[MendonCycleSmith]

So here's how it went. I had a customer come into my shop today, looking to buy a Titus Racer X. Cool, hooked him up with the info etc. We went into various details about this and that, and I asked him why he wanted to get rid of his 2 year old Scalpel 2000. He say's I love the bike, but I HATE that carbon Lefty.....HUH? Why, I ask? Well, the bearing migration stinks, I always have to air it up more to make up for it, the air leaked, and now I have to send it back to Cannondale, and be without my bike for 3 weeks, and pay $200 because there is a race or two that got pitted when they got wet, this fork sucks.

After I stopped laughing, I inform him that he can reset the migration himself, in about 3 minutes, with very few tools, and even less skill, the parts he needs to replace cost a total of around $15 plus $25 labor, and I can get it done in a few days. He's floored, can't believe this is true, now he's wanting to keep his bike, which he loves, but that fork..........


This is what I keep saying, Cannondale is losing MAJOR market share by allowing shops to sell their products without making them be service friendly. Did I mention that it would cost him $150 for 3 ish weeks, but they could "speed it up" for another $50??!! Hey Cannondale, your plan stinks. Require shops to work on what they sell, it's not that hard, the tools are'nt that expensive, heck, the profit off an F600 would buy most of the parts and tools to get yourself going. I love Cannondale, but I did you a favor, I could very easily have just kept my mouth shut, and sold him what he wanted. Why do I do this? I really am starting to ask myself that. Just had to vent. Cannondale spends no time here, so it falls on deaf ears. Meanwhile, over at the Titus board, company folks are regularly chiming in, and paying attention, sounds like a hungry company, instead of one bent on buying shoe and clothing companies, while ignoring what they should be paying attention to.

 

[Reset]

Interesting...
you've got a pretty good point.

Having a company rep posting about his stuff is always good and it's even better from a marketing perspective. Maybe when you get bigger you don't have time to stay closer to the custumers. That's a big marketing error in my opinion.

 

[lo gear]

I also have a Scalpel 2000 with a carbon lefty sitting in the LBS . will have been there three weeks at the end of this week.seems they are waiting on a seal kit for the lefty, from cannondale which was suppose to be in last week but didnt show (but they did get the bearing for the rear hub). last timed I called the shop they didnt know when it would be in ,said they couldnt get in touch with their cannondale rep. BS??? I've had the bike a little over a year and love it and this is the first time the lefty has failed me. It will hold its air pressure but moves freely up and down just as if it had no air. the shop said it needed seals but couldnt tell me how much it was going to cost for parts and labor.Great shop! I was on vacation all last week with no bike! My wife and kids said they really enjoyed my company all week I was and absolute joy to be around. Hey Cannondale if your listening I would gladly trade my Scalpel for a Titus right now, hell maybe even a mongoose or huffy.
great product,very poor service

 

[ddu]

Same for me....

Sorry for my english.... I read but i don't write it !!

I explain to my Lbs how to reset bearing !!! He said that it's only my bike that have done that !!

I reset my bearing in 2 minutes, but two hours on rocky trails and bearing migration come again. I'm really disappointed, I spend a lot of money for a fork that don't work correctly more than two hours with no support from my lbs. No 10 foot drops, just rocky trail at medium speed. For info, large spring with two turns of preload for 175 pounds.

Great frame, poor fork with very poor service. I really like cannondale's bike but I'll probably go for specialized for my next bike.

Bye

 

[edge]

You're right Mendon

And you're one of a dying breed of shops. In the long term it will pay off in spades.

Most of the Cdale dealers I've run into know NOTHING about the leftys they sell. The send them to Cdale for freakin BEARING MIGRATION!!!!!!!!!

 

[jdp526]

I am a new Cannondale consumer and I am wondering if anyone uses 'Brad's Blog' on the Cannondale site to vent, offer suggestions, comments, etc? I have looked at the blog only a few times and it doesn't seem to get updated very often. I also tried to send a note about the joy of riding my new Rush but it looks like all comments have to be approved first before they get posted.
Are there any other forums on Cannondale's site where they might pay attention to their customers comments? Its too bad they aren't on here in support of their products.

 

[Wick]

I hope Cannondale is listening

Mendon- you are absolutely right. I own three Cannondales with leftys (which I love) and have yet to find a shop in the Atlanta vicinity that I would trust with anything but minor maintenance. I would love to have my 2005 Prophet serviced the lefty max is not up to snuff-- but no one around here, that I am aware of is willing or capable to do the work. :madman:

Mendon - I will probably send my lefty to you for service once I am motivated to take it off and ship it.

