MEATengines 2022...

A long time ago a friend put a spare Lefty fork on an old hardtail frame that was only rim brake compatible. A Lefty is obviously only disk brake compatible so he ran disk in front and v-brake in the back and had matching mismatched wheels. We always called that bike the Frankenbike.

(I guess one could make an argument that a Lefty is a Frankenfork)

First I’d make the argument that a Lefty is a strut, not a fork.

Then I’d say their relative weirdness is location dependent. There are some places where Cannondale is so strong as a brand Lefty/Ocho aren’t weird at all.

I loved my Lefty 2.0. Wicked stiff, wicked smooth, very light. The one change I would have made is to make the top crown so it could accept a direct mount stem.

LBS out of my tire of choice? LOL I would have one on the shelf of my garage. It would be a personal failure not to have a spare. ;-)

Posted by: AndrewMajor

First I’d make the argument that a Lefty is a strut, not a fork.

Then I’d say their relative weirdness is location dependent. There are some places where Cannondale is so strong as a brand Lefty/Ocho aren’t weird at all.

I loved my Lefty 2.0. Wicked stiff, wicked smooth, very light. The one change I would have made is to make the top crown so it could accept a direct mount stem.

why does that look like a motorcycle chain with wide/extra wide chain ring?

Posted by: taprider

why does that look like a motorcycle chain with wide/extra wide chain ring?

1/8” chains work fine with 3/32” narrow-wide rings. It’s best to combine them with a 1/8” cog or a STEEL 3/32” cog.

I switched back to 3/32” chains as I’m generally using aluminum cogs now (larger sizes available / only available in 3/32”) and the 1/8” chains eat them. But, nice 1/8” chains are much more durable (vs. breakage) and last longer in the #1FG application.

Posted by: AndrewMajor

HAHAHA. I just imagined the collective reaction of NSMB readers if a bike showed up on the main page with one skinwall and one black wall tire. Especially if the image was a super crisp full-art shot by The Dentizt. The site might crash?!

Going to add that to my to-do list for sure.

and if it was on Pinkbike then Internet would crash!!!

Posted by: AndrewMajor

Posted by: fartymarty

Frankenclectic??? Thus is definitely Ravavist territory.

For me it's form follows function and it's nice if there is a story (or solid reason) behind a part.

An aside, but I've had a few folks comment lately that I'm in 'Radavist Territory' with some of the stuff I've been doing and as a generalization it doesn't make any sense to me. I read and enjoy the Radavist and there are lots of interesting machines that they showcase but they're all perfectly coordinated with matching anodizing, tire patches, rims, spokes - everything. Hell, if there are two water bottles on a frame they will both be identical and colour coordinated. They're the kind of bikes that need to be (and are) photographed with the tire valves oriented exactly the same way (never mind mismatched rims or tires).

They're eccentric but I wouldn't call them eclectic. At their best they're beautifully thought out modern takes on classic bicycle experiences/aesthetics and at their worst they are like buying new jeans with the holes already in them - but they're rarely well-used jeans that have been patched with an assortment of fabrics that were on hand.

This is cool, but I don't think it's a frankenbike:

Andrew - 

I'm sure I've mentioned "Ravadist" once or twice in this thread.  Don't take it as a bad thing it's more to do with the type of bikes featured - generally rigid, generally steel and sometimes singlespeed as opposed to the latest greatest multi-multi geared carbon electronic wunderbike that are on most other mtb sites.

In my mind this https://theradavist.com/cry-of-the-duralcan-ronnie-romances-duralcan-s-works-stumpjumper-m2/ is the type of bike that typifies The Radavist - a bit beaten up and eclentric (eclectic + eccentric).  Sure there are bikes like the piccy above which are matchy matchy and eclectic but they aren't Frankenbikes. I think Frankenbikes need patina (or at least some of the parts), which comes with time and just the right amount of abuse.

Out of interest do you know of any good Frankenbike sites?

Posted by: AndrewMajor

First I’d make the argument that a Lefty is a strut, not a fork.

Then I’d say their relative weirdness is location dependent. There are some places where Cannondale is so strong as a brand Lefty/Ocho aren’t weird at all.

I loved my Lefty 2.0. Wicked stiff, wicked smooth, very light. The one change I would have made is to make the top crown so it could accept a direct mount stem.

