marin vs cannnondale
 

Trying to decide between a Marin Rock Springs and a Cannondale Prophet 4. Used, same price.

Personally, I really like the lefty fork of the cannondale, but it seems like everything distal of the fork is lefty specific. Is it compatible with all hubs, wheels, etc or not?
I usually ride xc, but I'd like to take the occasional weekend trip to something more precipitous. Thoughts?

you need a specific hub.

Any input on those bikes? Impressions? I'm going to try them both out this weekend, but I was hoping for more feedback.

I wouldn't let the lefty fork components steer you away from buying the Cannondale. No pun intended. Buy the bike that you like riding the most.

hmmm. What year Prophet is this? All the 2008's in America have Fox forks.

I may be able to give you some feedback if you give me model years and/or product websites for the specific model.

I've thoroughly ridden C'dale Scalpel 2001, C'dale Rush 2007, and C'dale Prophet 2006.
Also been on Marin Mt. Vision, Mt. Vision Pro, East Peak, and Wolf Ridge of the past few years.

No need, proud new owner of a Marin Rock Springs '07.

The other thing about the lefty is that I read some reviews saying they're pretty susceptible to water damage. Not sure how true that is, but I don't really care to find out. The real reason I didn't buy it however is because seller was going to be an hour late to the meeting and after 20min I got fed up.