houston0501

Have Been Checking Into The Cannondale Prophets. Any Opinions On The Prophet 5 And 6 For A All Mount/xc?

Quick_Torch C5

I think you should look up "Mcoine".

mcoine

Why? I don't own a prophet, and I have never ridden one.

I think they are nice bikes, but I have no personal experience. Regarding the forks, ride both and see which you like.

Quick_Torch C5

sorry dude, wrong guy, try mcoomer.

Maelstrom 

The lefty would screw with my head, riding on a strut just doesn't sit well with me

rockabilly808

agreed. according to all the reports I've read it rides great but sumthin about it just seems wrong to me..

Chris_F

I have a Rush with the Lefty and love it. The Rush is the little brother to the Prophet and has a bit less suspension travel (okay with me since I don't use the full range of travel on the Rush anyway). I picked it because it rode well, and certain design aspects (the single pivot rear, lefty fork) really appealed to the Mechanical Engineer in me. Test-ride the Rush as well just to see if you like it. It's a very similar bike.

It rides just like any other fork. If you don't look down at it you'd never know it was a Lefty. No need to re-learn how to ride on the thing. My old fork on my old hardtail was a cheap-o unit (the bike was a $500 Trek, so cheap fork is expected). The Lefy definatly rides better, as it should considering the price difference, but both do the same basic thing. You don't need to treat it any differently.

My uncle rides a little and when he saw the Lefty he thought he wouldn't be able to ride the bike and would have to lean to the left while riding. He took a spin on my bike and was amazed that it felt like a regular fork.

Maelstrom 

Thanks, I know it rides similar, I have ridden one. At my weight I found it not as stable and having one leg screwed with my head when I was riding technical shore stuff (usually needing to look down to pinpoint my maneuver)

hmto

It rides just was well as any other mid range fork if not better.
If it weirds you out then don't look at some of the landing gear on planes before you take off...

rockabilly808

haha, never thought about it like that

Maelstrom 

Thats an illogical argument and one that I have heard before. Planes don't land on single wheels. They are balanced. And generally (larger planes) have a wheel per side. Now if I was using a 3 wheeler or a quad it would be a different story (quads use 4 struts and are quite strong and don't **** with my head either, the design makes sense)

Oh and of course there is the fact that regardless of what you say, lefty's flex (laterally and torsionally) more than the forks I buy. Just a fact of life, why can't the zealots just accept that. At 6'5 and anywhere from 250 to 280 depending on the season I can flex almost any fork on the market. Thats just pure fact. In the mid range I am stuck buying dj,am or fr series etc, for the strength and feel. I was speaking from personal experience which you can't dispute, despite your feelings otherwise.

So yes, it rides just as well as any mid level fork on the market <caveat> for an average sized xc rider.

DickyJ

Well yeah, but you must save a bit on shoes?

INSANEDESIGNS

I bought a Lefty Rush and rode it a number of times and I felt too much flex in the fork, The one-legged front end did not bother me at all. Anyway, I ended up swapping it out for a Fisher 29" Hi-Fi. The new bike felt much more solid in the front and I was able to ride a little more agressive on the same trails. I am in no way against the lefty but it just didn't work for me. There is my $.02

DirtPedalerB

As a poseur .. I just think they are ugly.

Maelstrom 

Not true, I wear size 17...I pay double

DasProfezzional

So the arguments are:

"The Lefty rides just like a traditional fork."
and
"The Lefty doesn't ride like a traditional fork."

You'll find that both arguments have plenty supporters. Since the Lefty offers no benefits over a traditional fork whatsoever, why not be sure that your front suspension rides like a traditional fork, and buy a traditional fork?

apclassic9

If you ride where there's lots of mud, or ride when the snow is flying, a lefty will stay clear when a fork clumps up. Lefty's are popular in WV.

Blade-Runner

Ask your LBS to take off the front wheel, once I saw how beefie the mounting point/axel was I felt alot better about the lefty.

Bail King

Now that I think of it, do you even have to take the rim off the fork to change a flat? If not, that could be a big advantage. That is if you flat alot.

Blade-Runner

Nope, you just leave the rim on the fork.

indygreg

I have no experience with these, but I am not sure it would be any easier to change the tire while still connected to the bike. Sure, not having to take the wheel off is one less thing to do, but I would have to think that fighting the entire bike's weight while trying to do this would offset that in a second.

Again, I have no real knowledge on this - I am just guessing that this is not actually much of a benefit of a lefty.
Lefty folks - is it quick and easy to take the front wheel off? I have to believe it would be.

C-daleRAG

I think most of the 08 prophets are coming with traditional fox forks on them. I have an 05 Prophet and love it. Lefty's work great, however I did change it out for a fox vanilla just recently. Wanted a lockout and something a little more plush along with some tunability, but still take a hit like my lefty did. The lefty max really did work well. I actually havn't ridden my bike with the new set up very much yet. I think in the end it was a good move. We'll see. As far as feeling like the bike was out of balance with a lefty, No. Felt completely normal. And if your looking ahead on the trail like your suppose to vs. straight down, you'll never notice.

cruzzer

Yes, some planes have one front wheel,, smaller planes.. oh,, and if the rear one sided thing works for the big sportbikes and the bmw big dual sport bikes,,

toopercentmlk

Lefty forks look tits.

Phatman

is that good?

I like tits, btw.