It’s going on a racy XC hardtail frame so nothing long travel, nor too pricey.
I’ve no knowledge about the history of the fork, whether there are any lightweight older models… or even ones to avoid? The ELOs always seem to have broken on older forks.
errr… 700 quid for a fork is nothing short of mental!
that puts me firmly in the realms of the used marked I think!
so which models are the ones to go for?
They made a “righty” for a folding road bike once, really no reason other than it allowed the frame to fold smaller as the fork and chainset didn’t clash.
Presumably with the older forks with clamps rather than bonded crowns you could switch to the other side?
I’ve been off the bike for nearly 5 years as a consequence of a persistent knee injury. I realise I’ve been out of the game but sheesh! I’m not sure I like the way the market going.
nope, 2nd hand it is… or organised crime and racketeering.
They’ve got rid of the needle bearings? That was whole point of Lefties, in my view. Funny that most people didn’t know they worked fundamentally differently though….
New ones are still square with bearings its just the lower portion that is round for a bush and seal arangement. Theyre still as stiff as a stiff thing.
New ones are still square with bearings its just the lower portion that is round for a bush and seal arangement. Theyre still as stiff as a stiff thing.
Yeah but personally I don’t care about the stiffness, a Revelation is already stiff enough. It’s the lack of binding and low friction from bearings and lack of seals which appeals to me.
A second hand Lefty doesn’t seem to save much over a brand spanking new one from Qwerty. You then have the risk of extra pennies on a service and spares etc. In the EU Leftys seems to be selling for around 1300 Euros new in which case second hand would make sense. Unless you can find a complete bargain second hand the Qwerty option does seem like good (relative) value.
Had a lefty max before with the bellows that had excelent small bump sensitivity. Current fork is only 90mm so not really a dirrect comparison but still has that small bump sensitivity al be it reduced, cant say if its due to the seal arangement or the lower travel thought.
Older ones pop up on ebay fairly cheap it is possible to renew seals and fluids diy bearings take a bit more patience and skill. I sold my lefty max for 250 with wheel and stem after 5 years of abuse.
No, leftys are available in 26 inch form upto 160mm travel. 29″ forks can, relatively easily, be DIY modified for 26″ and vica versa. Also if you buy an older fork you can get the internal kits to convert to later standards, though may be a false economy.
Mines been great. Rides beautifully, really robust with no odd handling characteristics as some think.
I was in the same frame of mine a while ago, I wanted suspension for my inbred 29er. I bought a 110 carbon lefty from here, stripped it and bought the bits to convert it to a 29er.
I ordered all the service bits from Dr. Cannondale and got all the guides on line…I now have an almost 29er lefty to bolt on to my lefty. (Only almost as findi time to work on it is a struggle at the moment).
Paid around 300 for the fork and so far about 45 pounds on service bits and spacers to make it a 29er. Iran on splitting the two halfs of the fork and looking at the needle bearings this week.
I had one on my F800, really enjoyed that bike for around 8 years, the fork served me well and required very little maintenance over that period… (think i only ever serviced every 2 years, however at the time it was my summer bike.
I sold my F800 which was 10 years old at the time for £500 so it was a great investment in the sense I only gave £800 (used) for the bike all them years before…