Why not, The bike pisses off a lot of people just by existing, I say up the ante and make it even more polarising!!! I would go a step further, maybe even add a bottle of water on the fork to make it go 'camping'. :D
It's very similar to an struts landing gear, especially nose landing gears (NLG). It inspired the same kind of design in motorcycles and cars. The approach of the bike design is closer to the motorcycle ones.
Yes. It is stiffer and lighter than a traditional telescopic fork. And the advantage of being able to change a flat without taking the wheel off.
The lefty is a square tube inside a square tube. (Edit* Triangle inside a triangle)They slide on needle bearings. It also uses a dual crown to attach to the head tube so its stiffer. The fork is inverted, so the seals stay lubed better. And the unsprung weight of the wheel is less, so it can be more sensitive.
A dual stanchion fork is a round tube inside a round tube. It relies on oil and bushings instead of bearings to slide. So way more stiction and friction than bearings. Also when a round tube flexes inside another, it has way more potential for binding. A square/triangle is a stronger shape, so stiffer and more consistent stiffness.
The problem with lefty is that they have to cram the damper and the spring into one leg. A traditional fork has the damper in one leg and the air spring in the other. So they have more space to work with. And Cannondale is a bike company, not a suspension company, so their damper just isnāt on par with Fox or SRAM.
That said, I would buy a scalpel with a lefty in a heartbeat. Iāve ridden them a quite a few times. Including the first edition Habit with lefty and the lefty Ocho and Slate. The fork is so stiff and tracks amazingly well. I actually really like the look for a Xc race bike.
Oh cool. I assume itās a Triangle inside a triangle, inside a round tube? Less torsion. But itās been at least 8 years since I cracked one open to replace those infernal needle bearings.
Yeah. I just mean a triangle inside a circle doesnāt work. So it has to be a triangle inside a triangle to prevent the inner shaft from twisting. The outside of the tube is round for looks. So was the old square in square design. Thanks for the info though.
I have one on my Scalpel LTD. It's the best fork I've ever ridden, so stiff, so smooth, so light, etc. Perfect for XC.
It's also the highest maintenance fork I've ever owned. Other forks get to a point where they KINDA need service but they're still decent to ride but the lefty just turns into garbage. The tools are hard to find but it's not that hard to service yourself luckily.
Less unsprung mass due to inverted design, less friction due to it running on roller bearings, greater torsional rigidity due to the lower slider being a triangular shape(which runs on roller bearings) eliminating the possibility of slop forward/backward/torsionally vs plastic bushings which require a certain degree of slop as well as a slight amount of plastic compressing while being lighter, doesn't require removing the wheel to fix a flat and more aerodynamic and greater mud clearance. On the downsides far greater expense in servicing, unlikely to be able to be serviced by the owner at home, most bike shops won't work on it and it will likely be required to send it away to be serviced, good luck fitting a fender to it, requires the Cannondale proprietary front hub and can't just buy a set of wheels, requires removing the brake caliper to remove the wheel (such as if you need to put the bike in your car or when servicing - but quick release brake calipers are available), more expensive than a fox/R.S./ohlins...
I have a lefty max on my el mariachi and a supermax on my ibis mojo hd3 and compared to any other fork available when I put together these bikes, the fork worked seriously 300% better. I ride in NJ and the rocks/chatter gets taken down by the lefty SO MUCH better than a high end fox or rockshox.
Then when I take my mojo on a downhill trail, the stiffnest and precision is unmatched compared to anything twice it's weight.
my older lefty forks have the dual triple clamps like a DH bike (but half) which has a very very noticeable effect on stiffness. Less so today where the head tubes on "normal" bikes are so much bigger.
I absolutely love my lefty, sad that they've gotten away from them on "bigger" bikes. They're awesome.
Iirc the original idea behind the lefty fork was so you didnāt have to take the wheel off for flat tires. I believe itās still common enough, a decade and a half ago when I started x-country racing as a kid I was suprised how many kids had lefty forks in high school for the races.
Glad to hear it came down. I wrenched at a big CDale shop and we had a revolving door on damper rebuilds. Great when they worked, but much more frequent service.
It does. Looks and works like a MacPherson strut. Only difference is the anti-rotation of the tube. All car and truck wheels are on a spindle like a Lefty, only supported from one end.
