The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of Cannondale's HeadShok

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In the 1990's, the HeadShok was one of the smoothest suspension forks out there, but eventually certain limitations forced Cannondale to rethink their design. What came next was the one legged 'Lefty' fork, which used technology from the HeadShok and lives on to this day. Both are extremely smooth, and had/have a cult following.
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Опубликовано:

10 мар 2024

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Комментарии : 714

@garthflint Месяц назад

I was a Cannondale mechanic from 89 to 99. Headshoks were a pain in the rear. The boots cracked. The slightest bit of dirt and it was a complete teardown. Getting those bearing slides back in was pure joy. There were two types of Headshok. One with oil and a dampner, another with a rubber bumper. Hot days the bumper was mush. Cold days it was a brick. But they rode so much better than regular forks.

@ripnshread2441 Месяц назад

Me2, they are/were the worst. Only a matter of time till one of the bearing races migrated. If that happened felt like the headset was loose and broken and was $$$ and time consuming to repair. The races were shims in different thicknesses. As a mechanic it was trial and error what mixture of thickness would work...such a pain.

@lawrencefranck9417 Месяц назад

15k mile on mine and it never needed anything

@themeatpopsicle Месяц назад

@@lawrencefranck9417 oh it certainly did, you just didn't notice

@autumnday8422 Месяц назад

Yep the new specialized ones are also a pain in the ass to service. It's basically a cup with a mini fork damper in place of a headset cap. The tension is set by a series of 2mm set screws. They strip easily and don't always work if you don't pre-preload the headset.

@ryanmvickerman Месяц назад

Same here....93-99 @ a Cannondale dealer. I did huuuuundreds of them. I recall using a section of road inner tube that I would inflate to keep the races in place. Good times...ha!

@FloppyWaffle Месяц назад

Love this type of content as I'm almost 50 and those old 90's bike like that were and still are a dream of mine to own.

@harait Месяц назад

100,200 bucks....its not that expensive, so go on

@noke1785 Месяц назад

no offense, i commented for the 50plus guys ^^ it was a dream to me for a long time, but tbh a rockshox pike is my actuall goal to buy =) greetings froma 46yr old :)

@jedscaramella3398 Месяц назад

I had a '93 Delta V with a HeadShok (still in the back of the garage somewhere); definitely a love/hate with Cannondale. They were really cool and rode well, but service/maintenance was a nightmare. You could do a lot of your own maintenance but as noted in video, the Headshok needed a dealer. Not to mention the proprietary Coda components. Lived a more nomadic life in college - back/forth to school/home and lots of roadtrips w/ the bikes. Always had trouble finding a shop that had parts or could do service. Twice I found Cannondale dealers that didn't know how to work on the HeadShok. Some people say the today's bike designs are "boring" compared to the early days but after the wild times of the 90s I take comfort knowing i can take a Fox/RockShock into most shops without an issue.

@seventysevenfiji Месяц назад

@@jedscaramella3398agree for the most part, I believe it has a lot to do with a changed mindset at a dealer level, the guys working today grew up with suspension as a given and didn't have that mental barrier many if the older guys had back then (totally my personal observation and not a provable fact!) And the headshok has a very active enthusiast community with repop parts and tools and great advice. So it's still a viable option, if you ever want to dig the old warhorse out and do something with it

@mixalisstathis274 Месяц назад

@@jedscaramella3398 The polished one? No, I think that was the Killer-V. That was pure porn!

@KarlosEPM Месяц назад

The brake levers on that bicycle are also a historical innovation. They allowed you to set more or less mechanical advantage to suit your preference. Precursor of servo-wave, which is now commonplace for hydraulic brakes. Cool stuff all around.

