June 10th, 2009 by 
charles
An easy assumption from people (including me) was that this tech simply can’t offer the stability that comes from a standard two legger… And that’s generally speaking, wrong. In fact anything in the Lefty SL weight class is less stiff… In twist flex and in front to back flex. And that’s when you loosely define the term “weight class”.
Even if it tracked worse than it’s heavier competition (and it doesn’t), the weight of the SL sits at 2.5 pounds. For weight weenie types like me, it makes for an interesting problem because we’re so used to making excuses for the lack of performance on fly weight parts that we frankly don’t know what to do when something is this light and then outperforms other things…
The FAT tube cross section and materials combine for a fork that gives exceptional stiffness.
And does so without reservation or conditions like “better than you would expect for a single leg fork”. The stiffness and tracking of the Lefty Speed Carbon is great compared to forks in the all mountain weight range.
It makes sense that compression and rebound have to be in one side on the lefty… But it’s that way on lots of two sided forks as well.
Another benefit of the massive cross section of the Lefty fork tube is that engineers have a lot of space to work inside compared to double leg forks that try and stick all of their damping into a smaller tube.
That extra room not only provides more volume for damping hardware, it also allows for the use of needle bearing actuation…
This coupled with better volume for damping makes for the smoothest operation XC fork on the market (just a personal opinion). And the structure also gets credit for some of the stiffness of the Lefty…
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June 10th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
This bike is amazing. I had a chance to demo one briefly at skeggs here in the SF bay area, and it blew me away. I came home telling my wife, \No, I’m not kidding, I think I may need to spend $7000 on a bike.\ It made my Intense Spider feel like a Huffy.
June 10th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
I’ll take one of these or a Rise if it can fit 650B wheels…
Nice review. Thanks.
June 11th, 2009 at 12:28 am
nice review, awesome bike
Keep it up Eliflap.
Regards from Romania,
Vlad
June 11th, 2009 at 6:18 am
Vlad the picture of your insane Scalpel in the review was my favorite Pic!
June 11th, 2009 at 9:26 am
Hey thanks for the awesome review, Charles!
Not surprising to see that it rides very similar to the Rize.
And I totally agree…I wish more of the carbon fiber was visible too….but then I enjoy the tech look.
June 15th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Charles, is not my bike in the review…. is Eliflap’s bike and the other one I don’t know who it owns is …
June 15th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
not to knock your very nice cannondale but if what you said about this fork were true more companies would be going this route(single side fork) and there not, and on top of that cannondale in my 20 years of building bikes has never been known for top notch frame strength in fact ive seen more busted cannondale frames then any other kind of MTB frame. This is just my personal opinion but i’d take my $7000 and by a hellova lot nicer bike then a cannondale scalpal
June 15th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
PS: like say a TREK Top Fuel 9.8 or 9.9
June 16th, 2009 at 7:17 am
I really like the 9.9ssl too. in fact, I’ve been on that bike along with the Scalpel team, Scott Spark, Sworks Epic etc… Fantastic bikes with a lot to offer (and lots of reasons they don’t copy designs from one another…)
I could definitly be wrong in what I’m feeling, but I have been on most of the top end XC bikes available lately including the 9.9ssl (great back end). What I felt with the lefty is pretty much on par with what others in the industry feel about the lefty (even several competitors when they’re being honest). And having seen stiffness testing (and nobody is disputing the weight) I’ll simply stand by what I’ve said.
As for broken bikes, we’ve both seen plenty from virtually all brands. Staying on topic though I’ve not seen a single broken 09′ team edition Scalpel. But if I had, Cannondale (along with a few of it’s competitors, including your Trek choice, Specialized, Scott, Look) take very good care of their customers.
If you have any data on fork tests and or pics of lots of broken 09 scalpels, please let me know though! I learn something new every day and don’t claim for a second to know it all. I would say post pics or info you have, in the Forums but noticed you have no posts at MTBR (no crime though as I hardly have any either, though I’m not exactly hard to find or identify…)
June 17th, 2009 at 6:10 am
For the 12 years old: The reason other companies dont use the superior Lefty design is simple: Cannondale own the design and patents and are not interested in licensing it. People dissing the Lefty with such arguments as ‘if it were that good, others would do it’ obviously haven’t been riding one… The only negative point I give a Lefty is that after being used to them, it becomes quite hard to ride anything else, they just feel wrong and vague.
Oh and I’ve seen a lot more Treks snap than Cannondales with Fishers being even worse, but any brand of bike can sometimes have failure…
Charles: nice review. I’m on a 2008 Team Replica myself and you just got me a lot more curious about the 2010 range… coming soon.
