Hi,

I was giving my Cannondale Rush the once over yesterday and noticed a creaking noise from the lower part of the headset, upon closer inspection I noticed what you can see in the picture and I’m sure it’s not supposed to be like that. Can anyone shed any light on whether it’s knackered or not? Local bike shops are of very little use and I’d rather not have to take the fork off the bike to send it away for a diagnosis.

The cable rub you can see is not especially bad but I’m sure that hole is not supposed to be there. There doesn’t appear to be any play in it but it does make a creaking noise when you drop off kerbs and it also just looks a little bit out of sorts, like it’s not lined up how it should.

Any help would be massively appreciated.

Cheers – Chris

Isn’t there supposed to be a pin/rivet through there that makes sure the crown doesn’t spin on the steerer?

You can see it here:

I have a probably older left dlr ti. On mine a rivet sits right about there and would look like the head has been rubbed off. Not sure why ‘hole’ has travelled downwards – maybe the rivet sits in a slot and not a ‘hole’. I be a bit uncertain with it like that one of the lefty specialists can prolly sort it and service it – the brackets can be had from us via ebay if you want to tackle it yourself. Good luck 🙂

It almost looks like the cable has pushed the rivet through the crown and out, but that seems pretty amazing if that’s the case!

Friends lefty has a bolt there as mentioned above, no slot however

Just looked at mine, mine too has a rivet and no elongated hole.

Yours looks like the heads broken of due to for and aft movement and it’s worn a slot along the collar.

Dare say you can get spares (I’ve never needed too sorry) but the is a great bloke in Wrexham (I think) that services lefties. Some one on here knows about this and other guys.

Search “lefty service” on here and you’ll find the threads and the links to those that service/hold spares.

Or you could contact Cannondale of course.

Thanks everyone for the help. Taking the bike into my LBS tomorrow who reckon they can source and fit the replacement crown. Have to say I never noticed a bolt or anything there before but as the hole goes right through it has to have been there.

Much as I like the lefty fork I have to say it’s a right pain when anything goes wrong with it!

I should have known that going into Evans to get this sorted would lead to trouble. Seems Cannondale no longer make the part I need so have to source it myself. Had a look on the net but no luck thus far.

Try here

http://qwertycycles.co.uk/

dunno if you’ve sorted this or not yet….

but there should be a pop rivet there, it doesn’t really hold anything in place as the crown/steerer interface is a friction fit but it is used as an indicator of a twist or impact as the rivet will break in the event of an impact big enough to twist/dislodge the fit of the steerer.

It certainly shouldn’t be a split like that though.

If you are still stuck for spares or getting it sorted locally then Tony at Thumbprint tuning is your man.

Definetly looks like where the rivet should be,but cannot for the life of me think how that split has developed,it does look like its worn down as opposed to a straightforward split/crack.

Good luck getting a replacement clamp,I have only ever seen the Project 321’s available aftermarket and there normally for fitting 1,1/8th steerers, I think you might be worth approaching a engineering company to see if they can tig weld the spilt.
You could file off any excess weld and a quick blow over with a bit of paint to finish.

Have you tried Dr Cannondale? I’ve had a few bits & pieces off them with no problems.

Andy

Technically a Lefty isn’t a fork…

Technically that post wasn’t relevant to the discussion…

Managed to get the part(s) I needed from qwerty cycles and hopefully getting it fixed today. Thanks for everyone’s help with this, can’t say how much I’m looking forward to getting back out on the bike.

Just out of interest, how old is your fork? Mine’s 2010 and doesn’t have a rivet, but does have a (5mm?) hex bolt securing the bottom clamp. It is an alloy fork though.

Andy

Technically a Lefty isn’t a fork…

Technically that post wasn’t relevant to the discussion…

That’s why I love STW

Mine doesnt have a rivet either,well it did but it now has a stainless grub screw as I had the clamps powdercoated.