When people ask you why you bought a Lefty, you should just tell them there was a sale, and it was half-off! 🥁😅 Add your best Lefty joke below ⬇⬇⬇

As a previous owner of a lefty personally I can’t recommend it. While it is a really fun and responsive fork the big caveat is that it’s a proprietary product that is incompatible with loads if standardised bike parts. I sold mine because there was absolutely no way to have my lefty fork serviced where I live which makes it pretty much unusable in the long term. It’s a great piece of technology but it’s proprietary nature makes the fork a big liability in my point of view.

Thank you for giving the Lauf a bit of coverage. Have had one on my gravel bike for ~6 months now, love it. Certainly does not handle big hits on the singletrack but rocky roads at speed, does great. Have it paired with an eesilk+ seatpost. Sometimes I think its not doing too much then I go ride my previous, full rigid gravel bike. Ouch, yeah... I'll keep the Lauf.

As always Mr CyclingAbout, this video presented the information in a way that was a pleasure to learn. Excellent.

With each new video, I'm always fascinated to find out what has been on your exhaustive mind since the last. I'm old and slow to catch on. So I'm still exploring head tube suspension. But you've given me some new and fascinating things to mull. Thanks, and all the best.

Very interesting topic with excellent analysis Solved many queries for me. Excellent job

Excellent video! Super informative. I found your comparison of different technology especially helpful. I was quite surprised by your comparison of the open rigid fork with the Lauf. I ride an open wide so glad to hear I have such a compliant fork.

I’ve long been fascinated by lefty, it’s just the kind of technological innovation we’d need more around the bikes. Having said that if I’d ever have a mtb again, it’d be a Cannondale with headshok and the blue Volvo paintjob for aesthetics.

I saw something the other day that looked like the Lauf. I'd never seen anything like it before and crazy that this video was just recommended to me by KZfaq!

The HiRide fork reminds me of my 2004 Ultra Fatty HeadShok on my 2004 Bad Boy Gargoyle edition. I ride it almost exclusively on gravel trails and the ride is harsh [aluminium frame] when locked out but smooth as anything when open. The shock is at the junction of the head tube with a flexible collar. I lubricate the needle bearings and just pump it up in spring going on 19 years. I put 650b wheels and 2.3 inch tires on it, stock wheels are ridiculously thin 700C with 25mm tires.

Nice little mention of the Motion fork. As an owner of 2 Motion E18's I have to say they're absolutely incredible. My only gripe is that that they're not in production anymore and I can't get stiffer leafs to better suit my fat ass. :)

amazing, super informative video - a must-see

Great video. Unfortunately, as long as these design won't be copied by larger scale manufacturers into cheaper consumer products, I doubt they will leave their niche market anytime soon.

I adore my Lefty Oliver on the Slate, the very same model you rode in your video. I got a cobblestone street right where I live - with the Slate, I can virtually fly over it. And I share your thoughts on the Lefty being just as stiff as a normal fork on tarmac. I just leave it open 95% of my rides., regardless of the terrain.

I've just bought the Evisid shock observing handlebar stem witch comes with 4 interchangeable shock springs from soft to head and to my surprise work really well on roads and gravel to go on my BMX Electric Zooz bike 👏🏽👍🏼😊

Thank you! Most greatful!

Good video!!

I was giving directions to Traveller! I said "straight over roundabout! Oh, & take the right fork!

Always love your vids! Would be cool to also include longer travel linkage front suspension like that from Structure Cycleworks. Im going to build a frame that has mode decoupled suspension where one shock is for pitch and the other for heave, i already designed and built a system for a university team car that was based on cane creek air shocks.

Headshok, Lefty, Futureshock, Pacific Reach mini Trailing Link, Lauf fork, Motion France, Pantour Hub, Stem Suspension, loopwheels. All uses small travel, light weight and design to take out vibration / bumps when tyres could not. But never heard of "Hiride Sterra"

Cannondale's Headshock and the Action-Tec suspension - inside the headtube designs from the early 1990s - both worked very well.

Just really the same as what cannon had years ago be interested to try that central fork susp to my old xc cannondale with it!

I’ve always been fascinated by it as well, and never understood why it didn’t catch on.

First time I saw this it made me wonder if you could do similar for the rear wheel. That could get rid of the issue that belt drives have where you currently have to have a specific frame for it.

