Lefty

Thinking of fitting a Lefty fork to my Hard Tail , which lefty fork would be best, is it straight forward or a lot of hassle any help or pictures of your conversion would be great.
The Bike,
Cove Handjob.

You can get either a Project321 converter off ebay to make older ones fit, which would be the most econmical way to do it, or you can buy a new “lefty for all” which c’dale are selling to fit std 1 1.8 headsets (brand new Lefty’s are fecken expensive). 2nd hand lefty’s are ‘quite’ cheap but factor in a service to confirm it works ok, a headset and a new front wheel. Can’t help you on which model to get, as I’ve only been interested in the 140mm Lefty Max’s which I imagine is too long for your frame.

and it obviously possible on the Cove Handjob, as TeetoSugars has done it (maybe drop him a mail)..
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/show-us-your-powder-coated-frames#post-2889815

I have a Lefty, complete with front hub, 200mm reducer steerer tube, and a truing adapter.

It may very well appear on Classifieds sometime soon….

Why? A lefty just about makes sense if it is already on your bike but converting to one would cost a fortune as you will also need a specific hub.

Always worth keeping an eye out for a USE SUB – basically a UK designed Lefty for normal 1 1/8 steerer. Nice simple, easy to service, and plush forks.

I picked mine up for £200 including the wheel.

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Was a 10 minute job to fit mine. The converter is ace (as is the fork)

Butlers Wharf FTW! 😀

Did the Skyride last year.

Lefty conversion is mega easy and the hubs are like £30.

Lefty on a Cove Handjob you say???

🙂

Do it, its an awesome combination….

Why? A lefty just about makes sense if it is already on your bike but converting to one would cost a fortune as you will also need a specific hub.

New lefty I agree, bonkers price, but 2nd hand ones in good condition can be ahd from £150 upwards depending on age and model. I’ve had both TPC an SPV 140max leftys, would recommend the TCP over SPV, mroe reliable and personally I think it rides better.
Original DLRs are a good fork but outclassed by later DLR2s.
I have a soft spot for the Jake, maybe a bit heavy and *only* 100mm but it’s probably the smoothest one I’ve ever used and very solid.
Less experience of more recent models as they’ve been out of my price range.

hubs are no more expensive reallly than non-lefty,a nd there are plenty of 2nd hand wheels to be had.

Conversions dead easy with project 321 kits.

matt

I picked my Lefty up from ebay. 130 Carbon Max with Fox RLC internals.

Thanks for the Pic’s & advice ? some people might think why bother, but they are unique , & look Cooool.
good winter bike with load’s of mud clearance .

can they be converted for 29ers?

1kcove, If you had said that you thought they looked cool I wouldn’t have asked why. I agree that they look cool but I am unconvinced on an engineering level. Each to his own and it looks like you have found some good advice from the Lefty users above. NB I didn’t call any one a Lefty fan boy 😉

Matt24k – Member

but I am unconvinced on an engineering level.

Do tell…

And yes they can be converted for 29ers.

Everyone’s an engineer….. yawn

I still think a Lefty is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist but I don’t claim to be an engineer. Oh, and before you get over excited I drive a very old VW and drink instant coffee. Put that in the Stereotypeometer.

Matt24k – Member

I still think a Lefty is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist but I don’t claim to be an engineer. Oh, and before you get over excited I drive a very old VW and drink instant coffee. Put that in the Stereotypeometer.

They weren’t looking to solve a problem…

OK I surrender. I can’t beat a mob of Lefties on my own.
That was joke for any one suffering from a sense of humour failure.

Thers’s nowt wrong with an old VW, wheeler dealers had a VW day last sunday on Discovery Turbo and they almost make me want to buy an old panel van to book about in.

Reaaaaally not trolling…..but what are Leftys for? Is it a weight thing? Just look…….odd.

wasn’t it mostly a ‘to show they can’ kind of thing by Cannondale?

i rode one of the early ones – with electronic damping, it was rubbish.

lots of info here mcboo: http://www.golefty.com/lefty.swf

Admittedly the site quite old, and some of the info doesn’t exactly hold true now but mainly why not? You may as well ask, why go mtb-ing?
Why single speed, why 6″ travel, why fat bike’s???… etc

There a bit different, a marmite fork even, but I wouldn’t suggest they’re perfect. Mine pretty damned light for a 140mm fork (1550g), extremely stiff, even though it’s pretty old (circa 2005 purchased by me in 2007[?]) but only been serviced twice – and not suffered for it (can many other forks say the same). I’ve not long spent a load of cash getting the damper upgraded – 2011 damper internal’s in a fork produced in 2005, as I do like mine.
I’ve always found it to be good fun (with some drawbacks) and best of all they annoy some people to the point of apoplexy.

z1ppy, how much did you pay to upgrade the internals?
I’ve got a Lefty Max FFD and I might look to upgrade it.

