Why The One-Legged 'Lefty' Bicycle Fork is So Strong!
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- Опубликовано: 5 сен 2024
- The Lefty is a one legged, upside down suspension "fork" made by Cannondale. Through its 8 iterations, the Lefty has sported up to 160mm of travel, but in recent years has remained for XC only. The Lefty "Ocho" featured in the video has 110mm of travel and is designed specifically for cross country.
Some people won't even call the Lefty a "fork" since it looks more like a strut. But the Lefty competes toe to toe with other high end XC forks on the trail due to its stiffness and smooth operation.
Despite its cost, difficulty of service, and proprietary parts, the Lefty is cool and unique enough to still exist. I would consider building a custom XC bike just to rock one.
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I've had a few Lefty forks over the years and my usual reply when people mention that it only has 1 side is that "I couldn't afford the other side" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
That checks out with the price 💸
and then it costs more than most normal forks with both legs...nice comeback though
Good one!😂
I always tell people I’m missing the slow half.
@@SimonBauer7
Why do you think he couldn't afford the other half?
I once ran into three guys on the trail all with lefties. I asked if they all got them on sale or something and as they pedaled away, one of them replied “yeah, half-off”
💀
It’s a good joke but it simply isn’t true lol
Do 3 lefties make a righty?
He was waiting like 250 miles to make that joke
man I'm dead 💀
It's a shame the inventor of this wasn't referenced in this video, Mike Burrows was a legend who passed away earlier this year in the middle of a cancer fight and never got the recognition he deserved, a truly missed friend. RIP
RIP Mr. Burrows.
Did he invent the Lefty?
@@cv643d he invented the mono blade and many other things that are common on bikes nowadays
I love the posters looks of perplexing disbelief like a caveman looking at a cellphone: “what thing do? How thing work?” I ride but it no fall apart I no fall off” so weird!”
Supprised he didn't die riding a Lefty, the designers of the Lefty did not have engineering degrees.
I was a Cannondale mechanic for the bike shop. That lefty was and still is one of the best engineered forks to be made.
It definitely looks like it's taken a shit load of work and effort into its design to make that actually work but not only work it works well enough to keep it on the market for so long.
I’ve had mine about 15 years. I treat it like garbage and it just keeps on going.
@@poa2.0surface77 With that logic, why not have 4 forks, for extra strength, I've seen 2 fork designs fail and injure the rider, therefore it's unsafe right?
The answer is the balance of weight vs strength, if the component is overbuilt, yea sure it's going to be way safer, but if every part is overbuilt, it would be too heavy to safely ride, in fact maybe even more dangerous as a heavy bike could crush you underneath it
The line between being too light, and fragile, and being too heavy but strong is a fine balance, and it would seen that the makers and designers have that very well sorted as the Lefty is well known to be dependable and very strong.
Each to their own is really the short way of saying it.
Butter knife might be a better word
@@poa2.0surface77 they aren't made for serious downhill mountain biking. That's like saying road bikes are crap because they'd probably break going over big jumps 🤦♀️
Great video. I was fortunate enough to be part of the engineering team back at the peak of cannondale's innovative years. The group of engineers working at the time were some of the most dedicated cycling fanatics with a long leash to come up with boundary pushing designs. The amount of engineering brain power behind the lefty was staggering and over 20 years later it remains one of the most memorable parts of my life. It makes me happy to see it still thriving and bringing riding joy to others. You all can ride it confidently knowing it came to life by a group of people who enjoyed riding it as much as they did building it, and by a group of people who would all share a beer after a hard ride while discussing what could be done even better. Ride on and enjoy it.
Whew,that's an amazing tale you got to tell your grandkids! 😄
That’s why there are so many Cannondale buried from embarrassment
I’m sorry you are embarrassed Pillipe! Schmuck!
bring back the Supermax
I love mine and won’t swap it for anything
I would be so interested in a video of weird things on bicycles that have disappeared because they were too weird. 😄
A good number of them have been cannondale products lol
My vote is for the Softride stem that the Ritchey team rode (and won tons of races on) for so much of the early 90’s. NOT to be confused with the Girvin Flexstem, which lacked the parallelogram design (meaning the handlebars would change angle as it went through its travel, unlike the much better Softride).