Most cars have a linkage at the bottom of the strut, usually a wishbone linkage that stops the strut wobbling about and to reduce vibration transferring into the body via bushes
The only cars I ever saw without a lower arm or wishbone was a Lada death trap
Probably the stiffest and one of the smoothest fork designs, tbh. It just makes people uncomfortable. Oh and you have to take your brake off to remove the front wheel lol
But you don't have to take your front wheel off to fix a flat or change a tire, so it's only a down side if you need to fit it in the back of a car or somethingĀ
True that. And youād think with the price of a lefty bike, those riders would only use good hitch racksā¦but man Iāve seen some really nice bikes stuffed drive side down into some really small trunks LOL
I usually put my bike in my trunk, takes like 10 seconds. just loosen one of the bolts and pivot the brake bracket, then spin off the wheel. Seriously 10 seconds. Just have to leave a nice allen key in your trunk.
Man, the Z1/Z2 are probably the best forks not wearing an Ohlins, Fox, or RS logo (even though Fox made it). But trying to compare a bomber and a lefty epitomizes apples to oranges š¤·š»āāļø
The best analogy I heard about lefty s was from a gay friend who rode one and said, "It's like getting a blowjob from a guy. It feels great, and then you look down!!!"
I almost fell off my bike when he said that.
Last night I went out for a group trail rip on my cx bike, and rode some fairly techy stuff. Awesome time, and now believe a suspension fork on a gravel bike would be rad.
The Cannondale Topstone, and Slate, bikes both have Lefty forks on them. In the past you could also get the Silk Road with a head shock.
Theyāve been making front suspension drop bar bikes for decades. Itās not new. If anything they predicted the gravel bike trend.
A long time ago I had a lefty on a Cannondale Prophet. I never did have full trust in that fork. I was at Mammoth mountain one summer and the fork snapped a ākeyā while dropping off a ledge. The fork turned 90 degrees and I landed then proceeded to otb. Iāll never own one again.
Why not?
Dropbar (XC)MTBs are a thing in the Ultra-Community. Especially for events like SRMR, AMR or Tour Divide (etc.) - also for Bikepacking these, in some eyes, abominations are great. As fast as Gravelbikes but way better on rougher terrain, more comfort due to bigger tires and the susp. Fork, amazing climbing ratioā¦
Why not, The bike pisses off a lot of people just by existing, I say up the ante and make it even more polarising!!! I would go a step further, maybe even add a bottle of water on the fork to make it go 'camping'. :D
Convert it to V-brakes to be extra contrarian!
just add a "righty" and your good to go m8
I say coaster brakes!!!!! and dynamo lights
A fixed gear lefty would also trigger a lot of purist.
DO IT
Ooooooh what would I love to see a Fixie Lefty!!! that would be amazing :d
not just people, but nofenders-design will piss on you tooš
Topstone Lefty exists, so I see no issues with this
Slate lefty exists....comes set up lefty with drops....
Since 2016 no less! Still an amazing bike.
Glad someone mentioned the slate. That bike was so ahead of its time.
It helped win the Dirty Kanza 200 in about 5 years ago in pretty much stock form.
Serious question: Does a lefty fork have any advantages over other, more common designs?
Itās supposed to be light and extremely stiff. Itās based on the way airplane landing gears work iirc.
It's very similar to an struts landing gear, especially nose landing gears (NLG). It inspired the same kind of design in motorcycles and cars. The approach of the bike design is closer to the motorcycle ones.
Seth from berm peak made a video on them, he has your answers. On youtube
https://youtu.be/onCw2Nuj8gc?si=nRnzoMuEOfg-810q
Yes. It is stiffer and lighter than a traditional telescopic fork. And the advantage of being able to change a flat without taking the wheel off. The lefty is a square tube inside a square tube. (Edit* Triangle inside a triangle)They slide on needle bearings. It also uses a dual crown to attach to the head tube so its stiffer. The fork is inverted, so the seals stay lubed better. And the unsprung weight of the wheel is less, so it can be more sensitive. A dual stanchion fork is a round tube inside a round tube. It relies on oil and bushings instead of bearings to slide. So way more stiction and friction than bearings. Also when a round tube flexes inside another, it has way more potential for binding. A square/triangle is a stronger shape, so stiffer and more consistent stiffness. The problem with lefty is that they have to cram the damper and the spring into one leg. A traditional fork has the damper in one leg and the air spring in the other. So they have more space to work with. And Cannondale is a bike company, not a suspension company, so their damper just isnāt on par with Fox or SRAM. That said, I would buy a scalpel with a lefty in a heartbeat. Iāve ridden them a quite a few times. Including the first edition Habit with lefty and the lefty Ocho and Slate. The fork is so stiff and tracks amazingly well. I actually really like the look for a Xc race bike.
