Why this VERY weird MTB setup might actually be better

Update: This is now the weirdest daily bike I own. The Tall Bike and the Slingshot bike are weirder but they don't really count.
Now, we have a hardtail with trail bike geometry, a 120mm Lefty suspension fork, BERD Polyethylene spokes, a 29" wheel up front, 27.5" rear, the "EDS" wireless derailleur, Magura Vyron wireless dropper post, Rev Grips, an oblong chainring, and a frame filled with expansion foam.
Despite how weird and uncommon this bike and its parts are, it rides incredibly! Today we're going to push it to its limits.
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[@DronePath]

seth singlehandedly increased the lefty's popularity with 2 videos

[@strix8534]

fr

[@Donuts_random_stuff]

I guess he’s an influencer 😅

[@smithmtb8453]

If I had the money I would get one

[@DronePath]

@@Donuts_random_stuff a very notable one

[@michaelmechex]

I don't think so, it's still expensive, proprietary and difficult to get maintenance done on it.

[@henri-basilhearne3480]

No surprises there, cannondale build some sick bikes and XC has become a lot more gnarly and more travel. Lekker video Seth thanks!

[@KyleSantisi]

Cannondale actually started in my town

[@Coastal_Cruzer]

Cannondale has some shady practices and spotty qc. I wouldn't trust my life on one

[@bebopman5]

I’m glad cannondale updated the fork to single crown with a tapered steerer, making builds like this 50x times easier. The OG lefty’s were dual crown and designed around Cdale’s proprietary 1.56” head tube diameter, and limited the head tube length. Rad vid 🔥

[@nostaku]

Yeah, to get those older lefty forks installed on non-cannondale bikes, you'd have to buy a new steerer

[@bebopman5]

@@nostaku Yeah, I had to get a Project321 steerer to fit one onto my GF Superfly.

[@nostaku]

@@bebopman5 yup, either Project321 or Cannondale's own aftermarket steerers

[@seanhornchek6440]

I remember I had a project 321 conversion steerer to use a old lefty on any frame

[@balonbalonparty6385]

Still riding Cannondale with Lefty Classic 100 mm fork. I think is from 2002

[@zethjugos1250]

The lefty is probably the best engineering flex by any bike brand. Its the most over engineered fork and probably the smoothest ive ever tried...still saving up to get my own😊😊😊

[@nicgur_6981]

Looks like a stupid gimmick to flex but okay.

[@isaacschultz5056]

I often think of youtubers as just youtubers, but people like Seth are true storytelling filmmakers. Great work as always ❤

[@versustires5494]

Even if it's on a weird bike, we're stoked to have you on at least one of our tires! The build looks pretty fun, keep making rad stuff!

[@noahthegildedone5917]

I'm always excited to see Versus tires on a build. Love mine and I definitely think more ppl should ride them 🤘🏽

[@TrailDogsMTB]

Heck yeah!

[@sofielee4122]

people get psyched out by the fact that the wheel is only supported on one side but, thats how just about all aircraft main landing gear are set up, and you'll note that aircraft basically never have landing gear failures that involve the wheel snapping off

[@MarvinWestmaas]

Seth the question is, will you keep it as is or will you put your old gear back on it? Because I would sure like to see you ride this on an actual trail ride and hear you break it down after that.

[@BermPeakExpress]

There's no way I'm putting this back the way it was. I did take it out the other day with my daughter and it was awesome. Without her on the Macride it handles even better 😂

[@MarvinWestmaas]

@@BermPeakExpress looking forward to seeing this contraption again then, nice to hear you're having fun 😊

[@chrisp6871]

@@BermPeakExpress Looking forward to follow-up videos... When do you go into production? ;)

[@chrisplatten2293]

@@chrisp6871 Another Chris P...Got to say Hi

[@bryanm.3026]

@@chrisplatten2293 You're in good company. The best Chris P. is Mr. Bacon, the news pig 😁

[@mpeay3945]

Glad to see you adding that Versus tire to the mix and giving them some visibility. I bought a set a while back and really like them!

[@tom.wassell]

Nice to see someone as good as yourself also suffering the pre-technical feature anxiety that cripples so many😂

[@ahobimo732]

I think this is one of my favorite videos you've done. I loved the idea behind the bike build, and I thought bike looked amazing as well. Then your riding skills impressed the hell out of me. Finally, "Teddy Huxpin" was the icing on the cake. Incredible work all around!