There arent many
Cough cough, Trust Fork, cough cough
@@mtnmyke Not so fast. You do know the big S bought the IP, right?
Love it.
I'd have one if they were even remotely cost effective. The only Cannondale product I've ever been able to afford was a track pump. Incidentally, it is also excellent and also only has one leg.
Is the lefty actually lighter than a normal fork, or why do people get it?
He didn't mention that right?
@@Jokl92
Pretty much same weight. That one side is severely overbuilt.
They made it affordable by closing the US factory and moving manufacturing to oversee. :-))
@@EchoMeToo
Their government's fault for eschewing industrial production in favor of rentism. The Asians weren't gonna work for nickels forever.
@@DinnerForkTongue technically it’s not overbuilt it is built just strong enough. Overbuilt implied that they could tone it down and it would still be strong enough, which is not the case
Lefty forks are really common compared to the Righty. Don’t see many of them out there.
Why they're more common than the righty?
@@onorevolenullazzo4210 lmao
@@KizzleCozzle compa
they’re the only ones left
@@jan_Masewin...
My first non entry level mtb was a carbon f29 lefty. i now ride a full suspension trail bike but use the lefty as gravel/city bike but I still love it and will never part with it. It's way too smooth and I'm still impressed every ride.
@onei jike you should ask for a 1 pedal option to lose some weight on the bike aswell :)
You smart caveman Senne smart and clever: one pedal huh huh!
@@downallyourstreets it was a guy who lost his leg i think, so i responded that he also needs 1 pedal
I used to make the aluminum tubes for the head shock and helped develop the sizing for the needle bearing grooves
Wow, interesting! How long did take to develop the Lefty Ocho? What was the most difficult part of the project?
alu min ium
The grooves that the bearings always fell out of?
I had the original Super V 1000. Blew literally 5 Headshocks and finally ditched the thing for one of the first Foes LTS frames and threw a Judy SL on it. Gold and wiggly, but at least it didn't blow.
@@Chuckolicious wasn’t the Judy sl just an elastomer and spring?
Decades ago, I’ve read an article about the lefty in an mtb magazine (i think mountain bike action?), their argument was “it cant be a gimmick if it works well”
A good gimmick is just a USP
Sounds fair enough!
it works until it doesn't... this product still doesn't make any sense with the pricing and it doesn't seems to be strong enough. I understand why posers get it tho "looks weird and quirky"
Posers like Jeremiah Bishop that could outrace you in his sleep on a lefty, and don’t ride it for looks either. The Lefty is an ugly fork, not even a real fork, more of a strut really, but its performance benefits blow other forks off the trail with less unsparing weight as well! They are the apple phones of front suspension weird now will take over the future as the morons age out!
I worked for a cannondale shop in the 90’s. The lefty was created because even though headshox were superior to normal suspension they were insanely heavy.
So the lefty was born a normal weight headshox.
They are insanely smooth and require little to no maintenance
It’s the best designed front suspension ever.
just get a unicycle
Mine broke twice and I didn't abuse it. It is a piece of junk as far as I'm concerned
@@robertm.6583 working in a bike shop it was always amazing the amount of peoples front wheels that just “Fall off”.
@@RyanMinney or "i didnt even crash it or anything" meanwhile the frame and wheels are bent
@@maxdewaele9660 “I was just riding down the street…”
Lefty remain my « dream fork » but I’m not a surgeon and I never cross the line to start with Cannondale for all the reason you mentionned.
And to be really honest, Lefty remain amazing but I was never amazed by the Cannondale frames attached to it.
Good review !
I was a bike tech at a cannondale shop a decade or so ago, and saved up about 6 months to order my first "nice" mountain bike. It had to be Cannondale since that's where I worked, and it was an aluminum hardtail with a lefty. So the other way to get one without being rich is to work in a bike shop.
nah man fox factory 40. I will never buy it because it's absurd, but still awsome
I had a friend who had one of those weird mono shocks that were just below the steerer tube. It was also the first bike I saw that had 9 speeds in the rear instead of what I was used to (6).