 

[Dan Gerous]

Its too bad they aren't on here in support of their products.

Maybe they are... maybe they are.

 

[MendonCycleSmith]

Same for me....

Sorry for my english.... I read but i don't write it !!

I explain to my Lbs how to reset bearing !!! He said that it's only my bike that have done that !!

I reset my bearing in 2 minutes, but two hours on rocky trails and bearing migration come again. I'm really disappointed, I spend a lot of money for a fork that don't work correctly more than two hours with no support from my lbs. No 10 foot drops, just rocky trail at medium speed. For info, large spring with two turns of preload for 175 pounds.

Great frame, poor fork with very poor service. I really like cannondale's bike but I'll probably go for specialized for my next bike.

Bye

Hey there, not sure where you are, but if it happens to the fork that quickly, there is a fix, but it needs to go to a shop that can fix them, in depth. (smelling a trend?) Cannondale can do it too, but if you are in another country, this will take a good bit of time, I am guessing. The bearings that migrate, are held in place, and slide on, strips of thin steel called races. They are available in thickness's that go up in thousandths. What needs to happen is your inner races need to be bumped up by a thousandth all the way around. This will increase your bearing preload, slowing down the migration. Again, if your "Cannondale Authorized" shop was required to be able to work on them in house, as part of their dealer agreement, this would be a total non issue. Sorry to hear it's a problem.

 

[MendonCycleSmith]

I am a new Cannondale consumer and I am wondering if anyone uses 'Brad's Blog' on the Cannondale site to vent, offer suggestions, comments, etc? I have looked at the blog only a few times and it doesn't seem to get updated very often. I also tried to send a note about the joy of riding my new Rush but it looks like all comments have to be approved first before they get posted.
Are there any other forums on Cannondale's site where they might pay attention to their customers comments? Its too bad they aren't on here in support of their products.

They put up the blog for marketing appearances, otherwise it would not require so much "clearance" to get in. Hey look, we're hip, we have a BLOG= Don't get me wrong, as a new Cannondale lover, please, love your bike. I have for many many years, and will continue to, but Cannondale is doing some stuff that is hurting them, and since they are now a corporation, instead of a large family run affair, they seem less interested in responding to problems. As long as unit's are going out the door, the shareholders are happy, that sort of typical BS. The folks that build them are still there, the folks that design them are still there, and they continue to make some of the most kick a$$ bikes in the business. Cannondale, wake up!

 

[tshrey]

The last 'Cannondale Authorized Dealer' I took my bike to didn't understand me when I told them I wanted the x-stiff top-out spring installed in my lefty. One of the bike techs came out to look at my fork and asked me which leg the spring is installed in - which freakin' leg? Of a Lefty? I just walked the bike out of the shop and drove 30 minutes to the next one.

 

[Dan Gerous]

They put up the blog for marketing appearances, otherwise it would not require so much "clearance" to get in. Hey look, we're hip, we have a BLOG= Don't get me wrong, as a new Cannondale lover, please, love your bike. I have for many many years, and will continue to, but Cannondale is doing some stuff that is hurting them, and since they are now a corporation, instead of a large family run affair, they seem less interested in responding to problems. As long as unit's are going out the door, the shareholders are happy, that sort of typical BS. The folks that build them are still there, the folks that design them are still there, and they continue to make some of the most kick a$$ bikes in the business. Cannondale, wake up!

Same thing with the shops that carry them. Some are great, some arent. Cannondale controls who can and cannot sell their bikes and that's fine but nowadays, the first criteria seems to be more about the number of bike they sell and less about the quality of the shop. I'm lucky, the LBS I go to sell a lot but they know how to work on the bikes as well but I know some are not as lucky.

If I had the choice though, I'd rather go to a smaller shop, you can get a better relationship with the mechanics and other staff usually. I used to go to shop that, when they saw me coming in, the manager would open me a cold beer and ask me to do the DJ... I earned many things from that shop's mechanic but now that the manager left and that they don't carry bikes I like, I stopped going there.

 

[Dan Gerous]

The last 'Cannondale Authorized Dealer' I took my bike to didn't understand me when I told them I wanted the x-stiff top-out spring installed in my lefty. One of the bike techs came out to look at my fork and asked me which leg the spring is installed in - which freakin' leg? Of a Lefty? I just walked the bike out of the shop and drove 30 minutes to the next one.

