A friend of mine gave me this bike today and it is nice unit. The only problem is the front forks lost is "spring" and is sitting flat. I've done a ton of searching and have come to the conclusion that the “Elastomer” are worn out and gone. As many of you might know these parts are nowhere to be found it seems.

The bike is 1996 H600 Cannondale with DD25 Head Shok. Cannondale is telling me I have to upgrade it to a DD55 at an unknown cost but prices of 300 to 400 have been batted around and I’m not thrilled with that idea. I would really like to keep the original front end if I could mainly because it is there is not a scratch on it plus the paint matches.

So anyone have any ideas about where I might find some help fixing this thing? I’m a Mercedes-Benz mechanic by trade so wrenches are not foreign to me and I’m sure I can tackle this project. If I do end up buying a “exchange” unit from Cannondale will they paint it to match the bike or is that something I will have to do?

I can't believe how nice this bike rides. It rides so much nicer than the bike I bought new a year ago. I've got a hunch that one is going to be doing a lot of sitting from now on.

Any and all ideas and help is much appreciated!



fasthair

Does yours have the lockout knob on top? Base of stem. If fork does nt move at all check that. Some people do not know about the lockout knob

Yes it does have the lockout and it does work. When locked in the raised position and ridden it will slowly sink to the bottom again. I'm guessing this because of the issues with the fork.

Thanks for the reply,
fasthair

kind of funny how much information is on the web but so little about this shock. But during my searches I've found this nice little web site that has the most information I've found so far all in one place. So I thought I would post it here for the archives and hope it helps someone some day.

https://www.fastglass.net/bike/headshok/index.html

fasthair

I'm making head way! I found a company down under that has parts and will to help me get the stuff I need to get this baby fixed. They've been great to deal with and know the Head Shok pretty well. I'll keep updating this as things progress.

https://rlcsport.com.au/site/cannondale-tech-centre/

fasthair

Try this guy also. He is in upstate New York and posts on the MTBR forums also.
https://www.mendoncyclesmith.com/
Vintagecannondale.com also has some other links.
Good luck
Jerry

Thanks for the links turkey. I've already found the vintage site which is how I figured out the production date of the bike. Had also ran across Mendon cycles web site too but it didn't have much information on it so I just kind of passed it by. However after your recommendation I called them today and they were very helpful. I'll be removing the front end and sending it to them early next week. The gentleman I talked to, Craig, was very helpful and the guesstimate for repairs were very reasonable. So with any luck I'll have a rebuilt Head Shok I can ride next weekend!

Thanks for the help,
fasthair

I have been lucky and haven't had any problems with my Head Shocks. Everything I read on the other site is positive about what they can do though.
Good luck on the rebuild.