@peglor Месяц назад

Shimano were already making servo wave levers for cables well before VBrakes came out, and the XTR and XT levers that came out before the LX ones shown, also for VBrakes all had servo wave of the same style as the older Canti version. This style was where the cable mount was on a roller that moved in a slot in the lever blade to go closer to the pivot as the lever is pulled to increase cable force. XT levers had 2 blocks that could be removed from the slot allowing no servo wave with all the blocks in to full servo wave with both removed. XTR used a threaded pin that sat in the slot allowing fine tuning of the exact level of servo wave assistance the rider wanted. The downside is that the roller would wear a notch in the slot in the lever at the lever released and especially at full lever pull positions, leading to there being a noticeable click felt through the lever as the brake was pulled. Avid (They're the brake manufacturers SRAM bought to add brakes to their line-up, but this predates SRAM owning them) Speed Dial levers had a similar mechanism but it was moved using a screw that allowed the rider to move the pivot though it stayed fixed in use - it allowed the same pair of levers to actuate a VBrake on the front and Cantis on the back with a similar lever feel for example. The Deore LX levers in the video are probably the most elegant incarnation of servo wave cable levers because they don't wear in such a way as to notch any part of the mechanism and there are fewer moving parts, but the mechanism was much too bulky and heavy compared to what XT and XTR were running.

@edmundblackaddercoc8522 Месяц назад

Taken from flat landing bmx.

@KarlosEPM Месяц назад

@@peglor Thanks for this thorough explanation. These models were too high end for me to afford back then, and date to before the internet. Therefore I am still learning plenty and do so retrospectively.

@aldomaresca9994 Месяц назад

Dude, i owned similar ones, STX RC, and they were hella good, i'd still like to run a pair of those in my commuter, the feel was of aerospace quality

@ameraldas3641 Месяц назад

this is a basic idea, and has been present on most brakes

@Adrian_de Месяц назад

my dad gave me his 24year old cannondale with a headstock just a few days ago. Its a piece of MTB history, such interesting bikes! Stoked to learn more about it! Super entertaining and informative as always Seth!!

@danggerraham Месяц назад

I worked at a Cannondale dealer for six years. I honestly loved working on HeadShoks and Lefty’s. Even if you got a completely rusted out one you could just replace the races and/or the bearings and you had a (better than) new fork. Plus if you knew what you were doing you could customize the pressfit damper by changing the shim stack and/or oil weight. Also, as you ride the needle bearings and races polish so an older fork (that’s properly maintained) often feels better than a newer fork. At the time they were impressive technology.

@phild9813 Месяц назад

I had a headshock way back in the day that locked up entirely. The shop said it wasn’t worth fixing. I might’ve gotten fleeced after reading your comment, but I ended up with a 5” travel Psylo on the bike, which was head and shoulders above the headshock in performance. Oh well

@BenGodfrey-js4gg Месяц назад

Very long

@Stran8n Месяц назад

i remember going to The Bicycle Shop in Jacksonville, NC to drool over the Cannondales with the Headshok. That and that fat down tube! I remember when that was a thing too, but it's almost commonplace now. Thanks, Seth!

@Bread_Garlichouse 4 дня назад

The F 3000sl. That was sexy AF

@johnmorrison8351 Месяц назад

I’ve had several Leftys over the years and they have been incredible. I would love one again. I worked at a Cannondale dealer back in the day and had Headshock service training, so have no fears about keeping them running sweetly

@simonm1447 Месяц назад

For commuter bikes this looks like a good solution. The common commuter forks from Suntours are simply not good and they only move if you hit a pothole. At the same time they fill with water if you ride during rain and get sticky after a service very quick, and they start to rust quite fast on the stanchions. I went to a non suspension fork on the commuter for this reason, but it is of course not the same smooth ride like with a mountainbike with a proper suspension fork

@michaelmechex Месяц назад

The Headshok is way over engineered and much more expensive to make than those crappy cheap suspension forks. The only reason those forks are so common is because they look cooler than rigid forks and provide marginally more suspension 😂

@Exgrmbl Месяц назад

@@michaelmechex yeah, in many cases you are better off with a rigid fork and simply fatter tires

@JiorujiDerako Месяц назад

Nowadays we also have suspension stems (and seatposts, and even grips), so the options have opened up a lot for commuter bikes without going quite as complex as this. I'd love to see needle bearings replace bushings in some 'simpler' designs though for the smoothness, just not really a lot of ways to make it affordable and not require regular maintenance.