For mediocre roads (but not rough gravel), you might enjoy riding a Moulton NS. It uses rubber in torsion to provde ~30mm travel with zero stiction, and excellent high frequency damping (at least, by my wrists' estimation). It also is basically maintenance-free aside from wipe-downs and keeping bolts torqued (LocTite red fixes that). The one trouble you'll have is finding one to try that is set up for a very tall person.

the big problem with the lefty is that you have to take off the brake to take off the wheel.

Love the technical breakdown of your bike science videos & confirming my 2018 Specialized Diverge with a future shock!!! 😎 I've learned tons from you over the years. Always informative and interesting bike videos!!

Nice video, @7:30 i see a nice front mudguard. Where can i get one for my left Oliver? TIA

I still have an old Cannondale Prophet from 2006 with a Lefty. I never had a problem with the fork. I road that bike down plenty of black and double black diamond terrain for nearly 15 years. There is a professional shock service center near where I live where I was able to have it serviced. However I switched to an Ibis Ripmo 3 years ago and now the old Prophet bike with the 140 Lefty is only a backup / extra bike for me. I would say the Lefty can be a reliable high performer but it definitely isn't as good as my modern Fox setup. But maybe a modern lefty could compete? I never see the fork being used any more.

My Slate is my forever bike. Love that lefty

I'd rather have a slightly heavy bike with a suspension fork and seatpost at least than a full rigid bicycle. Great video presentation.🚴So very informative👌

I remember fitting a lefty DLR 110 to my ATX at the time had to get new wheel and few other things for it to fit! Couldn't just throw anywheel on it like you could throw this newer fork on anybike I only sold it 2 years ago sat in the lockup for year's since 2011ish

Very well done as always. Bushings on suspension forks are so stupid when we can have needle bearings.

Amazing fork design's,would be interesting to see this on a super light /springy titanium hardtail with belt drive.this theoretically offer's storage functionality possibilities ,,with folding bike concept's ,,going further than folding handle bar's,with the wheel off someone could invent foldable versions of this style of forks

Cannondale made that Stera design fork already, they called it the headshock . It came on a road bike and some city bikes too. Another Cannondale product that didn't catch on or maybe Cannondale gave up on it too soon. I think they were trying to make a motorcycle at the same time.

Just touring in remote parts of Africa - no problem I'll research and create this crazy informative video...

It is noted that car wheels are also suspended from one side only However, the second "fork" arm on a bike is very easy to make, with a superb addition to the stiffness of the axle. Any design for a lefty one arm fork can easily be improved by a second arm on the other side, with a gain in weight as a result. It looks cool though.

Excellent video, well researched and one to watch again. I ❤ the lefty but I can’t bring myself to buy something that’s so difficult to have serviced. The Lauf is an interesting proposition, near zero maintenance and lightweight for a bouncy fork. Does anyone have experience living with a Lauf?

Bought a 9yo XC race bike with a lefty for the 11yo child, who LOVES it! Which is good cos the service is half a grand including shipping, and takes two weeks

You made no mention of Cannondales use of headtube mounted shock forks way back at the start in the pre-lefty 90s. A sound idea ready to be rediscovered.

My Topstone Lefty 100% agrees with the content of this video.❤

I wonder if the air suspension seals' friction issue can be solved by using am airtight rubber bellow and eliminating the seals altogether? That's how lorry suspensions do it.

My Lefty is the best, I have the the tools, the know how to maintain them and extra dampers which I still haven’t needed. 1150 grams for unmatched stiffness and 110mm travel. These forks are bombproof up to about 2012. When they went hybrid the game was over. Headshoks are killer too!

Hiride Sterra sounds a lot like a more adjustable version of Cannondale's old Headshok setups.

Great. .Add your best jokes about being left-handed below, So cool, I want to buy one to try, 👏 👏 👏

More Lefty's would open up accessibility due to spread and may spike the tricycle and quad piee of the pie, pushing DIY and customized bikes for less (children on board/disabled) and sure everywhere where weight-reduction is of use, whereas the Sterra-principle if it was taken on by the competitors would be perfect for city to gravel, especially due to the lack of "shuddering" (fork moving parallel to the ground forth/back) a regular suspension fork would offer and the lower threshold to go into suspension and the quicker response is also helpful on gravel as well as asphalt or slick stone when turning from 25km/h up.