Blew my mind in the 90s.
Your friends parents must have been minted
talking bout the "fatty" :)
Cannondale had a contest for a "HeadShok" dude in the 90's I thought I looked like the logo they had back then so was going to submit a few photos to the contest but never did. Then it went away. :\
I have drooled over these ever since they came out when I was a kid. Never got around to getting one but seeing one out in the wild is still a nostalgia trigger 👍
Same here. I remember drooling over this fork in Mountain Bike Action magazine when the lefty first came out.
As a mechanic ive seen a few of these pass through my workstand, qlways freaks colleagues out when they see it.
FYI The previous leftys you didnt have to completely unbolt the caliper but it wasnt tool free, it looked like an IS mount but with lawyer lips, so youd unwind the bolts 3 or 4 turns and slide the caliper and mount out the back. this allowed you to remove the mount without realigning the caliper much like the modern solution but with less one of a kind, breakable mechanisms 😉
There was a cam system actuated by 5mm between the keyhole version and the current version. I prefer the one that took a tool, honestly.
I've always been fascinated with these! They look great, just like motorcycle single swing arms!
The Lefty is awesome (so was the HeadShok) and I'm going to go out on a limb and say the fork is iconic at this point. It's one of those components that says "screw you I don't care how much you cost, give me the performance".
People sleep on the Headshok, good stuff
I had one ride last year where I saw two bikes with Leftys. Felt like a blessed day.
I've got one from 2014. It's an excellent bike. I was apprehensive at first. Then I noticed many airplanes have this configuration on the single front wheel. My thinking then was the engineering was sound & it's not weaker than a duel post.
I don't have a lefty but that was my thinking at first--as I'm sure it has been for many. Good point about airplanes. Anyway, I'm sure the engineering is sound, if because any such problems would have been public long ago.
Don't forget you can find this stuff in every car. Actually 4x of the stuff.
@@redwood_shores Jokes on you, my car doesn't have wheels.
I lost my left leg, so this seems like the perfect fork for me!
I love your reply XD if we were friends I'd buy you a GPS tracker so you couldn't misplace your other one hehe
Yeah @AquaMortem, you should really not be leaving those just anywhere
Joke from hell
@@laurentp89 idk seems like a common occurrence
I dno, think it'll make you walk funny, unless your right leg is like really short or something
I don't do pedal bikes anymore because the knees are gone, I'm just a old retired Enduro racer who rides street motorcycles. I still wrench on bicycles for friends and family. I'm always learning something from your channel, Thanks for the content.
Ever thought about an ebike?
@@WorldwideDarts no, I need a 500 mile range minimum for my type of riding.
@@mattman3495 but you can't do 500 miles though
would you rather 0 miles range or 100 miles range? lol
@@getstrongby4038 I do 300 to 500 mile day trips a couple times a week.
I got a 2004 Cannondale Jekyll with a lefty. Had to ship it across the country to get it rebuilt because hardly anyone will work on it. But it was so worth it. Such a cool shock
If people only knew commercial airplane wheel carriages are one sided and Ducatis (and other brands) have single sided swingarms. Far more torque and impact in those applications. I absolutely love the way Lefties look and feel. I worked at one of the biggest Cannondale dealers in the US as a mechanic.
Love my Lefty, I also do my own servicing and have heard my share of “Do you know your missing one side” Mine being a SuperMax is also made of carbon fiber so it’s lighter and stiffer than most forks on the market.
How do we buy the carbon version? Looking for one for my MTB
My Cannondale has the Lefty Ocho. I literally LOVE it. For all the reasons mentioned here. Light, Responsive, and Stiff. It rides like a butter dream. I actually find it hard to ride "normal" forks now because of the flex they have. The 2 sides flex and cause stiction.
I have the original lefty on my prophet and I love it. I will never sell that bike. I even spent a grand recently updating it to “modern standard” and even found someone capable of re-sealing the lefty after cannondale told me they couldn’t do it. This bike is going to be worth billionssssss one day!!!