“best of all they annoy some people to the point of apoplexy.”
OK now I get it.

Matt23k You wouldn’t believe ppl could get so worked up over something.

The other point is, that until 20mm bolt thru but still light forks became the norm, there were well ahead of anything else produced in terms of stiffness (vs weight).
Disco stu – somewhere around £300, I had two lefty serviced and one upgraded and some parts all at the same time so the bill wasn’t very specific about what I’d paid for what.. but no not a cheap job*.

* To the point that if you have a 1.5 headtube & want a great value upgrade I’d suggest you search out US seller bikewagon on ebay and buy one of his fantastic black box damped 1.5 steerer RS Rev’s 140’s for less money even after import tax

Big Lefty fan here too.

Always get asked “wheres the other bit” and makes me giggle like a skoolgirl each time.

Recently refurbed an F800 complete with Lefty, which I’d had from new, hammered, then bought other bikes, and it lay unused in the spare room for a few years until last xmas when I resurected it. The bike didn’t need much doing to it, and the Lefty just a service (came recommended off here) and hey, boingo and all’s been well since.
But the bike itself is a little overweight so I’m going to buy a new 29er frame and convert the Lefty to suit. May go down the On-One 29er or if someone can recomend a light XC like frame (alloy or steel) and if poss no oversised tubes, something simple and elegant, then the Lefty will look rather good on it I reckon.

Boingo

I’ve been using a 2010 Lefty PBR on a Pegasus for a while. There are two great things about it… it weighs next to nothing, and the small bump performance is fantastic, I presume due to there being no detectable stiction at all.

On the other hand, I don’t like the brake dive or the tall stack height or the Lefty-specific hub, or indeed the price.

Is it worth the hassle & expense? I’d say if you can get the stack height correct for your setup, then…maybe. Otherwise, I personally wouldn’t do it again.

Matt24k – Member

OK I surrender. I can’t beat a mob of Lefties on my own.
That was joke for any one suffering from a sense of humour failure. Matt24k – Member

Where were people getting mob like? Seems you’re getting hot under the collar – nobody else.

I just asked why you thought the engineering was wrong – thought it was a classic stw statement.

Wow some people are never satisfied. It seems that I need to withdraw to my original postion as well as surrender. It’s hard to do humour on the net and I like to assure ChunkyMTB that I wasn’t getting hot under the collar.
Anyway, got to go as my Mum says my tea is ready.
Adopts Frank Carson accent “It’s the way I tell em, so it is!”
Like I said, it’s hard to do humour on the net.

Riding along the street the other day:
Italian sounding Bloke on pavement: “What’s happened to your fork? is it supposed to be like that?”
Me: “Yes”
Him: “Woah!! Coooool!!!!”

If only I had 10p for every person that said something similar…

How are these for servicing intervals & difficulty? Heard about some kind of ‘bearing reset’ which needs to be done to keep ’em sweet.

la la la… I’m not listening, and I really don’t want a Lefty, and haven’t wanted one for the last 10 years….

My only defence, really, is to reiterate retro83’s question – can the people who love their Lefties tell us more about the needle bearing resets: how often, how difficult, how expensive?

needle bearing resets: how often, how difficult, how expensive?

Every 25h; not very if you’ve got a Shimano-compatible BB tool; free as it’s a DIY job.

Annual servicing a bit more of a pain as it seems to involve sending it away but mine came in at about £100

Andy

Gah, I’ve started looking now…
Can anyone point me to a side by side comparison of the models? I’d be after something at 130mm, really, depending on a2s height

i fitted a carbon fox 110 to my giant using a converter off ebay,a bit fiddly,originaly bought them to put on an epx frame,but at time didnt know that theres a lefty max,(or aluminum models have adjustable clamps,carbon does not as there bonded)as the space between steerer clamps is more,and mine didnt fit so put on my giant and maxt it up.see my profile pic,exotic carbon parts,xtr.

sounds like you got an XL clamp version?