@SimonBauer7 Месяц назад

the thing is if you are already going with a high end option (which canondales was probably) you can get a higher end telescopic fork and be done with it.

@junkandcrapamen Месяц назад

Try a suspension stem. Way cheaper, zero maintenance and they definitely smooth out the ride.

@sperrtechnik Месяц назад

your the man, i tried to service my forke in 1997. let me tell you, without the internet and no help at all. it is not easy. Greetings from germany

@kiwaycanny6522 Месяц назад

Ich hab 1 mal eine auseinander genommen und ne gute gebrauchte bei ebay geschossen.. Das Zeug bekommt kein normaler Mensch wieder vernünftig zusammen

@ryangilmourXT Месяц назад

Hopefully this will inspire some more detailed rebuild guides. Hard to find service manuals. Once you've done a few it gets easier but getting the races and bearings set can still be a nightmare with all the grease.

@crashtaken2spooky4me50 24 дня назад

Hab heute ein killer v 800 gekauft und die gabel sind total fest, hast du eine ahnung wie man die repariert bekommt? unten rum ist die total krustig

@srabes8742 Месяц назад

I rock a 2003 F600 with an ultra fatty dl80. It’s new enough to have disc brakes and sports “Handmade in USA.” I also switched it to single speed and put 1.5s on it. Great little city assault bike and has a great orange to yellow paint job. Bought it a long time ago for a few hundred bucks and will never give it up.

@Jonas_Keunecke 21 день назад

Important to have a good city assault bike!

@creepingjesus5106 Месяц назад

I still have a smile and nod for any Headshok Cannondales I see out and about. It's mostly fellow old gits these days, but it's good to recognise that quality engineering lasts.

@kiethj7 11 дней назад

Yep. I ride mine all the time and love it.

@shawnwakeman6324 Месяц назад

First, I love that the RU-vid algorithm sent me directly here after watching “now, in the 90s“(a retro video game review channel) it seems really fitting. Second, I basically lived in a bike shop in the 90s, I definitely remember that goofy head shock picture but it was a gigantic poster, the size of my whole body on the south end wall of the bike shop. (I was nine years old in 1995.) thank you Seth for the stellar content.

@FGIRAFFE Месяц назад

Wow! What a trauma... A giant head shock poster on the wall!! Fantastic. :) Thanks for sharing.

@BryceLovesTech Месяц назад

Thank you mate for making this video. I’m a huge Cannondale fan since my first one back in 1990. They were such an amazing company and they were the Apple of the 1990s bike industry. It’s a shame they fell so hard.

@carsonfiero4209 Месяц назад

Thanks man. Brings me back to my glory days. My 1998 F1000 is still in dad duty pulling the kids in the double chariot.

@BBouffard3D Месяц назад

I still have my Cannondale M800 / R900 from 93! Love them! they will stay in the bike army for ever.

@dangalindo5304 8 дней назад

I’d been watching an f700 on Facebook marketplace. You inspired me to take the leap. I updated it with a single chainring, new bottom bracket, and shorter stem (only 1 alternative out there) along with repacking the bearings and rebuilding the headshok (that was not easy). I rode it yesterday. It will serve as my “around town” whip. Super light!

@jnxmck Месяц назад

I've just picked up an F900 from '00 because I wanted a cool retro bike with a headshok. So far I am loving it!

@francisyockey8225 Месяц назад

The 2000s f900s where the peak of cannondale. They did special paint jobs to celebrate the milenium and the fire mountain fade looked amazing with trees to separate the colours. Ultimate pub bike

@maritimesoul Месяц назад

This brought up a lot of nostalgia for me and I was always curious how it worked, thanks for breaking it down for us to see the internals and some awesome 90's engineering. I really enjoyed this great piece of story telling, well done BPE!

