The Golden Wrench

A blog about bicycle repair and maintenance by the mechanics at Freewheel Bike.

Monday, January 9, 2012

The Lefty and what's so right about it!

  People ask me what I think about the Lefty all the time. It is probably the best suspension fork ever made in my mind with one major weakness; It needs to be maintained. And when I say it needs to be maintained I mean that in all caps, IT NEEDS TO BE MAINTAINED!
  The Lefty is race equipment. Its not like other forks that have different levels or cheaper models. All Cannondale Lefty forks are expensive to buy and repair. You can ignore and abuse most telescoping forks for a while but the Lefty will not tolerate it.
  I see people convert leftys for 29ers and Fat bikes a lot lately, so many of these forks have been sourced on Ebay that people really don't know what they cost and they never see an owners manual for them. So here are some things to know:

Big T finishing off a full Lefty service.
  1. If your Lefty has been submerged; you need to rebuild it.
  2. If you have ridden your lefty in bad weather for a while; you should have to boot lifted up and have the fork cleaned up. Any dirt could cost you a water bottler full of cash to repair.
  3. You should rebuild your cartridge one a year.
  4. If your boot is ripped replace it immediately! A TORN BOOK WILL KILL YOUR LEFTY.
  Tyson and I are always willing to talk to you about your lefty and we service quite a few of them. This is the time of year that a Lefty might not be the best choice for an everyday rider but if you take care to maintain it you and your lefty will be ok.
  We also service all Leftys and Headshoks . Stop by Shockspital.com if you would like to send in your lefty for service.