Hello! I have what I think is a 2001 F600. My problem is that everyone I ask says that the Headshock parts are discontinued. Does anyone know of a place to buy parts needed for a rebuild (seals, bearings, and bearing races) or if bike shops are able to get a hold of the parts. Thank you for the help! I can post more pictures if necessary. BTW I live in Germany.
Older Headshock rebuild
Thehappygerman
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Hello! I have what I think is a 2001 F600. My problem is that everyone I ask says that the Headshock parts are discontinued. Does anyone know of a place to buy parts needed for a rebuild (seals, bearings, and bearing races) or if bike shops are able to get a hold of the parts. Thank you for the help! I can post more pictures if necessary. BTW I live in Germany.
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Tried them, Thank you though. They told me the parts were discontinued.
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That is what I'm starting to think as well. Thank you.
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Once you start digging into that thing, you might not like what you find. I don't have a cannondale and never worked on a headshock, but I hear they are a monster if you don't have the right tools and experience.
If you're sure you want to tackle it, oddly enough, I have had luck getting o-rings from hardware stores. Amazing how many o-rings are needed in the plumbing world that can work with bike parts. Obviously not recommended for new, but at 15 years old, you use what you can.
If you're sure you want to tackle it, oddly enough, I have had luck getting o-rings from hardware stores. Amazing how many o-rings are needed in the plumbing world that can work with bike parts. Obviously not recommended for new, but at 15 years old, you use what you can.
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Thanks, I willl look into that. I have done shock rebuilds on motorcycles and dirt bikes before, I am hoping that will help me lol.
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how about sending it to Fatty | eighty-aid.com
What type of internals and what are the symptoms?
Certainly Eighty Aid are an option. They'll give you a quote to get it going again, but it will almost certainly be more than a used but fully working replacement fork from eBay and whatnot.
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Speaking from experience I would almost certainly say that the oil will need replacing in the damper, which will mean new seals in the damper and this is something that will need know-how. Then there will either be the air spring which may be perfectly fine, so check it it holds the pressure.
The sort of work required is a damper service and the telescope overhaul for the bearings/races to be cleaned, inspected and re-greased.
I have four Cannondales, all with Headshoks so can guess what is needed.
If you buy the castle tool and pin spanner you can take things appear to inspect but you really need to know when to stop because as you say the parts are discontinued and so a wrong move could render the fork dead if you don't strike lucky.
That Eighty-Aid company look pretty expensive.
Over here in the US we have a master mechanic in Mendon, NY that is a specialist and his work is fast, precise and extremely reasonable.
The sort of work required is a damper service and the telescope overhaul for the bearings/races to be cleaned, inspected and re-greased.
I have four Cannondales, all with Headshoks so can guess what is needed.
If you buy the castle tool and pin spanner you can take things appear to inspect but you really need to know when to stop because as you say the parts are discontinued and so a wrong move could render the fork dead if you don't strike lucky.
That Eighty-Aid company look pretty expensive.
Over here in the US we have a master mechanic in Mendon, NY that is a specialist and his work is fast, precise and extremely reasonable.
Some parts fit
I have the same fork on a 2001 Jekyll. I live in Hamburg.
The seals in the regular fatty DL70/80 set fit. You can also take seals from the hardware store for the air piston. They are a little smaller than the original seals, but the rubber tube is a little thicker, so it works. The seals inside the oil damper are cannondale specific parts.
Disassembling the needle bearing ist tricky, you need a good description and you have to build a tool that will hold the races in place, otherwise you will have problems to reasemble the fork. (Don't mix the races).
I twisted my air spring 180 degrees, because it lost air every 3-4 days. Just removed the bottom plug and pressed it into to the other side. Now the fork is perfect since days.
I have the same fork on a 2001 Jekyll. I live in Hamburg.
The seals in the regular fatty DL70/80 set fit. You can also take seals from the hardware store for the air piston. They are a little smaller than the original seals, but the rubber tube is a little thicker, so it works. The seals inside the oil damper are cannondale specific parts.
