Hi all,

I am seriously considering a Lefty and am wondering where the best place to buy for value/ cheapness is?

Discussions of the merits of a Lefty aside, I think I would be looking for a 2013 Carbon XLR on the basis that:
– The 2013 should hopefully require a little less TLC than pre-2013. Is this just marketing BS though?
– I want to save as much weight as possible and the carbon only seems £100 or so more expensive than the alloy and I can’t find any reports of the 2013 having the bearing seating issues of older carbon legged forks
– XLR purely because there is no 2013 Carbon PBR!

As far as I can see Qwerty seems to be the best place to buy new. Even older forks second hand on ebay seem to be going for similar prices to the new 2013’s from Qwerty!

Are there any hidden gems of a shop I might be missing to try and buy a “cheap” Lefty?

Many thanks in advance, Dan

Project321
eBay

Qwerty or Dr Cannondale.

Theoretically any Cannondale dealer should be able to sell you one too.

2013 forks are meant to have self-centring bearings, which mean you don’t need to do a bearing reset every 25h riding or so (which involves taking the top cap off and cycling the fork a few times).

Andy

Might even be worth looking into brand new 2013 bikes that are becoming discounted now as 2014 draw close. Strip the lefty and sell the rest?
Lefty’s don’t tend to come cheap, though you occasionally hear of bargains on the bay. Patience is your only friend there (be aware these tend to be US bargains, that you’d still have to pay postage/VAT and import duty on)

Can’t comment on your merits, as I’ve not followed new lefty’s.

All my Lefty’s are from Ebay and one from here. All basically new.

I reset mine once a month, a 5 minute job and cost nowt.

Qwerty are really great to deal with.

They gave me loads of advice when I dealt with them and were quick to answer any questions.

This seems to reinforce my first impressions that there is no such thing as a “bargain” Lefty 😀

ebay doesn’t seem to save much over a new fork, especially a 2013. Even then 2011 forks seem to sell for around £500!

Stripping a full bike is a decent idea but I think I would be lucky to get a Carbon XLR equipped bike for just over £800 😀

Dan it doesn’t need to be £800 does it? As long as the sale of the rest of the kit means the overall cost is less than £800. Not suggesting this was will be without hassle, but it’s an option to bear in mind.

You still need to reset the bearings on the new ones, just not as often.

Use code STW10 with Qwerty to a 10% discount.

Think I got lucky a few times when I was after a Lefty.

There was a 29er one on the classifieds just a couple of days ago.

it doesn’t need to be £800 does it? As long as the sale of the rest of the kit means the overall cost is less than £800. Not suggesting this was will be without hassle, but it’s an option to bear in mind

I think the cost of the Cannondale full bike coming with a Carbon XLR even on sale will make it hard to save many pennies but I appreciate the suggestion and alternative idea. Likewise unfortunately for second hand bike I could strip a Lefty from. I also have over 100 items of bike parts I am trying to sell and think my wife would kill me if that list increased 😀

Use code STW10 with Qwerty to a 10% discount

If this indeed works then that is bloomin’ amazing! 😀 Shame they have just run out of Carbon XLR’s 😕 Also, I can’t see anywhere to put the code in

Just email Qwerty about the code. They are super helpful.

They’ve always sorted me out with the hard to find Cannondale bits.

Isn’t that code for STW subscribers ?
It’s a bit cheeky giving it out to all and sundry after I got a warning and a deletion for posting instructions on how to get a Halfords trade card when you’re not in the trade.

Anyway, Qwerty posts on here and was very helpful when I had problems with my Lefty, so I’d definitely recommend them/him/her.

The code was posted openly on here for (I assume) all and sundry to use, by Lloyd @ Qwerty IIRC
See here (final post)

My mistake, if it’s something Qwerty are doing independently, that’s OK.
I thought it was linked to this, http://singletrackworld.com/premierclub/ although Qwerty are not on that list, so it couldn’t be anyway

It was a fair question/concern

I got my XLR Carbon from Qwerty Cycles, great to deal with and a good price with the 10% discount code.

There is one being sold on the Thetford MTB Racing forum…

Just a quick update:

After lots of overpriced second hand Leftys on ebay finally two came at once! Can’t wait to see my new Lefty Speed Carbon DLR in the flesh. 😀

If anyone else is looking for a good value Lefty wheelsports-weselberg.de have a new (with warranty) 2011 Lefty Speed PBR Alu in white for ~EUR 550/ £450 (they were open to offers on their ebay and shop online prices).

Can’t wait to get rocking with the Lefty 😀

They are ace 8)

That’s great news Dan, you’ll love it 8)

I should also add that Tony at Thumbprint tuning has a Lefty Carbon DLR SL for sale as a buyer let him down. So in fact I have been searching for a Lefty for ages and three became available at once 😀