Advice for converting Cdale fork headshok to Lefty

[Fern]

Hey all,

I have a 98 Cannondale volvo racing team mountain bike. I like the bike overally and was looking to upgrade some of the parts..including the headshok. Was wondering what I would need to buy in order to do this. I know i'd need the headshock itself and new wheel rims to support a disk brake system...but is there anything else involved? Also was wondering if anyone has done this before and has some advice. Is this even practical to do? Or worth it? Thanks

 

[rek]

The Headshocks and Leftys use the same headset and stem type, so you're fine there.

You'll obviously need a new front wheel, with a Lefty-specific hub.

And yes, Leftys are disc-specific, so if you don't already run discs, you'll need to, at least at the front. If you're coming from V-brakes, you can simply buy a mechanical disc caliper and rotor for the front wheel, and use your existing V-brake lever.

There are a number of Lefty variants about, some of them are longer travel which will play havoc with an XC race type frame geometry, and over-stress the frame. There's a tech document about this here:

http://www.cannondale.com/Asset/iu_files/tech_center/117706_Maximum_Fork_Length_EN.pdf

With all that in mind, it's all straightforward. Remove fork A from frame, install fork B. Done. The 'tech' section of Cannondale's web site has manuals and tech notes about things that may be useful.

I did a similar thing with a 2001 Cannondale hardtail I had (moved from 80mm Super Fatty to a 100mm Lefty ELO). I found the Lefty much plusher and in general a lot nicer than the Fatty. Enjoy!

The only limit to it being "worth it" is how much you pay for the Lefty. The Cannondale hardtail frames are excellent, despite later moving onto a Scalpel I really, really shouldn't have sold mine...