@mackymaca Месяц назад

Cannondale did come up with some great innovations. Great vid!

@AdventuresWithClair Месяц назад

Reminds me of my childhood, epic times!!! Thanks for always making great and engaging content. Gives us other mtb channels hope and something to strive for.

@thomasandrews8033 Месяц назад

I owned a delta v700 with a head shock, pretty sure it was a '93. Didn't care much for the bike but loved the headshock concept. Mine was one of the first versions so it would lose air frequently and would loosen up quite a bit too. You had to twist the dial about five or six times to get it to fully lock out which was a pain. I believe subsequent models fixed all those issues, the dial went to three clicks from what I remember, soft medium and locked. Where we lived in Southern California our mountain bike rides typically consisted of anywhere from 10 to 20 mi on the road to get to and from the trails so having a easy to engage locking front suspension was very convenient for those long torturous uphill pavement climbs. Thanks for all the well done, informative videos!

@niemusze5078 Месяц назад

This roller based design is in fact genius idea!

@DigitBikes Месяц назад

I made my first prototypes of Analog integrated rear suspension using parts harvested from a Headshok.

@helmutloidts5126 Месяц назад

My first decent MTB was an F600 with a Super Fatty Ultra DL. At the time (early 2000's), there was only one shop in de vicinity that had a mechanic with the proper knowledge of these forks. After crashing my F600, my parents got me an F1000 with the same type of fork. Never had any problems with it. I still got that fork somewhere in my shed.

@TomKing. Месяц назад

Seth, loving these retro bike videos, brings me back!

@BenjaminLu Месяц назад

The pro-mechanic who first taught me how to wrench always rode a HeadShok, and I have long been curious to learn more about it. Thanks for this great deep dive! Would also love to see this retro short-travel system compared to modern suspension stems like the recent Kinekt, Vecnum, Redshift, etc.

@randyandjody Месяц назад

Great to hear the history and evolution of the Headshok technilogy. Still have 2 Headshok bikes in my garage from the '90's and love riding them :)

@diegoskx2090 Месяц назад

I have been waiting for this video! Thank you for sharing it. I started being a Cannondale fan in 2018 when a relative gave me an old 92's m800 Cannondale, then I found the ones with headshocks and fell in love with them instantly, they're well made forks, I always try to service the mines every 6 months.

@franzherrmann1315 Месяц назад

I have one of these with full suspension. Was always a great bike. Thinking about selling it. I don't see an option to post pics though...

@ryanmichels2981 Месяц назад

I love old, unique, quirky, bike tech! Excited to watch this!

@JKinsman468 Месяц назад

This is wild seeing this video bc my dad just offered me his cannondale with a head shock . It’s such a rare sighting, it’s pretty cool that he’s got one . The whole bike is extremely light to

@Aveal Месяц назад

Hey Seth, i don't know if you are reading YT Comments but i want to say that i absolutely love those videos on Bike History. As a kid growing up in the 90's i was living and breathing Mountainbiking and Actionsports as a whole. So your videos are tickle my nostalgia synapses immensely and i would be very happy to see more of them. But i am fine with every content you make!

@iamdanreed Месяц назад

I have a cannondale Sl with head shox and disc brakes, it’s just so smooth to ride. I had it serviced last year and it’s just a joy to be on. Great video.

@TheCorrupterX Месяц назад

I am still rocking a solid front frame from that era, big head tube and everything. It is a polished late 90's frame so no clue which one it is, but it is basically a modern gravel bike by the geometry (it's a tall frame), fun how things come full circle.

@Jaydenbike Месяц назад

Always a god day when Seth uploads!

@TheMatt365 Месяц назад

Nah this was posted on Monday, not Sunday.

