Originally Posted by
fasthair
Don't know why you would hate that bike. Is it because of the Headshoc? Funny because there is
this post in the forums right now about a guy who loves them. I myself have two with the Headshoc, one hybrid one mountain that I posted in this thread. Plus I think the hydro brake on your bike would be pretty cool, not practical maybe but cool. Another one of those "do it their own way" things about Cannondale. I didn't even know such a brake was ever made. I'm pretty sure the Headshoc was Cannondale's own idea. I've never saw another bike with this type of fork on it.
Anyway I like your bike. Looks like a nice comfortable ride that a person could put many miles on in a day.
fasthair
Originally Posted by
masi61
Wow! Thank you for giving Cannondale some credit for doing some creative innovating. Obviously not all folks find the Headshok variants to be worth as classics.
I guess it remains to be seen. I for one look forward to setting up the Silk Tour 800 that I just picked up. Honestly, after just one day this unloved beauty is really growing on me.
Headshok is a good system for a sharp-handling, short travel fork. In the 'Moar Travel Better' world of MTBs, once you get past 2" of travel, a Headshok just makes the head tube too tall. Look at XC bikes like the F-1000, and you'll see that they have negative rise stems, to get the bars down.
Some of the complaints are legit; The dampers don't like to take hits with the lockout on, and eventually fail.
Servicing is tricky, too due to the packaging and the infamous 'Castle Nut' Also, it seems like they changed the internals on a yearly basis, so you have to figure out which one you have before you can even figure out how to open it up. (That's why most shops won't touch them)
The air-sprung shocks don't like to sit around; they will leak down. If I ride mine every day for a month, it's fine, but if I let it sit for a month, I need to top up the air pressure, otherwise it's all squishy. Most people don't ride enough air pressure to begin with, so they complain about the fork because they're making the damper do the work of the spring.
The Road/ Hybrid forks are all coil or MCU spring, so they don't have that problem.
* I have a Cannondale hardtail, and a Softride road bike, so what does that say about me?