Cannondale F1000 Caad 4 revival project - Headshok Fatty D Service / Part Repair

I'm sticking to 26" out of pure retrogrouch grumpiness...stuff your "bigger is better bullshit" bike companies ;)

My car has tiny wheels too so maybe I have some sort of problem...inverse chelsea tractor driver syndrome :p

Bike24 replied saying they will chase up the elastomer with their supplier. We shall see...

Still no reply, Dr Cannondale may also have the part so I PMd them

Some useful things I found

http://sheldonbrown.com/cannondale-headshok/headshok_service_manual_en.pdf

Nice service manual :)

https://www.eighty-aid.com/sites/default/files/1999_headshok_fatty_fattyd_pbone_owners_manual_supplement_en_1_0.pdf

Specific to fork I have

Tsss this is taking a lot longer than I anticipated...

There is it.. the ne plus ultra... Note my fork is a slightly older model with 6 cm of travel this part may not fit yours!

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This is a win, right?

It's interesting looking at that and then looking at what modern Lefties have inside them.

Massive win otherwise I'd have to calculate the elastomer type and cut myself... It's possible but a hassle.

I guess no more elastomer in lefties? It's really the elastomer that's a Bad Idea...It doesn't last.

No - they all have solo airsprings in them now. Basically two separate air chambers. One to 'pull', to overcome stiction, the other main spring to 'push' and act as the spring which ramps up as you go through the travel. There's some complicated valving in between to allow a single schrader to fill them both and to balance the pressures out. That's what all those springs and shit are in the picture. And you can pop little plastic pucks in the main spring to tune the ramping of the spring rate.

Suspension is srs bsnss

Managed to get the boot on.
You will need:

Grease to put on bottom of fork
A thin knife or something else to help get in where fingernails won't do
Not having any fear of tight condom nightmares.

The trick as @Howard explained is put it on inside out with the wide end first...Then pull it over the fork steerer, and the you turn it back once it's on the narrow sliding part of the fork.

Roll, pull, roll, pull...Until you are nearly there.

You'll find it won't want to roll of the lip on the fork steerer near the end... Here's where the blunt end of a knife will come in: Prise it apart and put your finger in, or use something thicker and slide it in the knife hole. A standard triangle does rightly.

Now where the heck is my fork grease... Next: Get fork back in frame. Gonna be much hammer, many FFS.

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Paint on that looks great

It's the reptile fade paint job :)

Looking forward to seeing it put back together.

Fork takes a bit of a hammering to get it back in - I tapped mine with a rubber mallet, gently, beneath the crown, whilst holding the headtube steady. Once its some of the way in you can pop a stem on it, ride it about a bit, and your weight will do the rest.

Won't go down more... All I have is a light hammer and rubber protection though

@Howard is that enough (bearing 1/3rd in) to cycle it and move it down that way?

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I'd try to get it at least half way seated. If you have a tube that will go over the steerer, pop a wheel in the fork then use the tube + hammer to drive the headtube down on to the bearings.

Be careful tho... :)

I've got something will give that a try :)

Managed to get them in. I had to tap directly on the underside of the fork where bearings go on.

Don't be a tit like me and don't use a normal hammer as ALU with hammer means deformation. I doubt it's critical but meh. Borrow a big rubber mallet or a rubber tipped normal hammer.

Getting there! Need to check if the old front derailleur works on the different ring combo I have now.

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Don't be a tit like me and don't use a normal hammer as ALU with hammer means deformation.

Yea - don't do that! Make sure that's got no sharp edges on it now...

A rubber mallet is an essential part of the home bodger, ahem, mechanic's tool kit.

No sharp edges just very slightly bent :)

The good news is the collar can be replaced...the bad news is that telescope needs to be dismantled to do so...

I was at home base but they only had made in Taiwan boring looking mallets and then I forgot about it...

Another option is a dead blow mallet which has balls in it and won't bounce at all. Estwing does pretty hammers.

It's minimal, the rubber collar will still sit fine, no sharp edges it'll do.

For now as at some point the fork will have to fully come apart... :)

The collar is really soft material maybe I can flatten it back with a wood clamp.

It's alu, so yeah, it's going to lose when whacked with a steel hammer :)

Unfortunately whacking the crown fork did not work ;(

And of course nothing fits bike tool wise cos...Cannondale! ;)

The proper tool allows you to drive the headtube down on to the steerer I think. I had a pipe that worked in that way.

I had a pipe too but even with wheels it, the bottom bearings didn't want to move.

There's a tight spot on the fork maybe that caused it.

Once I bodged on the bottom bearings on the headset cup, I pipe hammered the tops down with no issues.