I’ve used them in demo days and they feel amazing, the weight gains are pretty insane too, if I was more into xc and it was cheaper I’d consider getting one
It rides pretty nice. I raced a few days of a 4 day XC race a few weeks ago on a Scalpel Si. I was pleasantly surprised how stiff the dual crown version of the fork was, and how capable it was while descending. I don’t know that I would own one. I’m a mechanic who does almost all of my maintenance myself and I know better than to buy something that requires above average maintenance and proprietary parts. It did exceed my expectations though. It was a much better fork than I expected.
I picked up a 2006 Cannondale Rush with a lefty fork. I'm not a small person but the fork and the rear suspension work great! It also has the integrated shifter/brake levers, which took some getting use to.
One thing I notice when I owned a Lefty bike was the mid corner sensitive. Where a normal fork would bind up with side load the lefty kept absorbing. My line for when people said it was missing the other side or thats not safe was to say “Have you ever seen a car with a dual sided fork for suspension?”
Cars have way more visible arms and things to accomplish it though. Not calling the lefty unsafe or anything, its just that you can look at a double wishbone setup and see all the components and it looks intuitively solid. The lefty doesn't intuitively look like it's as strong as it is.
Since these became single crown, I’ve always wanted to see someone set one up to barspin… Seth seems like just the man to do it!
Thanks for commenting you have been selected among my bicycle winners🎁
My wife and I had Vespa GTS scooters and the first thing I noticed when deciding what brand to buy, was the front suspension system (which is similar) until I talked to many folks who had them and the Vespa history as to how they came about. We've never had one issue with our Vespa's.
Plenty of classic scooter racers swap them out for double-sided Lambretta forks.
Cuz they are wimps and lose most of their races. Why do people spend more money to lose?
I miss my lefty! Still have an old Cannondale with a Headshok though.
I had a lefty and LOVED it! I was very hesitant but after research I ended up buying it and rode it enought to go through two rebuilds on it. Three or so years and a more than a few thousand miles.
I have 6 Lefty ocho/oliver in the family! been a fan for 22+ years!!! fixation was instant and forever! it is by far the best suspension solution EVER!!!
Really adds something to the channel that its now possible to review different kinds of bike brands👍👍
physically genius, especially the older dual crowns. miss it in my modern bikes.
Love the videos Seth. You’re by far my favorite MTB channel on here love the content. Just got my hands on a jersey for my birthday and can’t wait to get out wearing it.
I have two bicycles with Lefty forks: one is mounted on a Jamis Komodo frame. It is one of the oldest Lefty models, maybe the second. It was serviced about four years ago and the technician (not Canondale) told me it had never been serviced before! And it was alright for me. The second Lefty is mounted on a late 1990s monostay frame. I believe that when this frame was manufactured, there were no Lefty suspension forks on the market yet. Although this frame was originaly made for 26" wheels, it easily acceptes 27.5" ones. This Lefty fork was propably manufactured in 2010 or so. It has never been serviced as far as I know. I am a huge fan of Lefty forks. These two I have are still the best ones I've ever used.
I raced on several versions of the lefty. The advantages in stiffness and low static friction were most apparent in the forks that had the rubber baffle. The big issues with that fork were service life (required a lot of bearing resets) and quality control (about half of them were crap). But it really was smoother and the stiffness was amazing, especially taking hits through corners where it just didn’t twist.
Cannondale then added a lower brushing and seals and with that came no need to keep the rubber baffle but increased static friction. In that time, modern dual leg forks have also increased their performance hugely and I don’t think the lefty is worth the hassle as there is no longer a big performance difference.
With the seal I hope it needs less maintenance.
When you think about it, all cars have their wheels mounted from just one side without popping off, and many motorcycles do the same with the rear wheel. People just aren't accustomed to the idea on bicycles.
There is a video explaining how a lefty stays active when a torsion force is added to the mix. I think that is what makes the ride quality difference and not just the initial stick.
Do you have a link? I'm curious. It does seem key, I'd think that once torsion enters the equation the fork wouldn't slide smoothly.
@@RPD_ps There is a reason it is a lefty and not a righty.