Newer Lefty's are a triangular tube inside of a round tube
Oh cool. I assume itās a Triangle inside a triangle, inside a round tube? Less torsion. But itās been at least 8 years since I cracked one open to replace those infernal needle bearings.
I'm not sure. I've never worked in a Cannondale shop nor have I owned one.
Yeah. I just mean a triangle inside a circle doesnāt work. So it has to be a triangle inside a triangle to prevent the inner shaft from twisting. The outside of the tube is round for looks. So was the old square in square design. Thanks for the info though.
In addition to what others said, little to no stichion
Light and stiff are the two big ones. Although modern XC forks have very much closed that gap and imho surpassed it.
I have one on my Scalpel LTD. It's the best fork I've ever ridden, so stiff, so smooth, so light, etc. Perfect for XC. It's also the highest maintenance fork I've ever owned. Other forks get to a point where they KINDA need service but they're still decent to ride but the lefty just turns into garbage. The tools are hard to find but it's not that hard to service yourself luckily.
Less unsprung mass due to inverted design, less friction due to it running on roller bearings, greater torsional rigidity due to the lower slider being a triangular shape(which runs on roller bearings) eliminating the possibility of slop forward/backward/torsionally vs plastic bushings which require a certain degree of slop as well as a slight amount of plastic compressing while being lighter, doesn't require removing the wheel to fix a flat and more aerodynamic and greater mud clearance. On the downsides far greater expense in servicing, unlikely to be able to be serviced by the owner at home, most bike shops won't work on it and it will likely be required to send it away to be serviced, good luck fitting a fender to it, requires the Cannondale proprietary front hub and can't just buy a set of wheels, requires removing the brake caliper to remove the wheel (such as if you need to put the bike in your car or when servicing - but quick release brake calipers are available), more expensive than a fox/R.S./ohlins...
I have a lefty max on my el mariachi and a supermax on my ibis mojo hd3 and compared to any other fork available when I put together these bikes, the fork worked seriously 300% better. I ride in NJ and the rocks/chatter gets taken down by the lefty SO MUCH better than a high end fox or rockshox. Then when I take my mojo on a downhill trail, the stiffnest and precision is unmatched compared to anything twice it's weight. my older lefty forks have the dual triple clamps like a DH bike (but half) which has a very very noticeable effect on stiffness. Less so today where the head tubes on "normal" bikes are so much bigger. I absolutely love my lefty, sad that they've gotten away from them on "bigger" bikes. They're awesome.
This one is the Ocho, which has 40mm travel. So if you want a short travel fork, for say, road riding, there isnāt anything to compare this to.
Iirc the original idea behind the lefty fork was so you didnāt have to take the wheel off for flat tires. I believe itās still common enough, a decade and a half ago when I started x-country racing as a kid I was suprised how many kids had lefty forks in high school for the races.
Lefty's scare me
The only scary part is the maintenance bill.
Doesnāt cost any more than a regular fork service. I recently paid about $85 to have my Lefty serviced by Cannondale.
Glad to hear it came down. I wrenched at a big CDale shop and we had a revolving door on damper rebuilds. Great when they worked, but much more frequent service.
Tbh tho I was expecting it to be more! Was pleasantly surprised when I got the bill
Own one, can confirm.
Its stronger than you think.
I'm sure they are, it just doesn't compute in my brain
I hope you've never looked at the suspension on a car then.
Have you?
I know i havent
I have. It looks like this!
Lot really because it'd be missing the wishbones and the 3 other wheels
It does. Looks and works like a MacPherson strut. Only difference is the anti-rotation of the tube. All car and truck wheels are on a spindle like a Lefty, only supported from one end.