LOL

 

[ddu]

Hey there, not sure where you are, but if it happens to the fork that quickly, there is a fix, but it needs to go to a shop that can fix them, in depth. (smelling a trend?) Cannondale can do it too, but if you are in another country, this will take a good bit of time, I am guessing. The bearings that migrate, are held in place, and slide on, strips of thin steel called races. They are available in thickness's that go up in thousandths. What needs to happen is your inner races need to be bumped up by a thousandth all the way around. This will increase your bearing preload, slowing down the migration. Again, if your "Cannondale Authorized" shop was required to be able to work on them in house, as part of their dealer agreement, this would be a total non issue. Sorry to hear it's a problem.

I'm come from Quebec, Canada. That's why I don't speak english very well
I'll go to my super Cannondale Authorized shop again :madmax: Yes, cannondale wake up ! Thanks a lot !!!

Dom

 

[mtnpat]

Sure glad my good buddy at the LBS (Cannondale dealer) didn't let my wife buy me that Prophet with the Lefty like I wanted. Instead I had to settle for a Fox TALAS 36.

 

[used2Bhard]

Cannondale Rebuild?

My DLR2 was rebuilt by cannondale twice. After five miles the bearings were out and Air had escaped around the cartridge to put negative pressure on the fork again. 70mm of travel in one ride. It's now back to them for a third time as they are fixing it under warranty (free).... I was exasperated the last time I went to the shop. My LBS told me that out of the dozen Scalpel and Rush models he has sold in the past year with DLR2's, half of them have come back with fork issues. He was reccomending the kit to convert to a 2-legged model to his repeat customers. His dissapointment with has made him recently leave the shop and go to another dealer.

My DLR(1) never had any issues after a thousand miles of riding. In 300 miles this lefty has been rebuilt three times. Because of the fork woes I skipped the Scalpel when I bought my new XC race rig last month and now have a shiny Yeti ASR-SL in my garage... I enjoy my Rush alot, but it will have a Reba on it soon if the fork isn't fixed this time.

 

[racerzero]

After I stopped laughing, I inform him that he can reset the migration himself, in about 3 minutes, with very few tools, and even less skill, the parts he needs to replace cost a total of around $15 plus $25 labor, and I can get it done in a few days. He's floored, can't believe this is true, now he's wanting to keep his bike, which he loves, but that fork..........

Reminds me of my college buddy. A regular stud who want to sport cars to impress the ladies. He found an MGB GT in the classified and asked me to drive him to look at the car. The car really looked good on the outside. He asked me what I thought. I told him that I heard the British cars are unreliable. He bought it anyway.

On his first date with the MG the car stalled. He ended up calling me and I wasn't to happy because it was pouring. I didn't know beans about British cars so I told him to tow it. He had it towed to a British Sport Car repair shop. The next day when my buddy talked to the shop owner he was told to buy a rubber mallet and whack the fuel pump if it stalls again. The fuel pump is under the car which has only like 6 inches of clearance. After a few more stalling incident my frustrated friend was ready to dump the car. Yeah, it was an easy and quick fix but crawling under the car while on a hot date wasn't very studley.

It turns out the best fix was to replace the fuel pump with a Delco fuel pump. Buddy didn't have any fuel pump issues after that.

 

[dasong]

Hey everyone, just wanted to plug MendonCycleSmith... i took my scalpel in a few weeks ago and Craig did a great job on my lefty (had it ready in less than 24 horus). 25 bucks once a year, you should all do it. we need more LBSes that are like MCS, honest, personal, not bent on making money over satisfying customers. i just wish MCS was more local to me but at least it's in the same city.
thanks Craig.
david

 

[Beankeeper]

. It will hold its air pressure but moves freely up and down just as if it had no air. the shop said it needed seals but couldnt tell me how much it was going to cost for parts and labor.Great shop!

The only time I have seen that was when someone left the white urathane puck (that seals the air chamber) out of the fork when they reassembled it. It would probably do the same thing if the O-Ring was missing off of the puck. The newer pucks have 2 seals if I remember correctly.

 

[MendonCycleSmith]

Because of the fork woes I skipped the Scalpel when I bought my new XC race rig last month and now have a shiny Yeti ASR-SL in my garage....

Funny, that was the other bike the guy was looking at=