Upgrading mountain bike forks?

I have an old cannondale hardtail, it's aluminum. It doesn't weight too much (in my opinion). I like the bike, but man the front suspension sucks. It doesn't even have forks, it's just like a 2 inch shock in between the forks and headset. On most any trail i'm constantly bottoming out the suspension. I was thinking about getting new suspension (can only spend 100-150 bucks), but idk if it'll go smooth on so old a bike. I have decsent home mechanic skills, so i figured i would try to figure it out myself, worse case scenario i have to bring it to the shop to get some advice. My question would be-is it worth upgrading the suspension on a 10-15 year old bike? All the components are fine, they are good quality (for how old they are), never had any problems. thanks for the advice

Hey Wulf,

It sounds like you have one of those CD Headshocks. Those use a 1.5 headset for a shock that uses a 1.5 steerer tube. A lot of heady duty downhill and freeride bikes use the 1.5 setup, but you don't want a 1.5 fork for your old hardtail, so you will have to do this.

You will need a 1.5 headset reducer. This headset mounts into your 1 1/2 inch headset, but reduces the diameter to a 1 1/8, so you can use the most common 1 1/8 steerer tube front suspension forks. The reducer looks like this: http://www.icyclesusa.com/catalog/fsa/fs...
With this you can mount any standard 1 1/8 fork to your hard tail. The reducer will cost you about $50, so you have $100 to spend on a new or used fork. You can pick up a decent new fork for less than a $100 like this one: http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/15674-3...
80mm should be good enough and it should not throw off your geometry.
There are also adapters that are like large spacers that take up the space between a 1 1/8 headset and the 1.5 headset tube. The spacers look like this: http://www.ebikestop.com/items/004-HD990... With this spacer you will also need to purchase a new headset, so the previous headset reducer would be better because it cost less.

Anyway, I hope that all made sense. Good Luck. = )

Kimber

Your Welcome! My friend had a Cannondale Gemini and we ran into the same problem a couple of years ago. =) Report It

Your Cannondale has the HEADSHOK front suspension which probably needs a tune-up. ( though I would suggest you try the 'LEFTY' type of front suspension which is available from Cannondale dealers! ) Check the Blue Sky Cycling website for front suspension forks for less than $200---make sure the size for your fork is correct --also check EBAY (www.ebay.com) under Sporting goods section, look for 'Mountain Bike & Parts' then find 'Parts & Accessories'---you'll find sweet cheap STEALS there! ( Take the time to select a cool brand)

Umm, yeah . . . Kimber pretty much nailed it.

It's so refreshing to see a chick avatar contributing quality info, rather than sucking crap info from the network.

Get the adapter or "reducer", and you can run any fork, I would even go for 100mm fork with out worrying too much about screwing your geometry up. Those headshock Dales sit pretty high in the front.

You can never waste money on a good fork. If your frame dies, by a new one to fit your forks.

Short answer... don't waste your money upgrading old Cannondales. I have never seen one more than 5 years old that didn't have serious frame problems like cracks.

To check, look around the top tube/seat tube joint, around the headtube/downtube joint, and around the chainstay reinforcement bridge. These are the most common areas of cracking but not the only ones. A crack might look like a crack or may look like a tiny scratch. Either way, retire the frame immediately.