@BenGodfrey-js4gg Месяц назад

That’s the exact same thought i have everyday

@azamwaugh Месяц назад

These deep dives are great! As someone who more recently got into mountain biking, it’s fun to see where things like the lefty came from

@Kev2Bee 25 дней назад

Bearing migration! Ride it hard and it was a teardown every week. I needed two HeadShock forks for my XC racing, one in pieces with a "bearing migration" reset and one to ride. Too many times It was 2am the night before race day with the shock in pieces on my kitchen floor. I had a shop -kit of steel shims and had to measure each one to find the correct thickness. Too loose and the bearings would move within an hour of riding. Too tight a fit and it was almost impossible to assemble, it had a rough feeling. Please don't think about reviewing the CODA hydraulic brakes. They were another nightmare I wish to forget. I do remember bending the CNC CODA crank arms and the skipping chain on the CNC CODA big ring. Imagine driving for 3 days to ride Moab and trying to get the HeadShock and brakes on my then new $3700 Cannondale ( R4000? It had a black-to-white fade matt paint) bike to last more than a day of riding before the shock failed and the brakes squirted fluid. While there I almost bought a new Tomac suspension frame and RockShock fork to hang my parts on. The bike shop was going to do an after-hours build for me but the new Tomac frame was 1800 0USD alone. Instead, I replenished my electrolytes while sitting in a hot tub and did a field service in the campground each night, after each day of riding.

@raybohn9886 Месяц назад

Love this! I’ve got a late ‘90s Cannondale 1FG (1 F**king Gear) single speed mountain bike. Love that thing! Put over 5000 miles on it in Topanga State Park, had the Ultra Fatty Head Shok overhauled twice, but these days parts are really tough to find and experts who work on these are even scarcer. I’ll either have to learn to do it myself, or give up one of the best bikes I’ve ever owned. Thanks for posting this vid! I’d love to see an in-depth head shok overhaul video from you!

@PatParvum Месяц назад

Thanks Seth. Nice trip down memory lane.

@charlesholland6851 Месяц назад

Glad to see you covering this. I have 1 lefty and 3 headshoks. Unfortunately they need rebuilt but I love those bikes!

@gregknipe8772 Месяц назад

Enjoying your steady quality of presentation and photography.

@leandrounger Месяц назад

Definitely want to see you restore this thing. Great vid Seth.

@MrMichaelpaul45 Месяц назад

That was the most interesting watch a blast from the past I once had a Cannondale, Delta V 700 and I looked after very well. It was always clean and tidy after a good workout. Unfortunately my bike got stolen and I never got it back. watching your video brought back some good and nice memories. Thanks to put it onto RU-vid 🙂👍

@mixalisstathis274 Месяц назад

I love your review. I once converted a Lefty Max to a Kona Humuhumu-Nukunuku-Apua'a frame (with a spare steerer tube from a Bomber Z1 and some selfmade spacers) and installed a "sequential" shifter to the "middletube" (made of a Nexus shifter with a new housing and a manly lever) connected to an Alfine gearhub... And before there were any "Gravel-Bikes" I took a CD Bad Boy and put some super compact road gear and proper wheels on it - it was a blast. And as there weren't any discs for roadies available at this time, I went first with the mechanical Dualbangers and then with the TRPs HY/RD.

@DingleBerryMTB Месяц назад

Loved these bikes! I raced on a Gary Fisher Mt Tam 1998. I still have it in original format. But riding friends Cannondale's, i couldn't get over how amazing they climbed hills! I now have a Lefty Cannondale also because they just look amazing.

@berglandvideo Месяц назад

I had this on my Cannondale Super V700 (my first mountain bike, back in 2002). Thanks for the informative video - I knew nothing about this suspension and its tech at the time!

@simonbrooke4065 Месяц назад

Cannondale did a bike called the 'Silkroad' which was essentially a predecessor of the gravel bike -- a road bike with a short-travel headshock, which was an absolutely amazing bike for dirt roads back in the 90s. The Cannondale Slate, which I ride now, is more or less the same thing with a lefty instead of a headshock, and again it's an amazing bike for dirt roads.

@tj29er Месяц назад

i had a cannondale trigger 2 with a lefty, and man...i loved it!

