Following my earlier Lefty Thread looking to buy a Lefty I have hopefully just picked up a Lefty Speed Carbon DLR.

A few over-excited questions though 😀

– Is there anything I should check for when receiving the second hand Lefty?

Talking to Tony at Thumbprint tuning (I narrowly missed buying one from him- someone beat me to it) he suggested checking for surface wear from cable rub and checking the disk mounts were not damaged or ovalised in any way. He suggested these were the two most costly repairs and pretty much any thing else internal could be reasonably easily and cheaply solved. Anything else to look out for if and when the Lefty arrives?

– Cannondale OPI stem and steerer installation?

There doesn’t look to be anything tricky here, just follow the manual instructions… correct? The only thing that confuses me is the manual says to grease the entire outer surface of the OPI stem and the entire inner clamp surfaces of the Lefty. This seem odd to me. Grease the bearing/ articulating surfaces… fine… but surely the areas where the clamps meet the steerer/ stem need to be dry to grip properly and not let the stem rotate when the wheel is fixed???

– Regular maintenance?

Check for boot damage every ride. Bearing reset ever 20-25 hours. Clean the oil filter, but how regularly? What “high quality foam air filter oil” upon cleaning and drying? Clean and regrease telescope, but again how regularly. What lube for this as the suggested one seem hard to find?

Any other advice for being a long term happy Lefty user? 😀

Sorry for so many questions I am a little over excited for this to arrive!

I’ve heard of Lefties having to have the axle bolt helicoiled.
Probably worth checking the condition before buying second hand, as it’s an unusual thread.

Another good point, thanks. I will be sure to check the axle bolt thread when the fork and new wheel arrive.

Pretty sure Tony recommended just a simple spray grease for the telescope – I picked some up from Halfords. On a bearing reset he suggested spraying some down the telescope.

Never used to clean the air filter all that often, once a year maybe? Checking the boot is good advice – it can hold water down there quite effectively which will corrode the races if left to stand.

All past tense for me as I’m not running lefties these days. Used them for years though and they were superb.

What “high quality foam air filter oil” did you use on the foam air filter?

My Lefty spindle wasn’t Helicoiled. I guess you’d use a helicoil if you stripped or damaged the thread.

I got into the habit of performing a bearing reset after every ride or every two or three rides. It only takes 5 minutes once you know what you’re doing. It depends upon how much you use the suspension travel as it is the telescopic motion that moved the bearings out of alignment.

Once a year I did a bearing lube and cleaned the foam filter, an easy job, just a bit messy.

The damper cartridge is just a conventional style cartridge so no different to what you’d do with conventional forks. I think the Cannondale recommendation in this regard was rediculously short.

Other than that they’re pretty robust – more robust than conventional forks, so you should be OK.

Maintenance does sound very reasonable and the few videos I’ve seen of the bearing reset make it seem super easy. Good stuff!

Does anyone have any thoughts on the OPI stem and steerer installation and the strange sounding greasing instruction from the Cannondale manual in my first post?

Haven’t managed to strip the hub thread but have managed to squish a brake mount (looks like Tony replaced it when last serviced though).
I did manage to ruined a ride a month ago, by the bearing clunking due to needing a reset. Couldn’t do it mid ride, as the crown nut was too tight, am now only running it hand tight (lots of thread, so it won’t fall off), so I can do it mid ride if need be (that how easy it is).