You are right that it's a strut of course but to me it has always looked like a fork with one half missing ;-)

That friend with the Frankenbike was back in the Netherlands where indeed Cannondale had (has?) a very strong presence. Based solely on my friend's experience the Lefties had reliability issues, he actually had 2 because one was always in for service. We rode the Cape Epic stage race together in South Africa and he had both his Lefties serviced before departure, put one on his bike (a Scalpel, not the mentioned Frankenbike) and brought the other one as a spare, and it turned out both were leaking air. Perhaps he was just unlucky.

During the same Cape Epic we saw another rider with a Lefty that had literally broken in two. He had attempted to repair it with a branch and duck tape to make it to the finish. Talking about Frankenbike!

@Niels, "broken in half" in what way? Like the aluminum stanchion was separated from the body of the strut or the carbon strut had broken in half? I have what I'd call an above average number of experiences with Lefty strut systems and I've seen corrosion, leaking (air and oil), and various other issues but I've yet to see a proper broken one. Did he ship his bike to the Cape Epic? How was it packaged? How was it transported? Did it actually break while riding or did it break in shipping and then fail while riding?

I mean, on the one hand, everything breaks. But without context, it just sounds like one of those stories. Like the Fox 40 lowers I've seen that were twisted. I mean, I've seen hundreds of Fox 40s that weren't twisted, and the reason these lowers twisted was an insane crash that also wrote off a wheel and a handlebar. But I can certainly say, without context, that I've seen twisted Fox 40 lowers if that makes sense?

It's like your friend's Lefty struts. What generation? Were they updated? Who worked on them? I've seen so much sh*t come out of bike shops that should be sending suspension products to service centers - locally and from other places - that saying they were serviced before departure doesn't say anything. My Lefty 2.0 had an issue with an air leak but there was an update kit they provided for free that actually significantly improved performance at the same time. But you could only get that upgrade kit if your fork was being serviced at a Lefty service center. Maybe the struts were serviced at a Lefty service center and maybe there were bad seal kits, or the center did poor work, or whatever - not saying it's not possible. But I do think these conversations require more context.

In general - all brands - riders do a sh*t job of looking after their suspension. Like folks will have a fork with so much stiction they're having to under-pressurize it by 10, 15, 20psi to achieve say, and then instead of getting it serviced they'll buy a carbon OneUp bar to dampen vibrations. There are certainly some performance forks and shocks that are less reliable than others but I've read plenty of rants on the internet where I would have loved to jump in with some context because I knew the rider/product in question and folks tend to leave out important details.

For example, more than one rider complaining about their shock blowing up prematurely after a service, where in fact the frame bearings were all semi-seized which puts tons of extra loads into the shock it isn't designed for.

Andrew, the Lefty that had broken in half we only saw in passing during the race. I vividly remember the branch duck taped to it like a splint, you don't forget something like that. I don't know what happened so yes, it's "just a story".

The terrain there was very tough on bikes and in 8 days, between 1200 riders on lightweight XC bikes, we literally saw every possible part break: wheels, frames, forks, handlebars, seatposts, etc. So the story is not a stab at Cannondale specifically. The race organizers had a team of mechanics on site who were wrenching deep into every night to enable everyone to start the next day, it was quite impressive.

My friend's Lefties must haves been late '00s and he typically serviced them regularly himself but had sent both in to Cannondale for full rebuilds before the Epic just in case.

Anyway I saw "Frankenbike" mentioned and it brought back these memories, no deeper intentions than just sharing some fun stories.

Posted by: AndrewMajor

I have what I'd call an above average number of experiences with Lefty strut systems

I mean this completely in jest, but that could still be in the single digits lol. Most people I know don't even touch them.

I kid, I kid. I worked at a Cannondale dealer back in the day and when it came to their suspension products the word from Cannondale was basically "swap the cartridge, or swap the fork, those are your only options". We had a bunch of cartridges and I probably only swapped like 10 during my 3-4 years at that shop.

To satisfy multiple MeatEngine criteria simultaneously.... A Min-Max, mismatched sidewall, frankenbuild for a 7th birthday.

Just to ensure the Internet didn't break I used my phone camera instead of hiring the Dentizt.

It's perfect.

Totally, perfect!