@adammcdivitt9516 Месяц назад

I know it's hard coming up with new content but keep the good work. I always look forward to a new video. Hope the family is doing good

@BowTieBowhunter 7 дней назад

In 1995. I worked a part-time job solely so I could buy a Chrome Cannondale F-1000. I still think the lefty fork is one of the coolest designs ever.

@squidsleap Месяц назад

One my favorite bikes I've ever owned was an 02 jekyll lefty. I still miss that bike. I kept it all the way up to 2021 and it still got "looks" from people who had never seen a lefty. As loft access riding became more mainstream i didnt have a need to upgrade the xc bike so she stayed. The threaded rear shock for geometry adjustability was neat but never saw mass adoption so getting newer rear shocks became a chore but if you rode it a 4in travel bike was intended they lasted a long time. Thanks for the trip down memory lane Seth!

@waltysalamander Месяц назад

Great to see some more POV footage!!!

@Hugo_Rocker Месяц назад

Soon after buying my F700 in 1995, I swapped out the rubber insert for a Speed Spring. All these years later it still works great, though I really don't take it out very often. Everyone at the shop I go to loves it!

@MichaelLonetto Месяц назад

My first mountain bike was an F400. The shock was wonderful everywhere 50mm was enough, so it turned into my commuter bike pretty quickly. The fork lockout was a great fit for my mostly road, with some gravel trail, commute.

@floris2872 Месяц назад

I absolutely love the old head schok bikes! I really respect cannondale willing to try new/different designs!

@michaelvanarsdale8634 Месяц назад

I had an f400 I bought used in 2009. It actually had a Head Shock with a 110mm air spring. The bike shop said it had been retrofitted, and the air spring was a Cannondale Team shock. The boot was significantly longer. It rode great! Wish I still had that bike.

@paulwintermute1495 Месяц назад

My first mountain bike was a 1996 M800 in two tone black and purple! Loved that thing and rode it for years!

@caujka Месяц назад

Such a nice story! Thanks for sharing!

@adamdavi8869 Месяц назад

Had the Delta V 600 with headshock as my first real mountain bike. It was great on the Long Island trails I still ride. Totally dependable. Still miss it, kinda'. Thanks for the reminder.

@dudeonbike800 Месяц назад

My LBS had a crew in Sacramento that was so good at rebuilding the Headshok that they were more adept at the work than Cannondale. They had invented their own tools that made servicing the roller bearings much easier. They had offered Cannondale so much advice over the years that Cannondale finally sent a video crew out to the the shop to record them doing the service to train the factory workers! Those guys were good! PS Full disclosure. IRD (pretty sure it was them) had a jump start on Cannondale and did their own head tube suspension before the Headshok.

@wawaron1407 10 дней назад

Funny i have "invented" the head shock couple of months ago... Im thinking out of the box too, just great... Thanks for the dive in the roots of the MTB vintage world and a big Bravo claps to Cannondale engineers.

@rotorblade7363 Месяц назад

I started riding in the 90's, worked for a Cannondale dealer, and had a few Headshock bikes. I've always wanted a Lefty. Thanks for the video (I'm about to hit up Marketplace for a Lefty now).

@BlueGoose29 Месяц назад

who knew, I seen them before but never rode a headshock. love videos like this... going back in time down mtb lane. and the old rebuilds to!! good stuff keep it up

@brianglendenning1632 Месяц назад

A former work colleague had one - it was great.

@bobsturgis4674 Месяц назад

At the time i all most bought a Cannondale, but changed to buying a 97 Klein.I am glad i have these bike.The only thing i change was the shox,because know one could fix it.I did also change to flat pedals. Back then there was only shoes that where like road bike.I enjoy my Klein,and will not give it up. Great Video as all ways Seth.Hope you and the family are well.Stay safe everyone,and Happy MTB ☮

@galaxiedance3135 23 дня назад

OMG. What crazy flashbacks I have of this contraption! When I seen that design I just couldn't believe that someone would trust their life to that. Also having the front fork just on the one side. What they heck are they thinking :)

