Cannondale Lefty For All DLR 110 Fork Review - BikeRadar

i thought the reviews were meant to be honest!!!

I genuinely wouldn't feel safe riding with this.

Still, admire their efforts.

Maybe this short video will give you some confidence in the strength and stiffness of Lefty forks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfDuAE8HdX4

Go to around 1 minute 42 seconds.

I wouldn't question the strength or stiffness, but the performance, last time I rode Lefty forked Cannondales was pretty crap - easily outperformed by RockShox or Fox forks at half the price. Yes, it steers well, but that's about it. A Fox, for example, is more straightforward to fit, doesn't upset the geometry, doesn't need a new front wheel, is better sprung and better damped and costs way less. Same was always true of the Headshok fork, very stiff but really primitive compared to other forks - and expensive! Cannondale get the thumbs up from me for pushing the technology, but the sums don't add up for me.

can't review as i haven't tried this lefty in particular - meaning the alloy speed dlr sl. I've owned a carbon sl though and it bar none the best xc fork i have tried.

now to the important question; what kind of numbnut wrote this article or review (if you wanna call it that)? There are some major flaws in the reasonings.

Firstly, a 110mm lefty speed does not raise the front of the bike. A dual crowm fork does not imply that the front is higher, just compare say a RS Boxxer vs a Totem. The speeds has a comparable ac height to other 100mm forks, but weigh significantly less, are significantly stiffer and have 10mm extra boing. The 2010 lefty speed has an ac heigh of 475mm, a Sid has an AC of 473 (two mm are negligible), Fox F100 has an AC of roughly 471 - so 4mm of difference there (often off set by the stack height of the headsets you have to run with ordinary forks). The 4mm would though not mean a whole lot in real world application - especially as after you account sag the real difference is about 2mm- which is negligible

secondly; to the last reviewer - current lefties are superb forks (or struts technically speaking) if a bit high on maintence side of things (much like Fox or RS products which need servicing very often indeed to have them work as they are supposed to). They are significantly stiffer than their rivals, weigh a lot less and due to the fact that the internals in a lefty are the same as the mentioned rivals (Fox/RS) - meaning they use Solo Air or RLC internals - they work just as good as the forks do - as compared to the strut. The main difference being the weight and as they are stiffer meaning the track significantly better.

The amount of ignorance and prejudice against the lefties is just plain ridiculous and people really need to think twice before posting and repeating the things said about lefties ten years ago. They have improved massively the last couple of years and the only part that is silly about them now is the price. But then again; show me any other part on the bike that would show a similar weight reduction and you'll see the price difference is similar. As mentioned before my last Lefty - a 08 speed carbon dlr sl - was hands down the best xc fork i've ever tried - let alone owned. I have a 2010 Lefty Max 140 PBR alloy on the way as we speek and the 130mm version i tried last year is just redicolously much better than the last version of the Lefty Max (with the flawed SPV concept) i used to own. I have high hopes. :)

and yes, if you find it to expensive, buy it of mendon cycle smith (google it). He can hook you up with one at a good price. Well worth it. And yes, he knows more about lefties than pretty much anybody else too ;)

sorry for the rant, but faulty reviews just pisses me off.

Twin just to correct u then, only one of the leftys run RLC internals, the rest has cannondales own internals

No doubt these forks are great, and really do the job well, but i still cant see why the price needs to be that insane for a product that can do the same as cheaper products on the market :D

Lefties have always seemed to me to be a high-cost, unique, but ultimately pointless solution.

Why would you want to fit a one-legged fork and proprietary hub when you can use regular 20mm or QR wheelsets and forks that do the same job?

It's kind of like their new bike which has a single chainstay - it's cool and from an engineering viewpoint quite clever, but it's way too niche.

twin, I think you've missed the point. Yes, the Lefty has a similar axle-to-crown height to other forks in its class. However, it also has a second crown between the head tube and stem, and it's this that pushes the handlebar height up and changes the ride position.

#1) No, Cannondale does not make internals for any of their specific forks or struts. They are all made by either RockShox, Fox or Magura (a lot used to be made by Manitou - but none are now). This is really a none debatable issue. Check out Cannondale.com or Magura.com if you wish to hear it from other sources.

#2) Oh, so that's what he meant - my bad (he said "i can..."). The upper crown though is about a cm or two thick, easily the same as most none integrated headsets. If you run 80mm or longer stems a negative rise stem would fix the problem easily. The added height - if there is any - does not in reality alter the geo of the bike though (meaning wheelbase or head angle - what most people would read as geo changing in this setting) - though the handlebar in a few cases can be a smidge higher. I do find it to be a rather far fetched argument though and one that you never, ever see commented in tests of Cannondale bikes equipped with Leftys. It's kinda like saying "well, this 15 degrees stem sure makes the front tall" - well, put it on the other way and it will be plenty low enough.

and why do they make it? Simply because it is siffer and weighs a lot less than any comparable fork on the market with a suspension action that is as good or better. If you haven't tried one, please do before commenting on it. And if you've tried a current one and it was not to your liking, well - i'm sorry that it was not for you. I'm not trying to make everybody a lefty lover or any such thing, I just want the product in question to be reviewed by its merits rather than decade old hear say or prejudice.

Concerning the hub (since it seems to be a huge issue); it iss dirt cheap, weighs next to nothing and honestly - since when is loosening two bolts a few turns been considered a hassle?

The only less than perfect point here is the price - which is on the high side of things no doubt.

happy trails

Ok, to settle the issue on the internals, I contacted Cannondale Lefty product manager Drew Hanna. Here's what he said:

"Yes, the Solo Air spring technology comes from RockShox. They showed our HeadShok engineers the ins and outs of their configuration and then we figured out how to adapt it to our dampers. Those same engineers are responsible for our PBR, DLR, and SL dampers. With the exception of our Fox RLC version, we are using only in-house designs."

On a side note, I'm also currently testing a Lefty Ultra 120 PBR on the front of a Trek Fuel EX and in fact, just returned from riding it in Moab. Yup, it's incredibly light but steering precision is notably better than other forks in its weight class (and many forks outside of it, too) and fore-aft stiffness is quite fantastic given the dual crown design.

So far the *Cannondale-designed* PBR damper is performing pretty well, too, and I didn't experience anything while bombing down Porcupine Rim that would concern me in terms of the structural integrity. Yes, the looks are unnerving but the engineering seems sound. True, it's a single leg but it's also a very big single leg.

I'll hopefully have the complete review posted in May.

I've got a 2009 lefty similar to this on my scalpel and it is a great fork; it is stiff, light, and has got a good lockout (when it works) though the thing keeps on buggering up and it has just been sent back as it keeps on leaking. I like the fork except I dont think that they are very reliable. when I went into the bikeshop the bloke actually told me he already had three c'dales out the back without leftys on them.