HEADSHOKEXPERT
Fatty vs. Lefty
“thrill”
“stamina”
“endurance”
“push the limits”
…a list of personal aspirations in mountain biking.
If you have the same motives, then you’ll probably understand why Fatty still wins in my book.
John Tomac racing
Pros & Cons
Fatty vs. Lefty
Go Fat or go Left
Centric Headshok
Fatty (or similar) can fit any 9mm QR wheel.
Yes, those wheels are getting rare in serious MTB nowadays, but still the choice is fair, although in near past it was vast. Beefier wheel axles are now here to improve fork stiffness. Fatty doesn’t need that.
It has oversized headset bearings with minimum radial load (increased when braking). In general it’s mostly axial load on pure radial bearings. Despite physics theory, those bearings endure just fine.
Rider can remove the wheel from Fatty in few seconds.
Centric Headshoks have less flex than Excentric.
Proven by side-by-side comparison.
Most Centrics (except Fatty OPI and some Ultras) can accept rim brakes for old-school members of resistance.
Ultra short stems at your choice if desired, while Excentric could be limited.
Fork travel on Centric is limited to max 80mm due to lack of length in steerer assembly. You’d better ask John Tomac
if this would keep him from winning the world championship. And I don’t have the nineties in mind.
To check the air pressure in fork and adjust it, rider has to remove front wheel. Pay attention not to scratch drop outs on the ground, doesn’t look nice.
Centric is cheaper to buy.
Centric doesn’t look cool.
Excentric Headshok (Lefty)
Lefty can accept only Lefty-specific front wheels (hubs). Those are rare and hard to find. It always was. Minimum choice, but maybe one doesn’t even need a choice for a front hub.
Although of similar bearing size as Centric, Lefty has more load on headset bearings due to excentric crown offset which brings leverage and emphasizes all forces to the headset bearings. I’ve seen more Leftys than Fatty with blown headset bearing. I guess OCHO could be as prone (yet to see).
Rider has to dismantle/remove the brake caliper to remove the wheel. Although tire removal (inner/outer) doesn’t require wheel removal, it could be annoying if you use your car trunk for transportation.
Stem length limitations:
Lefty 1.0 = min. 90mm
Supemax and 2.0 = min. 60mm
OCHO = no limitation
Excentric can have many options of travel, up to 140mm. I wonder if Tom Ritchey
was missing that while he was enjoying his bike to the extent which some of us would manage in three lifetimes, maybe.
To check the air pressure in fork and adjust it, rider doesn’t have to remove the wheel. The valve is placed conveniently at the bottom of fork leg, for quick and easy access.
Lefty is more expensive.
Lefty makes any rider cool.
Both centric and excentric systems suffer from spare parts drought. As time pass by, it’s getting worse. Keep that in mind when choosing the suspension system for your bike. I don’t say you should’t ride Headshok, it’s a very nice suspension system. I’m just saying – be prepared.
The recommendation to tackle the inevitable obsolescence: Keep up with frequent and high quality maintenance!
What about Lefty Hybrid, OCHO?
Those are not Headshok systems. Headshok relies solely on linear needle bearings for telescope movement, while later iterations crippled that system in favour of more attractive look without rubber boot. Despite newer production, even those non-Headshok systems share the same destiny of spare parts unattainability.
New Industry Art 