[@j-mcharing1851]

I rode a Cannondale JeKyle and Profit for over a decade and loved the lefty fork. Took everything I could throw at it and it asked for more. The only reason I moved to conventional fork is that Cannondale discontinued the lefty fork with 140 mm of travel (which was a double crown fork) in favour of Lefty Ocho (single crown and 120mm). I would love to go back to a lefty fork if they ever made a 140 mm fork again. I mostly ride trail and enduro bikes which were called all mountain back in the day.

[@JiorujiDerako]

Man, I've been wanting a Lefty to begin with, managed to talk myself out of it after your previous video when I saw how pricy they are + not really any special benefit for my own casual riding. And now you put this out and show how epic that whole build looks in all-black, slack geometry, mullet wheels... You're making me have to start all over with talking myself out of this, definitely my new 'dream build' to have something like this!

[@leopichler]

a light stiff bike is always more fun than a heavy bike with loads of travel imo. Love the content keep it up!

[@Steph.98114]

Depends what your riding

[@Zaquerooni]

Can be scary af too haha

[@rich1051414]

@@Steph.98114 I'd rather have more travel for real mountain biking, but if just playing, a light stiff bike is more fun.

[@BeastyBite]

ride more than 60kmh downhill and it's the other way around

[@leopichler]

​@@BeastyBite I have and disagree. it's all personal taste (hence whey I said imo)

[@rocketmachineworx]

How could you go the whole video and not call it a "mullet bike"? Phenomenal as always!!! Love your work!!

[@selfhelp69]

Always pushing crazy tech and backing it up with great riding. Love it.

[@rickardback3339]

Coolest bike yet! Weird but cool! Love that you “prove” to people that the Lefty is highly capable and very good at what it was designed for. Keep up the amazing work!

[@henrymacwilliams7666]

What advantages does a lefty have?

[@jordanr8312]

I'm only 2 mins in and already know this is going to be dope! Anytime Seth looks this excited this early on it usually is a banger!

[@johnnydoe66]

When Cannondale first came out with the Lefty, I test rode a Jekyl with one, and it just seemed weird to look down and see a leg missing. The original had dual crowns, but when they came out with the Ocho, I was a bit skeptical on how it would hold up. Several years of Cannondale's XC racers using it , and it's still going strong. If you look at some of the modern XC courses, the Ocho is built to handle trail riding, maybe not Enduro or Downhill.

[@justin_time]

I would like to see more Frankenstien bikes. Whatever can be manufactured from bits in the trash or parts bin sounds like a fun endeavor to watch.

[@genericinternetperson]

I love a weird bike that's still functional. Turns heads and starts conversations, maybe changes some minds.

[@helvettefaensatan]

I didn't know you were compulsive, Seth. Thank you for being so open about it.

[@michaelhorton6166]

Seth getting hurt? Never!🤣 I'm glad that you are trying to reduce the risk of injury!

[@alexshmelyov2722]

Been running lefties since 2009! So much love!!!

[@adekxii]

Seth! almost 1m. good luck! can't wait

[@michaelsummer7082]

I had a Jekyll back in 2004 with a lefty on it. It got stolen after three months and I have ached over the loss ever since. That thing was so smooth, and so plush.

[@mkim64]

I have the same lefty-mullet-trail bike setup and it's so fun to ride. Slapped on a velo orange crazy bar and suddenly it's my go-to commuter bike :)

[@Skierbois]

You know it’s going to be a good day any time Seth uploads a video

[@pauld1848]

I had a lefty on a well spec'd alloy HT frame, and that fork ate up chatter better than my Grip2 Fox 36. It was amazing. I wouldn't hesitate to ride Dupont or similar with it. The needle bearing construction of a Lefty essentially eliminate stiction and it's been proven that Lefty's are stronger/stiffer than traditional forks with even larger stanchions.

[@fusabike]

I’m such a tinkerer. This was great. I mixed-wheeled my Rail 27.5 with a 160mm 29 Zeb to get the geo as close to stock while keeping the f&r travel numbers within range of each other. Works a charm. Nice work as always Seth.

[@6HO57]

shut up ryan we all know you are the one who pooped in the sink on new years

[@TrailDogsMTB]

Heck yeah glad to see versus tire on your channel I love those tires!

[@theunbannedhacker1237]

Super relatable when you pulled the forks and the headset bearings came out. Classic.

