Cannondale offers a suspension fork alternative to the market leaders Fox and Rockshox. Because the new Lefty Ocho comes for the first time without a double bridge construction with a conventional head tube (tapered, 1.5 to 1 1/8 inch) and can therefore be retrofitted to any mountain bike. The carbon version of the Lefty Ocho weighs just 1435 grams (manufacturer's specification) and is therefore even 72 grams lighter than the current Rockshox SID World Cup.
Although the new Lefty has lost stiffness compared to its predecessor with the double bridge, according to Cannondale it is still above the level of the main competition. BIKE will be testing this in the lab shortly. In order to minimise friction during compression under load, the Americans use needle bearings instead of a second bushing, as with all seven Lefty predecessors. An initial test on the World Cup course in Albstadt shows this: The response behaviour remains as smooth as butter, as is typical for Lefty.
Both the air and damping units have been completely revised. In addition to the mechanical handlebar lockout, you have the option of adjusting the compression stage to your personal preferences with six clicks. The aluminium version is said to weigh 1736 grams. Options with more than 100 millimetres of suspension travel will not be available in the foreseeable future.
Due to limited production capacity, all forks will initially be fitted to Cannondale bikes. From the 2019 calendar year, the fork will also be available for retrofitting to other bikes. The exact price is not yet known, but the fork will be expensive.
You can find the article on the new Cannondale F-Si hardtails here.