Is that tube mounted shock system compatible with many frames?

Love the lefty coverage and would like to hear your take on long travel lefties. I had one on my old XC bike (80mm) and having moved to Fox 34 Factory I miss it. It was the better fork by fork by far in my opinion. Although, I never maintained it so I cannot speak about maintenance. If I bought the Ocho I would make sure to buy tools and servicing items for the life of the fork up front. Servicing doesn't look like it's very difficult outside of some specialized tools. Cannondale frames are built terribly, they really have earned the "Crack-&-Fail" dig, but I have to say, the lefty is the exception.

When will the lefty patent end? I once a had HeadShock which also had roller bearing and it was way more responsive than any other fork

Great depth in your content as usual Alee and well worth listening to. Unlike a car the lefty is not connected by three angular points for stability. A few years ago I asked a Cannondale dealer if they service the Lefty and was told only one official business in Australia services them. A deal breaker for me. On another note If you're not racing, from my experiences, a undamped spring system works well with sensible tyres on most roads and trails. Thank you again.

Leaf spring mini swingarm front suspensions have been in use for some ~120 years already... just saying.... :) RST offer a head tube suspension fork for 26” and 700c gravel bikes, called the “single shock”

A lot of motor cycles only connect on one side (drivetrain) for the rear wheel, the torque poses no problem there either.

4:47 epic demonstration😂

With the car u have 2 wheels on both sides. And they are sitting on the axis that is horizontal, not vertical. Totally different design and approach. This suspension works because the bicycle is not so heavy

I am not an engineer, but it seems that the 'lefty' would put an uneven loading weight/ pressure on the hub's bearings versus a normal pair of forks...? Also, I noticed that none of the lefties I viewed had a rack available for a pair of front panniers... That is a deal-breaker for me, personally...

IIRC Giant were offerering a cheapish gravel bike with a lefty fork circa 2019. Was this fork based on the Caannondale design? It couldn't have been expensive on a bike of that price. Anybody know more?

How about the added weight?

Really like the Hiride Sierra, looked up the price and thinking it's not for me 😅

I see a lot of complicated new bike tech, and I always wonder: is it actually noticeably better, or just more expensive and complicated?

The problem is proprietary parts. That kills it.

The Future? Been around for 30 years now. And that's about how long it takes to get parts for one. LOL The roller system is cool and all but ti's hands down the most unreliable fork on teh market. It'll spend more time in the shop than being ridden

I have a 140 mm travel lefty on my trail bike, but not by choice.

Do you know of any Dynao Hubs that will work or can be modified to work with a lefty?

Can we talk abou the "stiffness" demonstration starting at 4:46?

I wonder why there are so little bikes with single sided rear stays, either rigid or suspended.

The Lefty, while supported similar to a car; bikes don’t have 4 points of contact and so much weight of the whole vehicle over a single axle. And, metal fatigue is a very real thing in something so small, sprung off-axis, with as much force being exerted on it.

At 4:45 I know you love the shock but LOL!

Car suspension is not the best comparison, as the lateral loads do not run through the strut- macpherson strut suspension has a lower control arm that handles cornering and braking/acceleration forces. That doesn't mean it can't work on a bicycle, but the only real world comparison that makes sense at the moment is light aircraft nose gear. Still not a perfect comparison as most of the weight at rest is supported by the main gear, as are the braking forces for aircraft small enough to not need thrust reversers.

Unless I can buy one for 30€ like a normal fork, no. Serviceability and affordability is a big advantage of bicycles over other modes of transportation. Expensive parts are missing the point of bicycles.

a bycicle was suposed to be a simple mobility solutin that can be easy to self repair.. now, it is so rare to find ultra simple bycicle with simple smart design.

Front suspension and a by.schulz,makes me drive a bike,after an crash,nearly all of my rips are broke,and a rigide bike is not driveble for me.I Stil ❤cycling

It's a misconception that a suspension fork needs damping. For high-frequency vibrations (above the resonance frequency of the oscillator made up of the spring and bike/rider mass), the best isolation is achieved when the spring can move _uninhibited_ by any damping. Motion seems to exploit that very well. It is only at or around the resonance frequency that damping is useful, but for small amplitudes at the front this isn't really necessary either because (unlike in a car or motorbike) the arms can easily take the role of the damper in that regime. Only for severe, high-speed off-roading is damping needed, and even then it's mostly important on the rear to avoid that bounces buck the bike forwards and possibly cause an OTB. Some bouncing on the front is harmless as long as the rider can anticipate it and doesn't need every bit of traction for winning a downhill race.