There is no initial stick benefit… the lefty still has fork seals. He is just an idiot
Yup a solution to a problem that no body cares about :) except those geeks that got caught on that marketing bait :)
i kinda want to see what would happen if they re-released the downhill version of the lefty that had both legs
I want to see a downhill or enduro version of the XC lefty. Just beefed up and scaled up. It could only be limited by the reduced space for the spring and damper.
@infomercial enjoyer :D
I remember I was a kid when this came out. Around 6th grade. At that time I lived in the bike shop down the street from my house, loved BMX. Was the wildest thing back then seeing new bikes in the shop with this fork.
My dad has a Cannondale Prophet, which as far as I know is basically a full suspension lefty, and he still rides it. Very interesting bike, cool to learn more about it!
I'm now working at the 3rd Cannondale dealer I've been with, and I've had this conversation a few times:
It's just like a McFerson-strut. If you take an old car with strut suspension, and take the wheel off, it even looks the same. The biggest difference you can see in that case is that a car usually has a coil spring on the outside, while a lefty has an air spring on the inside.
Ah yea because everyone knows what a mcferson strut is and how they work 🤣
Old car? new cars still come with struts pal old cars came with torsion bar coil and shock coil suspension
Aaaannnd...
MacPherson struts will spin when not supported by the rest of the suspension... So just round tubes inside round tubes...
@@leonardhpls6 pretty much everyone who has bought a car since 1970 should know what they are, or have at least heard of them, as it's been a setting point on every vehicle so equipped since then.
@@autobotavengerfireballxl5339 newer cars have the axle run through the steering knuckle, so it looks different. On older RWD cars, the axle spindle was part of the strut, so it actually looked just like a lefty when you took the brake off.
Old is relative, but independent suspension cars have been using struts since the 60s (see Porsche 911, VW Beetle 1978-1980s, VW Super Beetle 1973-when it was discontinued and the Beetle inherited all its features, all unibody Toyotas, etc.).
Canondale have a knack to develop just the coolest things. I remember when we were kids, even though none of us at that point were actual mountain bikers, we all wanted a canondale with a headshock. Just because it looked cool (speak, unusual). Someone, I think, had a red one with the shock cover in yellow, and I remember us all thinking it was such a mean machine.
The lefty no doubt does the same. Sure, it's actually good, but more than that, it is just recognisable.
The only Cannondale product I had was a Velcro water bottle holder. It was awesome.
A key advantage is that there's no stiction when loaded from the side. A telescoping fork is smooth enough in a parking lot test, but it binds with off-axis loading. The Lefty is just as smooth in the middle of a turn as it is on level ground.
Oh yeah that's why all main motorcycle manufacturers use lefty forks on their bikes. It's all clear now.
Not an advantage but 23 year old marketing flop.
I am a technician. I do not like overcomplicated designs that offer only minimal gains... and usually overcomplicated designs are extremely expensive, too. Another point I do not like is asimmetry leading to bending moments, that will need heavier parts to withstand.
I rode a lefty for 5 years racing XC starting in NICA and now in UCI. I also ride it in Pisgah often and it did very well. It actually performs amazingly, but I feel that its lifespan was really short. I typically had to take it to get serviced by Cannondale, so I ended up owning 2 forks and swapping them out. It performs great, but nobody can service it in just a day, it has to be sent off :/
Man I love a lefty! I've never had the chance to try one, but the engineering and ingenuity behind it is brilliant.. I'm always happy to see one, but I agree with the main issue: the price probably makes it unaffordable to the most.. but, ehy, it works for Cannondale so it works for me! Still love its unique and quirk look !!
I got my 2014 half way through 2015 for $1,400, including the warranty.
Thanks for commenting you have been selected among my bicycle winners🎁
The needle bearings on the Lefty do not replace the seal (otherwise they would be full of crap after a ride), but one of the bushings. Both this and the advantages of a USD system could be integrated into a two-legged fork.
