I’ve been using my Cannondale Prophet (conventional forks) for the last 3 years now and I love it, it has been a great all round mtb. Time for a change.

And I’ve always fancied a Lefty.

Been reading up on them and for everyone that raves about them – there are those that don’t; claims of costs loads to maintain, parts are expensive, C’Dale build quality is poor, couldn’t get on with the lefty fork etc,

So what is the real story – before I go and buy one ?
(second hand – as I cannot spring to a new one.)

I’ve seen a few of the older Jekylls with a Lefty front end, which I don’t think are available any more ? I’m really considering the trigger, or Jekyll

As I do fancy a longer travel version – if they exist.

What’s the view from the STW massif ?

Got one (Trigger 29) for similar reasons, love it. Works great, light, looks cool. Doesn’t ride “funny”. Mine is 130mm which is the longest travel version currently available (did they do a 160mm version at one point?)

I got my bike heavily discounted and didn’t pay much for the whole bike than the RRP of the Lefty! Obviously if you go 2nd hand you’ll need a new front hub/wheel as wheel!

Jekyll Carbon with 160mm Lefty here. Love it.

They look cool, but that’s about it. Any recent 140-150mm fork will be better in every aspect that counts.

Without a valid warranty you run the risk of having to pay for expensive parts (I have heard of two cases where the damper broke clean off during disassembly).

Got one (Trigger 29) for similar reasons, love it. Works great, light, looks cool. Doesn’t ride “funny”. Mine is 130mm which is the longest travel version currently available (did they do a 160mm version at one point?)
I got my bike heavily discounted and didn’t pay much for the whole bike than the RRP of the Lefty! Obviously if you go 2nd hand you’ll need a new front hub/wheel as wheel!

I’ll looking for a complete 2nd hand bike – why would I need a new front hub and wheel ? Is it customary to replace them ?

Jekyll Carbon with 160mm Lefty here. Love it.
https://flickr.com/photos/146501625@N06/sets/72157683536507941

eddiebaby : That is one very nice looking bike 🙂

Have this for sale

The Habit has been heavily upgraded from stock with:
New SLX crank with new Blackspire Snaggletooth 32toval chainring
New 11-40 Sunrace cassette
New Oneup components 1×10 chainguide.
Cannondale carbon bars and Esi grips
New upgraded Slx brakes with finned pads
Brand new Crank Brothers highline dropper post
New Bontrager Xr4 Expert tyres at both ends, running tubeless

I’ll looking for a complete 2nd hand bike – why would I need a new front hub and wheel ? Is it customary to replace them ?

no, I read your OP as you were just going to buy the fork & fit it to your Prophet!

be careful if you are buying a pre 2017 lefty or second hand. There have been a number of recalls and fixes pushed out. and from bitter experience unless you can talk to a local shop who supplied you, cannondale & the UK importer will not be interested.

Firstly, there is the 2spring upgrade which was required to fix a known issue. if you need service parts for a model that hasn’t had this done they may be v.hard to come by. It will cost you around £150 to have it done by TFTuned. BUT it’s a worthwhile upgrade

secondly there is an issue with 2010-2015 OPI stem clamps that can fail prematurely. The fix for this is a wedge that ovalises the steering tube, effectively making it one time use.

I bought the wedge, but so far haven’t fitted it.

I had a prophet and two lefty’s (Ali and carbon 140mm’s) and a set of Rev’s, the 140mm Rev’s (with a 1.5 steerer) were the best, as it gave the Prophet the front end height it needed to handle brilliantly. As the lefty’s are a bit low and more towards the XC end of the scale handling wise.
Still have a carbon lefty with a upgraded internal.. that needs a bloody service, though the prophet went a while back… That lefty itch become bloody expensive, stay clear and just get some nice 140mm forks instead
If you want a cheap fork that would make the Prophet better (DH), I have a set of Manitou Sherman’s (1.5 steerer) 160mm’s that have sat round for years off a Gemini ..

