Lefty Speed Carbon Sl 2009/2008
- Thread starter Mitch
- Start date
I'm sure there are still good dealers that are willing to share information. If you don't have any luck with dealers in Ireland, contact Mendoncyclesmith.
MendonCycleSmith
Member
Well.....
I'll just defend myself and say I don't sell parts or offer complete tutorials, for a number of reasons.
I've been on the Cannondale fork service end for a long long time. DIYer screw ups are a major source of revenue for me, so you'd think I'd encourage it, but surprisingly, I don't. First, they destroyed a fork that was pristine, and able to go many years to come, simply by thinking "If I can service a Fox, I can service a Lefty". Nothing against a bit of self reliance, but there is a limit to what can and should be done with improper tools and limited skill set, ask any plumber, electrician, or home remodeler, I'll bet they agree 100%. Brake work, drive train replacement, parts swapping, that's all great consumer friendly DIY stuff. There's a few things that are best left to pros, and suspension is one of them.
Second, I'm one man, in a tiny shop, trying to eke out a living in a world filled with big corporate brands, trying to run small shops off the planet. Why would I give up my livelihood, to make a $3 in parts profit, when I can have a positive interaction with another human, somewhere in the world, service their fork, give them feedback on how to keep it in top running shape, and help them keep an old, great design, working like a champ?
Third, I want your fork, to work as well as humanly possible for you, for as long as it can. The industry is now filled with products that are designed to fail within a year or two of purchase, even with proper care and feeding (I'm looking at you, Cannondale Lefty Hybrids). Further, those products are not supported often more than a year or two beyond launch, before it's redesigned with "improvements" so as to be non compatible with the prior version.
Pre Dorel Cannondale bucked that trend for many years, designing newer parts, that were often retrofittable into forks that were 10 years or so, older. I deeply respected that mentality as it kept many many products on the trails, and out of landfills.
Sadly, Cannondale is now on the all new, every other year, band wagon, and are doing their best to fill garbage cans everywhere with what used to be considered "durable goods". I cannot support that business approach, it's destroying our planet, and disrespecting the consumer in ways that many folks, just haven't quite yet realized, is being done to them.
The rest of the world? With companies as diverse as Microsoft, BlackRock Inc, Patagonia, and others, doubling down in recent weeks, months and years, pushing for changes to how much consumers purchase, how those purchases impact the earth, and it's environments, the bike industry is busy on a race to the bottom with ever changing standards and designs, rendering bikes a couple years old, virtually unusable once something breaks.
So, politely?
I'll stay here in my little corner of the world, doing my best to keep Cannondale forks working as well as possible, for as long as possible, rather than just selling a few parts and letting people more often than not, trash what was, a really great fork....
I'll just defend myself and say I don't sell parts or offer complete tutorials, for a number of reasons.
I've been on the Cannondale fork service end for a long long time. DIYer screw ups are a major source of revenue for me, so you'd think I'd encourage it, but surprisingly, I don't. First, they destroyed a fork that was pristine, and able to go many years to come, simply by thinking "If I can service a Fox, I can service a Lefty". Nothing against a bit of self reliance, but there is a limit to what can and should be done with improper tools and limited skill set, ask any plumber, electrician, or home remodeler, I'll bet they agree 100%. Brake work, drive train replacement, parts swapping, that's all great consumer friendly DIY stuff. There's a few things that are best left to pros, and suspension is one of them.
Second, I'm one man, in a tiny shop, trying to eke out a living in a world filled with big corporate brands, trying to run small shops off the planet. Why would I give up my livelihood, to make a $3 in parts profit, when I can have a positive interaction with another human, somewhere in the world, service their fork, give them feedback on how to keep it in top running shape, and help them keep an old, great design, working like a champ?
Third, I want your fork, to work as well as humanly possible for you, for as long as it can. The industry is now filled with products that are designed to fail within a year or two of purchase, even with proper care and feeding (I'm looking at you, Cannondale Lefty Hybrids). Further, those products are not supported often more than a year or two beyond launch, before it's redesigned with "improvements" so as to be non compatible with the prior version.
Pre Dorel Cannondale bucked that trend for many years, designing newer parts, that were often retrofittable into forks that were 10 years or so, older. I deeply respected that mentality as it kept many many products on the trails, and out of landfills.
Sadly, Cannondale is now on the all new, every other year, band wagon, and are doing their best to fill garbage cans everywhere with what used to be considered "durable goods". I cannot support that business approach, it's destroying our planet, and disrespecting the consumer in ways that many folks, just haven't quite yet realized, is being done to them.
The rest of the world? With companies as diverse as Microsoft, BlackRock Inc, Patagonia, and others, doubling down in recent weeks, months and years, pushing for changes to how much consumers purchase, how those purchases impact the earth, and it's environments, the bike industry is busy on a race to the bottom with ever changing standards and designs, rendering bikes a couple years old, virtually unusable once something breaks.
So, politely?
I'll stay here in my little corner of the world, doing my best to keep Cannondale forks working as well as possible, for as long as possible, rather than just selling a few parts and letting people more often than not, trash what was, a really great fork....