The Golden Wrench

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

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Cannondale Lefty/Headshok damper upgrades

At Shockspital we see a lot of Lefty and Headshok forks of various ages and in various states of disrepair. Among other things, we go through a lot of replacement dampers in the process of keeping these forks on the road (trail). But on the bright side, these repairs are an opportunity for a damper upgrade!

Lefty PBR damper upgrade
As long as your fork is 2005 or newer, upgrading the damper can be as easy as a 10-minute swap. Though it's usually a good idea to have us service the telescope bearings as long we we're at it. Worst-case scenario, if the inner leg is damaged (which prevents the air spring from working properly), we can change that out, too.

Lefty XLR remote lockout damper
So you could revitalize your older Lefty Max with a modern PBR or XLR damper, complete with the lastest updates! Cannondale occasionally makes minor improvements to their damper systems, and the only way to keep on top of that is to install the latest version of the dampers.

Get the latest updates!
The frosting is that a new damper comes with a new 1-year warranty from Cannondale. And, if you're upgrading the same damper type (old PBR to a newer PBR), Cannondale offers great trade-in pricing on your old damper.

Same goes for Fatty/Ultra Headshok forks--if it's 2005 or newer we can in most cases install a modern DLR80 cartridge, for external lockout and rebound adjustability.

Give us a shout to find out which upgrades your fork is eligible for. Get the most out of your Lefty!