@Shopsmith10er Месяц назад

Nice show, Mister Seth. Some years ago I acquired for $100 a hybrid / 700c hardtail with the Headshock and cantilever brakes, triple crank, Gripshift. Metallic dark green, prior owner was 80 years 'young'. Believe it was model H-700. Tossed the pogo 27.2 seatpost, found on ebay for pittance a Cannondale riser stem, added drop bars. Also tossed the Gripshift and replaced with Shimano STi dual control brifters. Refit with 700x38c, fully serviced, replaced usual consumables. Near new Brooks Cambium for $35, and also an odd N.O.S. front pannier rack for the Headshock fork. The shock was produced by Marzhocchi. Outstanding minty gravel / camper bike. Admit was on the weighty side but really a nice capable bike for little. Offed it to someone who needed a bike more than my kings ransom worth pile of bikes.

@jackcarter233 Месяц назад

I got a CANNONDALE in 1993 from my local college bike store. Loved that bike

@user-yz9cr4gu9n Месяц назад

Love the video Seth. I’m rocking two Cannondales with the headshok one is a 97 F600 and my favorite one from 94 a delta v 600 which I converted to disc brakes front and rear and a 1x11 drive train. Of course I went 720mm bars both bikes ride out standing. I’m older so I don’t hit a lot of big jumps or large gaps. Keep up the great work and stay safe out there.

@tuul75 Месяц назад

My coil sprung lefty max is to this day the most sensitive, and stiff fork I’ve ever owned. The needle bearing system is leagues better than conventional bushings. It’s a shame they never went mainstream. Superior chassis

@blueskiestrevor5200 Месяц назад

Of all the 1990s bikes floating around Cannondales by far hold the most value. There is even a big trend of converting headshock bikes to gravel bikes with drop bars.

@tjabaley Месяц назад

My first mtb was a 1994 cannondale m300. Still hangs on my basement wall today. Great video.

@scubawithatuba Месяц назад

It’s absurd how much I learn from this channel and the second one. Thank you! You make my bike obsession even stronger, lol!

@gregorsamsa8632 Месяц назад

Hey Seth, just stopping by to tell yopu that i really love this type of content. Just you, telling us about old bike tecjnology and how it transformed. Really really apreciating it! Your "normal/other" content also is great though. Cheers!

@user-to2gh7sg3l Месяц назад

That's the bike that "allowed" me to exlpore the jeep trails and reservoir behind my house growing up. Nostalgia has merit.....

@pastaalalamborghini Месяц назад

I was a MTB kid in the 90s as well and have vivid memories of the local bike shop owner showing my Dad the head shock and the lefty when they first came out. I always thought their bikes were well made but the fork weirdness always turned me away. I was pretty happy with my stump jumper once I put a Judy XC fork on it, still have that bike hanging on the wall. TBH I actually like the old 26” geometry for slow trials’y technical stuff. Once you’re out of granny gear tho new geometry absolutely takes the cake. This was a really cool dive into that tech that always made me scratch my head.

@jimm244 Месяц назад

I had a ‘97 SV 2000 with a HeadShock (70 or 80 mm). It was the best shock going at the time. You said it correctly that the MTB world outgrew it.

@christopherpetts6599 Месяц назад

I had one of these. It died about 10years ago RIP. Bought it from a mate at work. Excellent for commuting, very light and plush.

@ryanmichels2981 Месяц назад

I have a scalpel with a lefty, 100mm travel. It’s a fantastic ‘fork’. Looks striking and always gets comments from people as well. Cool Tech

@LEL7567-ABCDEF Месяц назад

im really liking this type of content. really interesting story. also like the product reviews

@sebastiandomagala9233 Месяц назад

My Decathlon commuter bike features one of these, although not the original from Cannondale. It has only 20mm of travel, but that's all that a commuter bike needs. Looks decent, is fairly cheap and light. And works.

