Cannondale Badboy upgrade question.

Hi guys. My mate has a Cannondale Badboy bike, one with disc brakes. He is thinking about upgrading it a bit so that it will be capable of some off road action. As for brakes and other bits there is no problem, as it is just standard stuff. Was wondering about fitting a fork. He is currently running a rigid standard Cannondale fork but I know that there was a Badboy with Lefty fitted. Now I think his BadBoy frame looks like it is just normal 1.1/8″ headtube rather than big headshok one. Am I wrong here? Fork wise if it is normal headtube so now is the question what travel can I put on it not to upset the geometry 80mm max or can it be more like 100-120? Just need to clarify that and once agreed with my mate I`ll be on a lookout for bits so get Your disc brakes and forks ready 🙂

Thanks for any suggestions.

The Badboy frame is fairly steep, as it’s designed for road use, so bunging a suspension fork on it won’t make it too unwieldy. I’d err more on the side of 80mm, more than longer, though. Something like a Reba set to 80-100mm would be fine. I’ve put a 100mm Marzocchi on a Marin Muirwoods frame, which is a similar type bike, and it was fine. If you run a good bit of sag, and have a lowish stack height for the stem, it won’t upset the head angle at all, really. And you can always lower things at the front, if required, by fitting a flattish stem, or low-rise/flat bars. The only issue with putting a suspension fork on a frame like this, is that it will raise the BB by a little bit, so obviously 140mm forks are not advisable.

With a short travel fork, the BB will be a fast, light XC bike. If he wants something more huckable, then he needs a new bike! The BB will be fine for good long rides cross country.