I had a prophet and two lefty’s (Ali and carbon 140mm’s) and a set of Rev’s, the 140mm Rev’s (with a 1.5 steerer) were the best, as it gave the Prophet the front end height it needed to handle brilliantly. As the lefty’s are a bit low and more towards the XC end of the scale handling wise.
Still have a carbon lefty with a upgraded internal.. that needs a bloody service, though the prophet went a while back… That lefty itch become bloody expensive, stay clear and just get some nice 140mm forks instead
If you want a cheap fork that would make the Prophet better (DH), I have a set of Manitou Sherman’s (1.5 steerer) 160mm’s that have sat round for years off a Gemini ..

Funny you say that – I’ve been running the Prophet on RS Revelations at 140 and it’s a brilliant combo, bike feels just right like this (for me at least)

be careful if you are buying a pre 2017 lefty or second hand. There have been a number of recalls and fixes pushed out. and from bitter experience unless you can talk to a local shop who supplied you, cannondale & the UK importer will not be interested.
Firstly, there is the 2spring upgrade which was required to fix a known issue. if you need service parts for a model that hasn’t had this done they may be v.hard to come by. It will cost you around £150 to have it done by TFTuned. BUT it’s a worthwhile upgrade

Buying secondhand – I didn’t think any warranty would be transferrable ? Happy to be proven wrong here.

The 2 spring fix – how would I know whether it’s been done, is this fix relating to more modern lefty forks ?
As i’m guessing older lefty forks won’t have had this fix, if any, or servicing 🙂

D

There’ll be a 2spring sticker on it, hopefully

They look cool, but that’s about it. Any recent 140-150mm fork will be better in every aspect that counts.

Without a valid warranty you run the risk of having to pay for expensive parts (I have heard of two cases where the damper broke clean off during disassembly).

Well not in every respect. Lefty is lighter, stiffer (more comparable to a DH fork), stronger, has less unsprung weight, doesn’t suffer from bush binding. The damper is probably less adjustable than a conventional fork – but most people don’t know how to tune a damper properly anyway so that is, for most people, an advantage, and as for cost, they are not cheap for sure, but I wouldn’t call Fox and RS forks cheap by any measure, and then you get into the world of Ohlin’s and MRP and you’re well into big bucks territory. But yeah, you’re right, other than that, better in every respect.

Send your Lefty for a service. If it needs the 2spring update it will be done FOC as it is a mandatory upgrade from ‘Dale.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cannondale-trigger-team-large

😉

But yeah, you’re right, other than that, better in every respect.

Yup. Newer Leftys already have a bushing, so the whole “rolling, not sliding” stuff goes down the drain. As far as I can tell, they still need to be reset quite often in order to get the full travel. Not only is the damper less adjustable, but it is years behind the current generation of forks.

My initial understanding was OP will only swap the fork; buying the bike as a whole might make some sense, if you really, really want a Lefty.

But yeah, you’re right, other than that, better in every respect.

Yup. Newer Leftys already have a bushing, so the whole “rolling, not sliding” stuff goes down the drain. As far as I can tell, they still need to be reset quite often in order to get the full travel. Not only is the damper less adjustable, but it is years behind the current generation of forks.
My initial understanding was OP will only swap the fork; buying the bike as a whole might make some sense, if you really, really want a Lefty.

must re-read my post, I am looking at buying a whole bike, not just swapping out the Revs for a Lefty on my Prophet, mainly as I built the Prophet up from just the frame and it’s been quite the experience and not exactly the cheapest way of doing it. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun, learnt loads quickly and good components even on a 2007 frame mean the Prophet can still do more than I am capable of.

My Prophet is a Medium 18″ frame (I’m 5′ 8″), does that still equate to the same size on the Trigger and Jekyll ?

The Trigger for sale a few posts above looks good, but Large 🙁

A cannondale isn’t a true cannondale without a lefty in my opinion. Love mine.

Yup. Newer Leftys already have a bushing, so the whole “rolling, not sliding” stuff goes down the drain.

