Cannondale downhill Bikes

A truly revolutionary innovation.

Innovation isn’t usually a good thing. Occasionally inventors and engineers are simply too far before their particular time. In other cases, developers just over believe the problem and eventually generate a tool that at the best does exactly the same thing as an equivalent product already available on the market. For a lot of consumers Cannondale’s Lefty suspension seems to satisfy these two fatal flaws of “innovation”. Certainly it's design seems to defy our objectives in what is needed to handle multitude of forces placed on the bicycle during the trail. Folks frequently ask the reason why something brilliant featuresn’t already been copied. Although we don’t really know the answer to this concern, it might be patents or the fact that nobody desires to promote the Lefty design by copying it. Our staff at Contender Bicycles has actually tens and thousands of hours combined riding, rushing and maintaining mountain bikes and while we don’t all drive a Lefty, the consensus is the fact that Cannondale certainly does offer some special advantages with the Lefty design.

Initial & most apparent advantage is a less heavy front side end. By detatching the 2nd stanchion Cannondale managed to drop a few hundred grams compared to competitors’ options. Saving fat to hold less up the slope is little to no advantage in the event that other qualities needed regarding the suspension are compromised. Counterintuitively this single stanchion is laterally and torsionally stiffer than virtually all of Cannondale’s competitors. Cannondale achieves this tightness, despite their lightest body weight XC lefty, through two main design features: employing a double-crown, usually seen in the high-travel freeride and downhill suspensions of other businesses, and a “square-in-square” design. Another advantage for the stiff solitary stanchion design of Cannondale Lefty is the elimination of suspension lockup skilled on other suspensions beneath the high horizontal forces of difficult braking and cornering permitting the driver to even more confidently maneuver through any path using Lefty tracking effortlessly every where it goes.

While the present Lefty features obvious benefits regarding the trail, previous version were at risk of solution problems. The needle bearings useful to facilitate the square-in-square design, and give near frictionless vacation on a regular basis necessary service become repacked. And also the square-in-square was hard to correctly secure, causing dirt and grim getting into the machine and causing harm. Luckily in 2013, Cannondale released the greatest Lefty enhance since its introduction in 2000. By redecorating the needle bearing system Cannondale eliminated the necessity for expert maintenance to repack the needles, simple bottoming from vacation is all that is required. 2nd, by refining their design these people were able to utilize a round reduced stanchion knee and a wiper seal to keep dust out and oil in, enhancing the service life and helping eradicate trips to see a mechanic. The Lefty fork’s advised service interval is double compared to the closest competition.

By utilizing their particular Lefty suspension system with a broader system-integration way of cycle design, Cannondale is capable offer up some of the lightest, hard-driving hill bikes in the industry due to their F-Si, Scalpel, Jekyll and Trigger design lineup. For everyone planning to experience the great things about a Lefty but choose the geometry or drive top-notch yet another framework, Cannondale’s Lefty for several kit allows most structures become retrofitted (a thing that we have done several times at our shop).