Disassembling the needle bearing ist tricky, you need a good description and you have to build a tool that will hold the races in place, otherwise you will have problems to reasemble the fork. (Don't mix the races).
I twisted my air spring 180 degrees, because it lost air every 3-4 days. Just removed the bottom plug and pressed it into to the other side. Now the fork is perfect since days.
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Just taken delivery of two FATTY folks and one MotoFR fork, all of which have been fully serviced. That's new oil and seals for the dampers, clean inspect and re-lube races and bearings and all other necessary work you'd expect in a complete overhaul.
The work is done by a Cannondale specialist that is well known in this forum.
The price I paid for all three folks appears to be less than for one damper service at EightyAid. Das ist nicht gut!
In regards to the telescope dismantling. This would be a step requiring very very clear understanding of the task, special tools and skills. If you get those bearings or races out of the original location then things could go south quickly. Each bearing is precision placed and these vary by microns I believe. I pay less than $100 per fork and sleep well knowing the job is down correctly. Better than spending $100 on tools and wrecking you folks.
The work is done by a Cannondale specialist that is well known in this forum.
The price I paid for all three folks appears to be less than for one damper service at EightyAid. Das ist nicht gut!
In regards to the telescope dismantling. This would be a step requiring very very clear understanding of the task, special tools and skills. If you get those bearings or races out of the original location then things could go south quickly. Each bearing is precision placed and these vary by microns I believe. I pay less than $100 per fork and sleep well knowing the job is down correctly. Better than spending $100 on tools and wrecking you folks.
Yes, the telescope dismantling is hard work, but you will find a manual for that at sheldon brown. The first time it took me two hours to rebuild the complete fork. The races are measured in microns, true. If you mix them up, because the fork falls into pieces during disassembly your screwed.
My problem was, that Dr. Cannondale told me that spare parts for my fork are discontinued, said, you can service all the seals, but not change the air spring, because the new ones don't fit.
Besides: how long are the air cylinders of DL70 and DL80? Diameter must be the same than super fatty, bacause the seals fit.
My super fatty has and always had 65 mm travel, the removed oil cartridge has 70 mm travel, manual says it has 80 mm of travel, but thats advertising.
My problem was, that Dr. Cannondale told me that spare parts for my fork are discontinued, said, you can service all the seals, but not change the air spring, because the new ones don't fit.
Besides: how long are the air cylinders of DL70 and DL80? Diameter must be the same than super fatty, bacause the seals fit.
My super fatty has and always had 65 mm travel, the removed oil cartridge has 70 mm travel, manual says it has 80 mm of travel, but thats advertising.
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Bro, yes I reviewed Sheldon's info and I also found a very well documented procedure for MotoFR forks. Applause to you if you took it on and completed with success. I too feel that I could do it with one or two extra tools and a spare inner tube BUT after evaluating the risks I felt it was not worth it when I have somebody I can trust to take care of it. However, if I was in Germany (with those prices) or where a reasonably priced specialist wasn't available I would defiantly do it. I want to do it... I just don't want to wreck my folks that would cost heaps more to replace.
I'm a ROI guy and have managed to tame my urges on this one
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Agreed, I guess its a personal preference. Luckily I have been able to keep my stuff operational at sensible priced BUT if it became no longer viable then an alternative folk is clearly a compelling option. I have kinda bought into the Headshok design plus I think my bikes (from that era) look better with them.
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Dooood, so what happened? Did you hear the jingle jangle sound of bearings and races bouncing on the floor and then had to best guess which ones went where? Lol
First time I decided to dismantle a headshok damper (FATTY-D) I intended on replacing the oil but I seemed to have tackled the wrong end. Anyways the entire shaft popped out (faaaaaaark) so I managed to fashion a bullet tool using Post-office packing tape to feed it back into place. That's when I realized the risks. We are all most likely going to make a mistake or two even after reading some guide unless we have somebody to watch and learn from a few times.
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80+ Aid tune all the Leftys tho for Cannondale race teams, so you know it’s gonna be good, but it’s gonna cost.
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