As an actual Anaesthetist I can guarantee that we are all huge geeks, and have an absolute compulsion to know how things work and how to take them apart! Nevertheless... I'll stick with my lyrik 😂
I find it funny he's wealth shaming people.... while standing in front of his $1.1M house! LOL
@@jfaust97 he;s more lifestyle-shaming than wealth shaming. Not everyone who gets rich responds the same way.
Can confirm this, almost like therapy to service the bikes. But I don't do "plastic surgery on knees", lol, so I can't buy into the Lefty crowd. They roll great, but can't stand the idea of calliper dismounting and special hubs. I'll stick to Fox.
Fellow anaesthetist and owner of two Lefty equipped bikes. I'm am one of those people that think Cannondale are a massive bunch of dicks for not making service manuals and tools available, cause I would like to service my own.
I thought it was anesthesiologist....
I've got a 2005 cannondale scalpel si that rides like it's brand new. I love the thing even though I hardly use it. Special every time I do
A year ago I commented on this. Yesterday was New Bike Day! Cannondale Scalpel with a Lefty!!! It is fast and light!
i have a 2016 cannondale jekyll with a carbon lefty and 160mm of travel an it is the absolut best fork i have ever tried and i also find it sad that only very few companies still do such cool and wild stuff like cannondale with their suspension. it is also sad that the new jekyll has lost all its character is basically just a downhill bike compared to the old ones which were winning ews bikes
you still didnt break it? not even a little bend? do you ride or do you pose?
@@fragtall No, why should i pose with a almost 7 year old bike? But i have taken it down my local ixs downhill track as well as a few alpine bike parks and i do regular enduro rides. I also do not think that bending is much of an option for a carbon fork... but i need to say that i have the old version of the lefty with the double crown.
I want to see someone put a lefty on there yeti. dentist fork on a dentist? Sounds perfect!
Dent-ception.
How about a Lefty Epocalypse for a hipster dentist
i think the reason they've stayed around for so long is because they are a Cannondale product so they keep developing it and speccing it on their bikes. If Lefty was a standalone product from another company i'm not sure if it would've stayed around as long as it has
I didn't know you can buy it for other bicycles. A lefty always has the Cannondale name atached for me
@J P yeah my buddy built a custom Norco and the only way he could get a lefty was getting a complete ex cop Cannondale bike from auction
My dad bought one around 2006 and still works great to this day. It really is a great fork!
I have a Scalpel with a carbon super Lefty 130. That bike will pretty much out handle any other XC bike and descends scary fast. Not for everyone, but perfect for some 😅
I am deeply offended by Canonndale's side-ism and not also making a Righty!
I always love seeing lefty's, because they look futuristic. I don't know why, and putting them on your tailgate is mind-blowing! I never knew that, and it makes me want one! I hope the mountain biking community buys more to make it a norm after watching this video. Thanks Seth! 🤘🏾
Thanks for commenting you have been selected among my bicycle winners🎁🎁
The late great Mike Burrows who designed Chris Boardman's Olympic gold winning Lotus 108 bike was a big fan of side mounted wheels.
Mainly because of weight savings reasons I believe.
Anybody who hasn't ridden one of his machines I'd highly recommend it.
He just did things differently.
I've had 2 of his Windcheetah trikes and they were great. Super fast and at the moment I have one of his Ratracer SL recumbents. It's a front wheel drive hub geared recumbent so it's not for everyone but I love it. It's so much fun! The Ratracer's rear wheel is side mounted. Which makes it super light because the whole frame is just one metal tube.
cannondale dealer in my place even advised me not to service the ocho unless there is major issue with it. but after a year i still love it. its super stiff. and the stare and comments you got from others are priceless. 😁
I'm happy to see you finally giving Cannondale some love.
I love my 20 year old lefty, although I would love to see how you can modernize it.
So far, I'm most impressed with the easy tailgate mounting.
I'm glad to ride three different Hooli's, the awesome Slate&also the legendary ON-Bike. The Lefty is a timeless stunner...nuff respect!
Genuinely intrigued...I'll come back to this video thank you. 🙇♂️
I have a lefty! It's also my first mountain bike from this century so it's... my bike. and has ceased to be weird to me.
Are you a doctor? / I just want to confirm the stereotype.
