Odd - but is it a good idea?

Hey there.

Out looking to buy my first mountain bike.

Been road cycling with the same bike for about 20 years - and bikes ain't
what they used to be. :-)

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but it's got this "Lefty
Jake" front fork system. Looks odd - but when I took it out for a spin -
didn't notice the design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea - good? bad?

Also - any other comments on this bike (again - good or bad) are
appreciated.

I'll be using the bike for some city commuting as well as some trail riding.

Thanks,

Sparky

--
In the end it is all ok. If it is not ok, then it is not the end.

"Sparky" wrote:

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but it's got this
"Lefty
Jake" front fork system. Looks odd - but when I took it out for a spin -
didn't notice the design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea - good? bad?

It's the system with a single shock absorber on one side of the wheel,
right? Well, the sceptic in me says the fork will develop a certain amount
of play as it wears. How much is hard to say, it's probably a heavy-duty
design after all, but I think it's unavoidable to not at least get some, and
the whole thing looks rather gimmicky to me. I suppose it's meant to be
lighter than a bike with a standard dual shock fork.

"Lenny" wrote in message
...

"Sparky" wrote:

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but it's got this
"Lefty
Jake" front fork system. Looks odd - but when I took it out for a spin -
didn't notice the design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea - good? bad?

It's the system with a single shock absorber on one side of the wheel,
right? Well, the sceptic in me says the fork will develop a certain amount
of play as it wears. How much is hard to say, it's probably a heavy-duty
design after all, but I think it's unavoidable to not at least get some,
and
the whole thing looks rather gimmicky to me. I suppose it's meant to be
lighter than a bike with a standard dual shock fork.

Lenny:
Thanks for the input - I was kinda thinking the same as you - but the guys
in the bike shop pointed out that cars have "one sided" front suspension
system (no dual sided forks on the front tires of my truck) and they pointed
out that the front folding wheels of jets have the same unilateral
system.... - it's still odd to me... :-)

Sparky

On Sun, 23 May 2004 08:30:43 +0000, Sparky wrote:

Lenny:
Thanks for the input - I was kinda thinking the same as you - but the guys
in the bike shop pointed out that cars have "one sided" front suspension
system (no dual sided forks on the front tires of my truck)

Not quite. The typical front suspension on cars has two arms that hold
the spindle.

and they pointed
out that the front folding wheels of jets have the same unilateral
system....

Again, not quite. Many planes use some sort of folding triangular
syspension, not a simple shock. They also don't use it to steer with.
And planes don't drive on the ground.... The standards for jet landing
surfaces are far more stringent than most mountain bike trails. :-)

My take on those is that I wouldn't own one. You're asking a shock to do
lots - it has to handle steering torque, shock absorbtion, flex,
off-center loads.... Just seems easier to use two arms. Any failure in
the shock is likely to be catastrophic.

--Kamus

--
o__ | May your trails be dim, lonesome, stony, narrow, winding and
,/'_ | only slightly uphill. May the wind bring rain for the slickrock
(_)\(_) | potholes fourteen miles on the other side of yonder blue ridge.
| May God's dog serenade your campfire, may the rattlesnake and
o | the screech owl amuse your reveries, may the Great Sun dazzle
[] | your eyes by day and the Great Bear watch over you at night.
/\ |
\ \ | - Edward Abbey, Beyond the Wall

In article rrYrc.567642$oR5.422622@pd7tw3no,
"Sparky" wrote:

Hey there.

Out looking to buy my first mountain bike.

Been road cycling with the same bike for about 20 years - and bikes ain't
what they used to be. :-)

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but it's got this "Lefty
Jake" front fork system. Looks odd - but when I took it out for a spin -
didn't notice the design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea - good? bad?

Also - any other comments on this bike (again - good or bad) are
appreciated.

Looks weird, but Cannondale has been making Leftys for some time, and
the feedback is almost universally positive. The fork is a winner by the
accounts I have read, though I haven't looked up reliability reports.