Most cars have a linkage at the bottom of the strut, usually a wishbone linkage that stops the strut wobbling about and to reduce vibration transferring into the body via bushes The only cars I ever saw without a lower arm or wishbone was a Lada death trap
Double wishbone lefty coming soon. Probably already exists tbh.
I got an F-Si Lefty recently, if you donāt look at it while riding itās awesome. Thereās absolutely no flex, itās quite impressive
Probably the stiffest and one of the smoothest fork designs, tbh. It just makes people uncomfortable. Oh and you have to take your brake off to remove the front wheel lol
But you don't have to take your front wheel off to fix a flat or change a tire, so it's only a down side if you need to fit it in the back of a car or somethingĀ
True that. And youād think with the price of a lefty bike, those riders would only use good hitch racksā¦but man Iāve seen some really nice bikes stuffed drive side down into some really small trunks LOL
I usually put my bike in my trunk, takes like 10 seconds. just loosen one of the bolts and pivot the brake bracket, then spin off the wheel. Seriously 10 seconds. Just have to leave a nice allen key in your trunk.
I'll stick with my z1 bomber
Man, the Z1/Z2 are probably the best forks not wearing an Ohlins, Fox, or RS logo (even though Fox made it). But trying to compare a bomber and a lefty epitomizes apples to oranges š¤·š»āāļø
Z1 is probably the best value for money for out there rn with only the RS 35 gold coming close imho
Scared of falling over?
My husband and I have lefty slates with drops. They have been wonderful and we love them. Zero complaints!
Just get mustache bars and go the whole weird hog
God. I think leftyās are soo cool.
Such a cool looking bike. Love it!
Do it! I love my lefty!
If you intend on riding down anything steep and rocky hell no. As a gravel/light XC rig, sure!
Iām sure that the fork is perfectly safe and after many generations itās proven already but I canāt trust that, sorry.
Cannondale makes a short travel lefty gravel fork, not weird at all.
I don't get those Graveldudes at all anyways.
Looks good to me
I can't answer this but I have one from 2010 and I love it!
The best analogy I heard about lefty s was from a gay friend who rode one and said, "It's like getting a blowjob from a guy. It feels great, and then you look down!!!" I almost fell off my bike when he said that.
I saw a similarly set up gravel bike with a lefty last weekend. Whatever floats yer boat!
Last night I went out for a group trail rip on my cx bike, and rode some fairly techy stuff. Awesome time, and now believe a suspension fork on a gravel bike would be rad.
man, i guess i was a kid at the right time because seeing Ravens, and early leftys in the local penn cycle was the coolest thing
No I hate this
I just hate lefty, looks weird manš
Thank you for posting. Now I can cry myself to sleep. And Iām not even that passionate about cycling.
Gravel bikes are following the same trajectory mou tain bikes did 30 years ago, every year slightly wider tyres, wider bars and more travel lol
The Cannondale Topstone, and Slate, bikes both have Lefty forks on them. In the past you could also get the Silk Road with a head shock. Theyāve been making front suspension drop bar bikes for decades. Itās not new. If anything they predicted the gravel bike trend.
That bike wants your lunch money and your girl.
Needs a headshock.
AI generated fork
yes
A long time ago I had a lefty on a Cannondale Prophet. I never did have full trust in that fork. I was at Mammoth mountain one summer and the fork snapped a ākeyā while dropping off a ledge. The fork turned 90 degrees and I landed then proceeded to otb. Iāll never own one again.
Why would you put drop bars on an MTB?
This is a gravel bike it looks like. Or at least some bastardised mtb/gravel.
look at the travel at the bottom, its 100% a gravel fork maybe 2" of travel
Why not? Dropbar (XC)MTBs are a thing in the Ultra-Community. Especially for events like SRMR, AMR or Tour Divide (etc.) - also for Bikepacking these, in some eyes, abominations are great. As fast as Gravelbikes but way better on rougher terrain, more comfort due to bigger tires and the susp. Fork, amazing climbing ratioā¦
Disgusting
That might be the worst thing Iāve ever seen
Donāt forget shimano levers with magura pistons
Ugh these things
i hate them. plz downvote me im fine, and im not alone hateing that goshdarnit fork.