@@JP-xd6fm no. I work in manufacturing.
I own two Cannondale bikes with Lefty forks (Flash MTB and Bad Boy Trekking/City) and I kinda like the looks and comments I get :D And as you said, the suspension is so damn good.
Also servicing isn't that bad. You just need the right tools (which Cannondale won't give out to consumers tho...).
honestly I've always been curious about this but glad that you covered it as it was super informative and entertaining! You're always delivering a great video!
I bought a bike with a 2005 lefty max and it's still going strong. The die-hard old school lefty guys don't like the ocho because it's too different; they wanted to keep the boot. The lefty kept the same design for so long you could keep upgrading a 10 year old fork, and lots of people did.
I finally saw one of these at the shop I work at. It was just sitting out there with its dual crowns.
Hilarious, this is all common knowledge to me. I used to fully rebuild Leftys' and HeadShocks all the time in the early 2000s.
And used to jump down huge stair sets on my XC bike with a Lefty. Lol
Good times.
Upside down forks are the standard on performance-oriented motorcycles. I was wondering if that would ever be a thing in bicycles. Pretty cool!
Do you know the DNM USD-8 fork? I have it on my enduro ebike (no jumps)
The Lefty is easily the awesomest piece of bike tech. And second is the headshok. I haven't had a mtb for many years and honestly the only kind I really wish I had was a C-dale with lefty. Maybe a retro C-dale with a good condition headshok. I recently tried out one with a grinding headshok and yes... it was a letdown.
C-dale?
saw one of em after having watched this video and as soon as i saw it i got a wee bit exited (where i live the most expensive bikes i ever saw were around 1k) and i might have screamed at the top of my lungs "LOOK A LEFTY!!!". Needless to say the owner heard me and started staring me down
I think that price vs usability range make it a niche product (exactly how u said), and that don't make it spread into the market. I would love to see one Lefty prepared for bikepacking someday.
I love how you describe the potential buyers of the fork!
I’ll be really impressed when they make a single-sided rear triangle.
Especially if one doesn't have to need a master link anymore to separate wheel from frame. That would definitely save some time wrenching...but how much more would it make the other side heavier? But counteracting drivetrain... maybe a non issue. But it would be an interesting thing to see... if I was a machinist with the tools and knowhow.... I would try it! Haha!
Many motorcycles have that.
@@niclaskarlin many? I only know of the Honda.
@@niclaskarlin vfr.
@@niclaskarlinI'll have to do some more research! Haha!
It cannot snap in half when it is already one half
Snapped it in quarter!
@@brianwright9514 hahaha yup!
My Cannodale Trigger Carbon Pro is the best "over mountain" as Cannodale call it, bike I've ever used. The duel chamber Fox Dyad RT2 rear shock is pretty sweet too. Being able to remotely switch fron 90mm travel to 140mm is a nice feature.
I was fortunate enough to find a pull-off from a Bad Boy years ago for a badass road bike project. That particular fork was rigid and just tall enough for a 700x25. Had to have the front wheel laced for the lefty hub, but the local bike shop had a guy. Turned a LOT of heads.
Not even a fork anymore its a skewer
Great video, Seth! I think you should get a Team Marin which is sort of an XC Trail bike and build it out with some nice components and see how light you can get it. And I see that Hardtail Party sticker! Heh
There's a party in the mountains...
...and you're all invited!
I wanted a lefty so bad when i was a kid
I remember the older guy down the road as I was a kid had one and it was the coolest thing in like 02 or 03 and still to this day its so special.
That gave me a good answer to all my questions about how it not was braking or was flimsy in the turn.
Single sided swing arms have been used on motorcycles for decades. Cool to see on bicycles now.
Not so much about the "Lefty" but I've always wondered why MTB forks aren't inverted. I grew up riding dirt bikes. Inverted forks were the norm since the 80's. I know there are few "off brands" that make inverted forks. They're insanely rigid. I just feel like there is a market for it.