No, not really, the bushing on the new lefty is for sealing of the sanction ‘shield’ (not sure what to call it) and not as a bearing. The primary loading still goes through needle bearings. The previous lefty are not sealed as they have vent holes above the rubber boot, so if you submerge them in water then the fork would fill with water.

I was in Bridgtown cycles Cannock last week and they had a gorgeous looking ‘dale with lefty fork £700.
Cant give you anymore details THOUGH

Got Lefty on my ‘dale FSi 2 (2015)and love it. No issues at all, though care needed with axle thread. ‘dale do replacement thread kits as easily cross threaded.

I’ve just had my F29 powder coated stealth, 2014 model had cannondale written on every tube,
Decided to have the lefty serviced sure enough they recommended 2spring update £150-160 at tf tuned

Love the bike (and so far no more creak) and it’s fast, get randomly asked about it quite often,
but with all new drivetrain, a new rear wheel and hope hub and lefty upgrade and a converted bb30 to 68/73 threaded bb conversion It’s cost me a small fortune

The castleford powdercoaters only charged me £30 :0)

It’s definately a keeper

I had an old F600/800(?) with a lefty years ago….I loved it, but it was always a bit small for me (stupid long legs/short torso).

I’d have another…..I can’t imagine they’ve got worse!

I was in Bridgtown cycles Cannock last week and they had a gorgeous looking ‘dale with lefty fork £700.
Cant give you anymore details THOUGH

Don’t suppose it was orange and a FS ?

Am looking at a few Jekylls now and wondered what the secondhand value of a 2013 to 2015 model would be – not the carbon versions ?

apart from service on the lefty and the two spring upgrade – anything else to let ok out for ?

thanks

Lefty is the only thing I miss since switching from my Trigger to Hightower. It was plusher than my Pike. I loved it.

It does need some more maintenance than the Pike, but nothing too troublesome. The needle bearings drift a little over the course of a few rides, unless you run it overly firm. With mine, it would result in shorter travel and steeper head angle as the fork gets sucked down with the bearings. However you can totally negate that by just resetting the bearings every few rides (once per month was about right for me). To do so requires nothing more than releasing all the air out, then bouncing down on the bars to compress the fork really firmly a few times until it compresses to within about an inch of the end of the stantion, the putting the air back in again. Takes about 1 minute. That’s all it needs.

It’s an awesome fork. Nicely plush and sensitive at the start of travel.

Walowitz

Don’t think the Dales really hold value too well. They are a niche bike and folk are put off by both the Lefty and the Dyad, and are never really fashionable so difficult to move. I bought my Trigger Carbon 2 new from Pauls for half price at £2k down from £4k. I upgraded the wheels with some custom DT EX471, sold it for £1300. Can’t get £2k for a used £4k bike when they are always on blow out for £2k new. I accepted the loss because I got a killer deal on a new ’17 Hightower. The Trigger was a really great bike – I like the Hightower better, but my Trigger was really great too.

Don’t think the Dales really hold value too well. They are a niche bike and folk are put off by both the Lefty and the Dyad, and are never really fashionable so difficult to move. I bought my Trigger Carbon 2 new from Pauls for half price at £2k down from £4k. I upgraded the wheels with some custom DT EX471, sold it for £1300. Can’t get £2k for a used £4k bike when they are always on blow out for £2k new. I accepted the loss because I got a killer deal on a new ’17 Hightower. The Trigger was a really great bike – I like the Hightower better, but my Trigger was really great too.

thanks zerolight, the longer travel leftys Cannondales do seem a bit more niche, specialist because of the single sided fork.

thought they might be fashionable because as someone else pointed out – they do look cool.

I’ve got two lefty’s, on a f29 and a scalpel. I love them. Good long thread on mtbr about tuning etc. I’ve increased travel on f29, piece of cake, it’s a rock shox solo air system so just pop a travel spacer off, also ditched the volume spacer from the bottom chamber and replaced with a plastic wine cork to make it more linear. Bit more air pressure to compensate but it’s lovely and plush and I can get full travel a lot easier which also resets bearings. I’m quite happy to work on them and with a couple of tools they are easy enough to service.