July 16th, 2009 at 11:35 am
I just cannot bring myself to get past the lefty forks. I tested a Cannondale (not the scalpel) with a lefty fork and it just didn’t feel right and I hate the way they look. Probably the same feelings as a Cannondale fan would have about conventional forks! I ended up getting a 2009 Top Fuel 9.8 and cannot imagine a faster and more comfortable race bike…..and comfort in a racing rig is saying something.
July 16th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Vin I see what you’re saying, I just dont feel it… Having had the 9.8 I can say that the damping, operation and stiffness are at the very least, on par and frankly a bit better on the Scalpel. And I’m not looking at it from a brand fan perspective.
Had you targeted the rear suspension, I would have said there’s a difference depending on terrain and that some may side one way or the other. But I don’t think the fork on the 9.8 is better at literally anything. On the whole though I wouldn’t cry a bit having either bike…
September 17th, 2009 at 10:06 am
I have tried to look at the lefty objectively but can’t get past a few of the design issues. I wish I had shops opinion , one who has serviced this fork. It seems to me that all the monkey motion required to keep this fork/wheel straight while dampening efficently kind of works agianst itself. Stiction is the enemy of fork operation and as this design wears it seems stiction would increase dramatically. This is all guess woek on my part with know real facts to back it.
I have owned Cannondales in the past and these one brand components are very expensive to maintain and repair. Many of the reviews I have read say they like the operation but require alot of maintenance. Any real world EXPERIENCED users?
September 17th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Please excuse my spelling errors on that last post. It was supposed to read “This is all guess work on my part with no real facts”.
October 9th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
I have been riding a 2001 cannondale jekyll with a “basic” lefty fork and I can say that it performs great. I ride about once a week (should be more)on real mountain bike trails and have never had a problem a with the lefty. In fact I have never had it serviced! By the way I’m 6′2″ , 210 lbs. and ride hard.
October 25th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
Brian, I am a “real world EXPERIENCED user”. I own this bike- It’s my 4th Scalpel & one of several bikes I ride regularly (although the others are a little neglected since this baby showed up). I upgraded my previous Scalpel for this exact one, and I can tell you the carbon frame, BB30, and parts groupo improve on a bike I thought was pretty close to perfect. Broken frames are a part of the deal for anyone who races hard, regardless of the brand they’re on. I’m 6′1″ 185lbs & racing at the top level with our local club. We’re literally racing on the Canadian Shield here & the courses are brutal: an old ski hill and a maze of singletrack through an old mining area. I’ve broken a couple bikes including one of my older Scalpels- Cannondale sent me a free replacement & even upgraded my ‘07 style for the new one with more travel… not a bad deal right? As for the Lefty, don’t ever try one or you’ll be stuck riding Cannondales for life (or until some other company smartens up and “invents” the Righty). I bought my first Scalpel because, spending this kind of money, I wanted a bike that had some visible engineering innovations… I wanted something special, something exciting! Of course I grew to love the Lefty, as everyone does. Now here’s the problem: I coach a team of 60 teenagers at the school where I teach & many of them are on pretty fine bikes. The kids always want to test ride my Scalpels, but I can’t let them. It’s better if they don’t know. As for the Living Hinge rear triangle- wow, super light & amazing on climbs. Now, you’re probably thinking I’m just brand loyal right? Wrong. I also own a Redline 29er, a Kuota TT bike, a Trek MTB, a Specialized Cyclecross, and a Cannondale road bike. A Specialized Rockhopper Pro hard tail was stolen last fall. All these other bikes are good. OK, the Kuota is great, but my Cannondale System6 road bike is just a regular bike, just like all the others I’ve tried. I’d probably even switch brands & look at a Pinarello for my next one. However, the idea of buying a non-Scalpel mountain bike just doesn’t make sense to me. Is this bike for everyone? No, you’ve got to be crazy to spend this kind of $ on a bike. But if you ride more than you drive & you’re gonna spend your money on a sweet bike instead of the new truck you badly need, the Scalpel is it. Period. Of course, that’s just my opinion, but it’s the opinion of a man who rides a lot and has ridden a lot of bikes. For the record, my wife also rides a Scalpel.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:08 am
guys… I currentlty own a top fuel 9.9ssl.. i also own a trek top fuel 2007 sl .. and i have just finished a trek fuel ex 9.9 build with crossmax sl and oro puro brakes..
i have just purchased a scalpel team from ebay.. and am waiting for it to arrive..
i want to love it.. i want for it to deserve a place in my bike shed..
will give you feeback when it arrives.
thanks for a great review..!!