I wonder if it's a cost to manufacture or a style thing, mountain bike products very much follow trends. I've wondered the same thing myself, manitou has made a DH for that's inverted for a while and DVO makes one too but haven't seen many inverted forks that aren't 100mm or less xc forks from small manufacturers or DH forks. It seems like it would be similar stiffness benefits to having the stanchions at the bottom, so idk why there hasn't been any in the 120=180mm travel range.
It's been done but the stanchions are more prone to damage and even small nicks can render a stanchion ruined.
Just look at any MTB with significant miles on them in rough rocky terrain it's hard to find any without the odd little scrape or scuff on the lowers... the same damage on the slider would likely mean you'll need to replace it.
Yes you can put guards on them like here but it's still more in the firing line so for most people it's a higher risk of very expensive damage IMO.
So it's all about money as usual and it's probably too much cost for most for the advantages they provide plus most people want a bike to do more varied styles and Lefties have a pure XC reputation so it's a smaller market?
@@RocketMagnetUK Ehhh....I've been riding trail dirt bikes for years and never has an issue. Literally thousands of people hav been as well./
@@riccochet704 It depends on the terrain you ride in, the lowers on all by bikes show a fair few minor scuffs and scrapes. So yeah agreed if for instance your just riding well groomed trail centre stuff then you'll probably be fine especially for XC but terrain where your lowers can potentially take hits it's a bit more of a risk.
I'd say the evidence for this is most if not all MTB forks outsode of XC are not inverted and looking at my forks on all my bikes I'd never buy an inverted for Enduro/Natural MTB... a manufacturer doesn't know the intended main use so they spec for the worst case hence it's only the XC Cannondale bikes that get the inverted all their other disciplines get "normal" fork looking at their website just now?
I love how he didn't mention the fact in almost all metrics it's inferior to a dual strut of the same caliber due to the difference in stresses. This thing is purely is novelty.
Non symmetric stresses are a bitch, and singular axis with multiple pivot points is nuts.
Thanks for commenting you have been selected among my bicycle winners🎁🎁
Non symmetric stresses you say?
I wonder what exactly the relevance is, of ‘non symmetric stresses’🤔 especially with regards to performance?
Lefty's been around for more than 23 years. In 1998 lefty suspension forks were already out there and I had one with ELO system (eletronic lockout). 9v battery needed to make the ELO works.
I’ve really enjoyed my 2016 on the trails. The lefty is just one component on a great bike!
When I first started mountain biking around 15 on my good ol specialized pitch, I had more trust in my sr suntour fork than these lefty’s when I saw them out on the trail. I always thought that they would never hold up to a drop or a jump. I still would never ride one because that idea is ingrained into my brain, but damn, I guess there really is a reason to buying one besides being the one guy on the trail who’s different.
It's just like the McFerson-strut in a car. On older cars, it even looks the same because when cars were all rwd, the front axle spindle was part of the strut, and it looked just like the lefty's bottom.
The landing gear on commercial airplanes also only have one leg, and seem to handle the repeated stress of a huge plane slamming into the airstrip… if that’s not the biggest example of a “huck to flat”, I don’t know what is… ;)
@@kellykim399 gear struts usually have one wheel on each side tho, so the forces are more balanced and not as obviously asymmetric.
I don't think anyone would think a lefty would break if it had one wheel on each side and the bike attached directly over the lefty's shock.
@@AlexandarHullRichter point taken. However, if there were incidents of Lefty forks breaking, we probably would have heard of it by now. The internet is an unforgiving place, and people love to post pics of their busted gear online.
Massively overpriced components tend to not catch on that easily.
But if it's really overpriced, competitors tend to come along and offer a cheaper version.
@@kalleguld
Not when the company owns the patent and is RABID defensive about it.
They are smooth under side load because of the needle bearings, they are also stiffer in side load, they don't flex. Push button lock out on the fly. Best fork out there.
The lefty is no different than a front wheel on a rear wheel drive car/truck, like a lot of airplane wheels. What car has a support on both sides?
The fork also functions like a Coil Over, Shock and spring on one leg, more precise.
Been running a headshok for 20 years. Stiff as ever. Smooth as butter. Once it fails though it’ll be time for me to get a new bike though lmao.
Haha this title would be weird and hilarious if it were political.