HSE-Headshok vs all

Headshok

DURABILITY
Headshok fork is extremely durable by means of wear. All wear parts are exchangeable. That means your fork can last forever. Maybe some parts will not be available due to obsolescence. Hopefully some OEM will remain supplying the necessities. You can’t bend Heashok fork, scratch it, break it. I’m having in mind normal MTB use, not a truck hit.

RELIABILITY
It’s reliable as much as any other fork, as long as it is maintained PROPERLY. By properly, I don’t have in mind just an appropriate service interval. You can’t go wrong with maintenance scope and  intervals by simply following the official manual. Much more important is THE SKILL of the expert on duty in the workshop that you’ve chosen to do the job.

EASE OF MAINTENANCE
Headshok is very complicated to disassemble, even more so to assemble. I don’t recommend this to anyone with doubts. You Tube instructions are a mess, you risk an expensive damage to your fork. The oil damper cartridge is pretty straightforward with proper tools, and this is what matters the most. The damper services are most frequent and quite important. Damper neatly sits on top of the spring chamber (air, coil, MCU). Some dampers are integrated with air cylinder (air spring option). There are dedicated riders which keep the additional spare damper in the desk drawer, to just swap it when the working one requires attention. Thus riding downtime remains -zero.

LINEAR BEARING RESET
This can be a turn off for some riders. Telescope movement relies on a set of linear bearings (total of 88 small needles). Linear bearings after a while dislocate themselves along the available travel, finding themselves in a wrong position on a bearing race. Thus fork’s travel gets reduced, along with other consequences. Bearing migration can be minimized or even prevented by careful optimisation of linear bearing tightness and smart choice of bearing grease type. This can be done only by a skilled expert. Migrated bearings need a reset to the original position. Bearing Reset can be done by a rider, by following proper instructions. Sometimes it doesn’t even require a damper release. Newer models of Hybrid Lefty make a reset automatically (mechanically) at each bottom out.

A short story for an example:
When I started riding Headshok products, I rode a Fatty which lost 10% travel after each ride. It was a nightmare and no one was there to help me about it.

OPTIONS OF EXTERNAL ADJUSTMENT
1. Sag /preload
2. Lock out the compression, makes a solid firm fork
3. Adjust the rebound speed (only DLR, all Leftys)
4. Some Leftys: Low-speed compression, Blow-off threshold

ACTION
Action is super plush and totally without sticking. Even at hard braking. However, the action tremendously TREMENDOUSLY! depends on the maintenance quality and applied oil /grease. It can be tweaked internally to meet rider’s requirements, but only by a skilled expert. (Example: if desired, the Lock-Out lever can be used for compression speed control instead of firm lockout). Unfortunately, newer Leftys (2.0) are prone to oil pressure build up in the damper when outer temperature rises, which nulls all other benefits of the design. Older dampers have a neat pressure compensation mechanism. Centric dampers have the same problems, but all this can be tweaked in a serious workshop.

STIFFNESS (FLEX)
Considering a 9mm axle contact of a centric Headshok, it’s the stiffest fork ever! Sturdy construction and a vast surface of the telescope slide (linear needle bearings) are generously contributing to this superb quality. It gives the “ice skating effect” to a ride: when a very sharp skate follows the line on a solid ice. Excentric Headshok (Lefty) has low flex too, but the axle is different.

TRAVEL
Centric Headshok is on a thin ice here. While max of 80mm could be enough for aggressive XC, some storm troopers could require more, to hit more. Here’s where Lefty takes over (Excentric), up to 140mm. Centric suffers a bit from a limited sag, but I didn’t find that problematic at all.

WATERPROOF
Headshok does not have a waterproof design. It’s rather “weatherproof”. You should never throw your headshoked bike in the river, unless you make custom upgrades in a serious workshop.

RESISTANCE TO CONTAMINATION
Headshok system is very resistant due to a rubber boot on the telescope. Centric breaths through the inside of tubes of the bike frame. Excentric breaths through the external air filter. Newer Leftys have lost the boot.

WEIGHT
Superlight! Can’t be beaten at 1290 gram! (Super Fatty Ultra).

PRICE
New is quite pricey at retailers. But used forks can be found at affordable prices, for they are not generally popular.

AFTER SALES SUPPORT
Cannondale has some problems with quality, decency and efficiency of support.

SERVICE PARTS AVAILABILITY
Cannondale could/should do much better than today’s situation with spare parts for Headshok forks.

FRAME COMPATIBILITY
Centric Headshok can fit only Cannondale frame with headtube for 1.56″ steerer (1.95″ headtube opening). There were certain exceptions where other frame producers provided frames with compatible headtube to fit Headshok headset (e.g. Klein). Excentric forks can fit other frames with smaller (standard) headtube with a special adapter/steerer. But it’s feasible. Lefty OCHO is straightforward to any standard MTB frame (tapered).

Common suspension fork

DURABILITY
The “standard” fork is prone to bushings and stanchions wear. While bushings on most forks can be replaced, stanchions are related to specific model of specific year. You have to be very, very lucky to find a replacement stanchions, but after some time of obsolescence it will certainly be impossible.

RELIABILITY
Many forks can be very reliable, even if neglected for longer period of time. The reliability generally depends on the internal mechanism design.

EASE OF MAINTENANCE
Can be quite easy to disassemble and assemble, but with more and more advanced technologies in expensive forks, I wonder if that is still the case. Many forks don’t have easy removable integrated damper cartridge for a swift swap, like Headshok has. When fork needs a service, you better tear it apart (more mess).

LINEAR BEARING RESET
Ha ha, what is “linear bearing”?

OPTIONS OF EXTERNAL ADJUSTMENT
There are many options of various adjustments, depending on the fork model.

ACTION
Better forks have minimum sticking, but when brake is applied, there can be significant sticking effect. Modern technologies of damper can deliver various advanced response programs.

STIFFNESS (FLEX)
Some 20mm axles on better forks can come close to Headshok’s stiffness and steering precision.

TRAVEL
As much as you desire. Just choose the right model.

WATERPROOF
Most of forks nowadays can be thrown in the river without consequences .

RESISTANCE TO CONTAMINATION
While the fork is airtight and watertight, the moving telescope is exposed to all what front wheel flings to it. In certain (extreme) riding conditions this could be dangerous for smooth stanchion surface and belonging wiper seals. Not to mention how easily the exposed stanchions can be damaged by accident (crash landing sideways on rocks for example).

WEIGHT
A bit heavier, depending on the model (and price!).

PRICE
Better models could be as pricey. But they usually aren’t.

AFTER SALES SUPPORT
Depending on the brand, a support could be quite enjoyable.  

SERVICE PARTS AVAILABILITY
Parts for various forks are generally available, either original or manufactured by third party or OEM. Parts usually consist of seals and gaskets, no big deal to make the right size in abundant amount. However, it can be tricky to obtain spare parts for older/exotic forks.

FRAME COMPATIBILITY
No issues there. Many available adapters exist for various combination. Except thicker steerer to a smaller headtube, of course.