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12-13-02, 08:49 AM
I'm banished from riding until the new year so I took advantage of this quiet period to replace the handlebar-mounted rear shock lockout lever on my Gemini. The bike was originally fitted with a Shimano lever. To use the Shimano lever you had to take your hand off the grip, and pull the lever back through 180 degrees to engage the lock. That meant the lever pointed toward you when riding. A quick forward dismount and you’d hurt yourself – I know from experience. The Cannondale lever works differently. It’s thumb operated so your hand stays on the grip, and it rotates up and down in line with the bar. What I like about it, is that it uses maybe 2cm of movement to engage and release the lockout, where the Shimano rotated maybe 12cm.
Having a much shorter movement means you can really get good alignment and accurate positioning of the shock lockout cam. The Shimano lever could move past the ideal cam position and that made it somewhat erratic whether you’d set the shock the way you wanted to it to work.
The big benefit about the Cannondale lockout lever is that the lockout engages and releases almost instantly, exactly where the Shimano let me down, time and time again. Anyone who’s using the Shimano lever should consider swapping it out. There may be others on the market. For the extra price, it is worth the dollars spent. I’ve got the Fox RS shock and I think they also make a nice compact lever as well.
I know, there’s no Nobel Prizes in any of this, but it’s a nice time of year to look at your bike and get the pre-riding season tweaks done. Just thought I’d share this with you.
Having a much shorter movement means you can really get good alignment and accurate positioning of the shock lockout cam. The Shimano lever could move past the ideal cam position and that made it somewhat erratic whether you’d set the shock the way you wanted to it to work.
The big benefit about the Cannondale lockout lever is that the lockout engages and releases almost instantly, exactly where the Shimano let me down, time and time again. Anyone who’s using the Shimano lever should consider swapping it out. There may be others on the market. For the extra price, it is worth the dollars spent. I’ve got the Fox RS shock and I think they also make a nice compact lever as well.
I know, there’s no Nobel Prizes in any of this, but it’s a nice time of year to look at your bike and get the pre-riding season tweaks done. Just thought I’d share this with you.