--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Lenny wrote:

"Sparky" wrote:

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but it's got this
"Lefty
Jake" front fork system. Looks odd - but when I took it out for a spin -
didn't notice the design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea - good? bad?

It's the system with a single shock absorber on one side of the wheel,
right? Well, the sceptic in me says the fork will develop a certain amount
of play as it wears. How much is hard to say, it's probably a heavy-duty
design after all, but I think it's unavoidable to not at least get some, and
the whole thing looks rather gimmicky to me. I suppose it's meant to be
lighter than a bike with a standard dual shock fork.


I ride a "normal" fork with 2 pistons but only in 1 is an air-spring the
other is just show. I had to replace the bearing in the fork about every
6 months.
Only more expensive forks have in both legs air- or steel-springs.
The damping is allways asymetrical. One leg damps the compression, the
other damps the expansion (optional)
Normally you would expect a symetrical design in a symetrical fork.

I would prefer rather a one legged fork where everything is in it
instead of a fork which pretends to have everything which it doesn't.

Greetings, Urs

--
+-------------------------
| Urs Weder
| N 47°23'23" E 9°39'47"
+-------------------------
( modify address for return email )

On Sun, 23 May 2004 05:50:06 -0400, Kamus of Kadizhar wrote:

Again, not quite. Many planes use some sort of folding triangular
syspension, not a simple shock.

True.

They also don't use it to steer with.

So what, planes only go in staright lines when taxi-ing into the hanger,
or taxi-ing onto the runway?

And planes don't drive on the ground....

Again, do they float or something?

My take on those is that I wouldn't own one. You're asking a shock to
do lots - it has to handle steering torque, shock absorbtion, flex,
off-center loads.... Just seems easier to use two arms. Any failure in
the shock is likely to be catastrophic.

Well the Lefty has been around for a good 4 years or so now. Lopes used
it, Gracia uses it, Anno-caro used it. Havent heard of any failures. Seems
like its holding up OK.

--
Matt

Fear of a flat planet

Sparky wrote:
Hey there.

Out looking to buy my first mountain bike.

Been road cycling with the same bike for about 20 years - and bikes
ain't what they used to be. :-)

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but it's got this
"Lefty Jake" front fork system. Looks odd - but when I took it out
for a spin - didn't notice the design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea - good? bad?

Also - any other comments on this bike (again - good or bad) are
appreciated.

I'll be using the bike for some city commuting as well as some trail
riding.

Thanks,

Sparky

--
In the end it is all ok. If it is not ok, then it is not the end.

I never like proprietary nature of the C'dales. I just like to be
able to buy stock parts for a bike anywhere.

--
- Zilla
Cary, NC
(Remove XSPAM)

On 2004-05-23, Sparky penned:
Hey there.

Out looking to buy my first mountain bike.

Been road cycling with the same bike for about 20 years - and bikes
ain't what they used to be. :-)

Anyway - looking at picking up a Cannondale F800 - but it's got this
"Lefty Jake" front fork system. Looks odd - but when I took it out for
a spin - didn't notice the design difference.

What do you people think about this fork idea - good? bad?

I went to a mtb clinic taught by a pro racer who's sponsored by
Cannondale. She rides a Scalpel, which also has a lefty fork.

I asked her what she thought about it, and she said she had no problems
with it. I also asked her wrench/husband about it, and he said he likes
it -- fewer parts to fail.

Now, they're on the C'dale dole, so would they say anything even if they
didn't like it? Probably not. Still, they seemed like pretty
straightforward people.

--
monique

On 2004-05-23, Zilla penned:

I never like proprietary nature of the C'dales. I just like to be able
to buy stock parts for a bike anywhere.

I'd never heard this before. Other than the lefty, which seems to be a
unique cannondale thing, what does c'dale do that's different from other
manufacturers? Do they purposely use different sizings and such?

--
monique