocks, even same brand ones.

Odd, "maybe regarding looks", Good idea, in my opinion
definitely "yes"