Shocking video

Of the products discussed, it looks like Cannondale's Lefty is the only one suited for mountain biking. Too bad half a fork isn't half the price!

Having ridden Hossack style motorcycles (and BMW telelever) along with an AMP Research MTB fork, I am continually disappointed we continue to plough R&D into telescopics. The control of the wheel trajectory on compression ('J' shaped on the AMP), anti-dive characteristics, pivots vs stiction sliders and tight integration with rear suspension are all huge opportunities lost. Yes, we had a couple of attempts back in the 90s but frame geometry has changed dramatically since then. Highly evolved they may be, but telescopics are still the 'wrong' technology for suspension (unless you're a Morgan or an aircraft).

SID is not 1537 g as per video @ 3:36. SID SL (32 mm) at 110 mm travel is more like 1350 g, SID (35 mm) at 120 mm travel 1480 g. Rudy Ultimate gravel fork sub 1300 g.

still waiting for a real trailed link fork w/o the flaws of the actual ones. Designed one by myself though. one pole "forks" i'm considering not that smart either.

Advantages of Lefty are mostly due to the design of its internals, not due to it being one legged, right? This means it could potentially have the same benefits and be cheaper with two legs. Am I missing something?

Might be a dumb question, but why left and not right? Genuinely curious

What's the bike at 15:09?

It sounds like most of the benefits of the lefty fork don’t come from it being lefty. I wonder if a regular upside down fork with roller bearings would be even better?

@1:37 "why should a bike use suspension?" Because a lot of city roads are not well maintained at all. Sounds like a dumb question to me. lol

I thought this was going to be gimmicky but was rather super interesting.

i'd like to see a righty

I've never seen a Lefty on a DH bike or a dirt jump bike. Why ?

Yes compare the wheel suspension of a car with that of a bicycle ?! as long as that makes sense to you

"simple and elegant design?" at 8:29 okay then :D

11:20 ¿What's splay?

Why not have the strut on the right? Stupid question?

What does "140% less" mean in any context?

La city Caliper right on the bottom though that's an expensive accident waiting to happen! Slipping down a kurb for example that would smash off the edge ohh I don't think that's a good design maybe enough clearance with a 29er but 27.5 that calliper is in for a bad day anyday just not sure on that design think that would be enough to put me off this ebike

How realistic is it for the bike industry to just eliminate conventional forks and just make all forks lefty, even if they are fixed? Is it actually better for disk brakes? Can the advantage of splay outweigh trying to make each fork blade more compliant, stiff enough for a disk brake, yet light?

How do these lefties go holding up against a 140kg dude in hard core off road riding? I already wreck upside down motocross style forks on my MTB's, I personally think I would end up bending or snapping something.

My issue with the Lefty is that there are no improvements that it has that can't be implimented on a standard fork. You can reverse your stanchions, you can use needle bearings, you can make all of these machining improvements etc with a dual strut fork. You can even do that with a "Double shoulder/triple tree" extra stiff headtube design, though that adds weight and reduces how far you can turn the bars. You even see some of these implemented on higher end downhill forks. Edit: the steerer fork is just a gravel/road bike cannondale centershock, isnt it? Similar to what you've talked about with the redshift stems and the older ones they made for MTB back in the day.

The lefty isn't stiffer than a fox34 or SID...

Good thing competition can start making "righties" But my gripe is that there should be rear one-sided "forks" too for comletness 😁

If youre handy enought- teach yourself how to service your own lefty fork. Then you have the biggest drawback of owning a lefty nipped in the butt. If youve ever ridden a lefty you'd likely agree that they are unreal forks.

I don't get why so many E-bikes even have suspension. If you're not going faster than 25 km/h, do you really need that? Especially with bigger tires and reduced tyre pressure. But if they have it, a traditional heavy suspension fork is complete overkill. And it doesn't absorb the shorter frequency stuff or the smaller bumps at these relatively low speeds much. A short travel lefty construction might be a viable alternative.

140% less friction? It sounds like Cannondale's marketing folks don't understand math...or they do and are being intentionally deceptive.

Could vibration be reduced by using a suspension fork with the Redshift stem?