Cannondale Lefty Fork

The bushes in my trusty old Rockshox Reba have finally worn out and there is now quite a bit of play. Rockshox say the bushes in the forks with powerbulges cannot be replaced 🙁 .

As the frame will only take a 1 1/8th straight steerer it looks like the only option is a 29″ Lefty with a lefty-for-all straight steerer.

I don’t want to replace the frame as it was the first I built, the geometry is perfect for me and it has been built around using a rohloff hub.

So, does anyone use a Lefty and are they any good?

Are you sure there is a 1 1/8th lefty? I’m sure they are all 1.5″

Yeah, there are a couple of companies do adapter steerers for them.

Indeed Project 321 do a conversion. I had a bunch of the older Lefties before they modernised(?) the design. I liked them* a lot, very stiff and they right version (not the basic ones) performed really well, I did lots of miles on them and they were pretty reliable but getting them serviced was an issue. As IIRC though ppl like TF Tuned started tuning them, they only did a ‘selection’ of the models available, and Thumbprint tuning was good but wasn’t great on communication (I’m sure he went to work for a bike shop in the end and was still doing lefties via that shop). Remember to factor in the cost of buying/building a wheel too.. so it may end up costing a small fortune.

*I still have a carbon one some-where.. that needs servicing 🙁

Steel frame? Could you consider getting a new head tube put on? Loads of options then.

Can you just buy some new rebas and then swap over the uppers? Assuming the stanchions are the same diameter?

I’d also be asking other suspension tuners if they can still service them.

I’d consider the service intervals and cost on a Lefty. Had the Lefty Oliver on the Slate and after 10 months and 2,000 miles it needed a 200 hour service. With shipping and service, it came to just over £200. You could service them yourself, but it is not as easy as a ‘regular’ fork. Most shops just send them on to CSG to service.

I was not impressed, so sold them and converted the bike to a carbon rigid fork.

If I had realised the intervals and cost beforehand I would not have chosen one.

Well a 200 mile service interval is better than the 50 hr service interval supposed to be observed on my Pikes and to still got 2000 miles out of it so not that bad compared to a conventional fork.

Self servicing is possible once you’ve purchased the castleated nut, so no more tricky than a conventional fork. I had a lefty for 2 years, never serviced it, used to reset the bearings myself, takes 5 mins if you’re taking your time. The stiffest fork I ever had and light, not as plush as conventional but I only had a 90mm travel one so never going to be plush. I’d quite fancy another one, one of the later longer travel models with a coil conversion if one was ever developed. The stiffness trumps plushness for me.

*Strut

Thanks for the responses.

I thought about swapping the head tube for a tapered one and would do s if the frame was brazed. I TIG welded this one so it wouldn’t be as easy to cut out and replace.

The CSU from the 2010 forks I have is not compatible with the lowers on new ones.

I asked RS about replacing the bushings. They said it can’t be done and the complete lowers are no longer available. I will check with TF Tuned and others who service forks to see if this is correct or just the usual manufacturers bollocks.

I would be doing all the servicing myself like on the current forks. The service kits plus needle bearings seem pretty cheap.

I was thinking about buying a complete 2014 F29 bike which is up for £500, keeping the fork and wheel then flogging the rest of the bits to recover a bit of the cost. I would be looking at the 90mm Lefty which should be fine as the Reba is only set to 100mm so wouldn’t be losing too much travel.

Go rigid, with the Rohloff you’ve a bike you can ride with barely a thought for doing any cleaning or maintenance. Mine gets the chain wiped over once a week when getting used through the winter as an off road commuter.

I had a few over ten years or so from the very earliest models on – they were very good then so prob exceptional now. Order of magnitude more complex internals than a typical RS fork – you build your own bikes, so I’m sure this will not be any sort of problem and in fact might be a selling point, but no comparison whatsoever in servicing a lefty to a reba. I mean a motivated 12 year old could change the damper oil on a reba.

Only thing is they look a bit rubbish IMHO. Outside of a scalpel or other absolute XC missile they just destroy the aesthetic of the bike – lefty on a homemade steel frame sounds like a gruesome eyesore but perhaps it would confound expectation?

Plenty of decent fork options with 1,1/8 steerers.. you don’t have to go back many years to find fox and rockshox options…loads to be had on Ebay. I have always fancied giving a lefty a go though…never tried one but the concept is brilliant. Those new supermax forks also look pretty sick to my eyes

leftys are great, a decent dealer will just swap over the cart when it needs servicing, they take your old one and give you a fresh one.

Is it a 26er? I have a 15mm through axle (FOX TALAS FIT damper too) to get rid of. from memory 110 130 150 travel but would have to check. With long straight steerer. been sat in storage for ages.

Thanks Retrodirect but it is a 29er.

I have the forks going in to TF Tuned to see if they can replace the bushings. If there is nothing that can be done I need to decide if it is cheaper to buy a lefty (and risk ending up with a hideous looking frankenbike!) or just build a new frame and buy a modern fork. The cost would be similar for both options.

I’ve got a top of the line carbon Lefty which I haven’t used since it was serviced at TF going spare. It is the slightly older style which doesn’t have the same problems the latest ones seem to have. It was from my Scalpel Hi-Mod so is 100mm travel/ 26 but I’ve seen them run at 90mm for 29er. I can double check the AC height etc if interested and would only be after £100 or so and can even include the straight Lefty for all steerer kit. After the Scalepl I had the Lefty on an On-One Scandal and it was flippin’ lovely. Don’t listen to the naysayers who say it is ugly on a non-Dale 😀

DanW, definitely interested if you are selling your fork. Could you PM me the details please.

If it’s a 44mm head tube you can get external bottom cups to accept a tapered steerer.