@halseyknox Месяц назад

So glad to see you showcase the bikes of the 90's....for better or worse some of the innovations worked while others didn't but it still was an exciting time to be involved in mtbing. I have evolved with the sport and no I have not even considered an E-bikes. I have gotten into collecting bikes that were only a pipe dream when I started, mostly hardtails, and I have to admit that I was never a fan of narrow flat bars nor the 120mm plus length stems of that era. Riser bars were just starting to make there mark and at the time I think the shortest stem I could find was a 90-95mm. Your know on my current restorations I try to keep everything period correct including all the cool anodized aftermarket components but no flat bars or bar ends but I don't throw that stuff away either.

@jaredbowles4202 Месяц назад

I havent mountain biked in almost 3 years, but still love Seth's content!

@rasousa1979 28 дней назад

Hi Seth! A hug from Portugal! I love Cannondale bikes, I have a Cad3 that is from around the same time as your F500. Some time ago I converted a mountain bike to gravel. And at the time my idea was to find one with the headshock suspension, but unfortunately I didn't find one. I think it would be a great idea to convert your F500 with modern components and see if the suspension makes any difference on a gravel course versus an actual gravel bike. A hug and thank you very much for the videos!

@stefancremer4615 Месяц назад

I also got into MTB early/mid 90’s and loved the bikes at the time. Looking at it now it seems implausible how we were able to enjoy riding them! Look at that insanely long stem for instance… Yet we survived and ride outrageously capable bikes, but at a serious cost - those bikes may not have been cheap, but they were comparatively a lot cheaper than today. Innovation has a price.

@alex2431 Месяц назад

Seth, this video was awesome, I learned something and I was entertained!

@mlee6136 5 дней назад

This headstock would be great application for gravel bikes. Since now we are seeing gravel rigs essentially turning into Mtb hardtails lol.

@bigtater29 Месяц назад

Nice lead-up story to the lefty. That's cool. Keep it comin. 👊

@jim4859 Месяц назад

I still have an F700 with the Headshock. Without the lockout, you get a lot of bounce when pedaling uphill so I used the lockout a lot. I got tired of servicing the shock and for years now I've ridden it as a rigid. It's a light, agile bike that works well on moderate trails.

@666Funnyboy Месяц назад

Best video in a while! I love the odd tech stuff.

@Opforvideo2 Месяц назад

I remember having to talk my buddy out of one of those. One test ride in Annadel SP is all it took, 50mm travel and a super stiff aluminum frame was a no go on the washboard and cobblestone trails of Sonoma County.

@trulsdirio Месяц назад

We still sell a similar thing in some Gazelle city bikes. The Grenoble C8 for instance. For those Dutch bikes made for the sole purpose of getting you where you need to be as quickly and comfortably as possible they actually make a lot of sense. You don't need much travel, but good sensitivity, you want as low maintenance as possible and that's exactly what this gets you.

@eddynator5847 Месяц назад

bought a 05 f2000sl for 250 a few years ago, greatest bike I've ever had!

@Doc.Holiday Месяц назад

I had/have one of their “Prophet” Lefties MTB bikes. I have thousands of mtb / X country miles on it. I get tired of commenters that have never seen one before. It requires more maintenance than a normal suspension fork. Other than that it works.

@scottsorensen239 Месяц назад

I rode the hell out of a lefty in phoenix for 9 years. Never had a problem with it and I had full confidence in it. I knew one of the guys that was on the product testing team and he told some stories of them torture testing them and bending their handlebars trying to bottom them out on jumps.

@K3NnY_G Месяц назад

My first good bike was a Cannondale F4, had a blown out adjustable Headshok, they tried to warn me at the shop I'd probably have some trouble replacing it. Did eventually find a coil headshok, almost died many a time on that bike. 😆 But eventually did get an adapter to put a decent, regular 1 1/8 fork on it.

@ssmtb Месяц назад

Nice, find 👌 I really loved the "sunshine" fade cannonade hardtail's as a teen in the 90s

@Clayton_B Месяц назад

I remember riding my dad's friends bike was a Cannondale carbon raven with the head shock and the 3 spoke carbon wheels, bike was super light and so smooth