[@Younghead]

I had a Cannondale 600 in the 1980’s It came with a 26” wheel in front and a 24” wheel on the back 16” frame and no suspension, Dia Compe brakes and a SunTour chain set it was great for hill climbing and great acceleration. It was one of the best MTB’s I’ve ridden.

[@owenkennedy7854]

The lefty is such an awesome example of excellent mountain bike engineering

[@ryanmarshall4741]

Seth: perfect timing! I just finished my taxes and was thinking of upgrading to lefty ocho carbon 120 with my return and this just solidified my decision!

[@zigmundotto3254]

Got a lefty on a cannondale flash 29er absolutely love it mate, does everything I need it to. Nice vid cobber

[@RonAsaf]

Love your content Seth, keep it up

[@optokapler]

Hey Seth, first of all amazing channels, awesome content! Thanks for everything you do! And maybe an idea for a video/videos: as a expert you are and a pro-scientist as always do a series on how high you fly of off the jumps on Berm Peak, I've just now realized how high everything is when I saw you standing next to the new feature on Whale Tail.

[@tannermorgan4067]

I had a 2014 Cannondale Trigger Team 650b with a lefty super max 140mm. It was one of the most unique and fairly capable bikes I've ever owned. The super max lefty was beautiful when it was working right but required way more maintenance and expenses than a normal fork. Constantly having to be serviced and rebuilt and since I didn't have a dealer near me at the time I would send it out to Mendon cycle smith to be rebuilt until cannondale stopped stocking out of house suppliers with parts. The DYAD rear shock was a whole different can of worms too! Again performed great when working but get your wallet out for a service at fox. Then the carbon linkage started developing stress cracks from all the HUCKleberry Finn gaps and drops I was hitting (sub 5' drops and 10' gaps) and it was time to pass it on to the PB buy sell gods

[@kaylorjames6511]

I'll probably never touch a mountain bike in my life. Still one of my favorite channels because of videos like this.

[@ridingwithreggie]

Seth is putting Lefty's on the map! Awesome video!

[@Zero.0ne.]

imo, coolest looking bike i've seen on your wonderful channel

[@edot2541]

My mentor ride a lefty cannondale topstone here in Michigan for all of our gravel races and that thing is easily one of the most versatile and stylish bikes I have ever seen. Handles gravel like a beast hell he even raced the Iceman Cometh with it!!

[@RideTannus]

*Making mullets great again! Nice work Seth*

[@artoutlawphoto]

They used to make a lefty supermax with 140mm travel for a 27'5 wheel. It's a double crown fork and it uses a bigger steer tube witch will not fit on a normal taper steer frame, but there is a work around and you can get a custom steer tube.

[@mrfunkybassist]

I was actually packaging my 2007 lefty dlr2 up to ship to mendon in ionia ny for a servicing last night. So this ended up coming up at the perfect time

[@themountain59]

Rocking a mullet set up for two years now...just awesome.

[@MrHeHim]

I have cannondale's first try at lowering unsprung weight to help with keep the wheel on the ground after a bump, it helps a LOT to keep contact during a turn. Lighter wheels also mean lighter anything under the shock. My bike is the one's from 10 years ago that have the suspension in the neck of the fork so it's a half measure compared to the Lefty. But not only does it eat up hard but small bumps but returns almost instantly back to the ground. So i imagine the Lefty's ability to do a much better job as it has much less unsprung mass.

[@davidkane8660]

Sweet ride dude. That's nice and different

[@evoman5428]

Good riding and now I'm saving up for a lefty fork! I also want that drivetrain if they reappear for purchase!!

[@isaks3243]

I recently took my 27.5 full sus enduro bike and put a 29er front wheel and signifficantly better fork on it and I can say that it went from an absolute dream in the turns whilst not being that good in the bumps to even better in the turns and can just power through the bumpy stuff. it turned everythign into an entirely different world and it is awezome!

[@christopherlyons9367]

My favorite biking channel on all of KZbin and it’s not even close!✌️🤘

[@BrianKlausen]

That's a proper Seth's bike hack! Awesome video - very interesting take on a bike. Not foolish by any means - just... different.

[@craighughes5977]

Really love this build, the ultimate down country

[@selightfritz642]

In the 1980’s my grandfather used to make garden carts from bicycle forks and tires, he would buy every old throw away bike he saw. We grandkids would raid his junkyard of bikes to build Frankenbikes 26inch front 16 inch rear wheels, BMX frame and handle bars on beach bike fork and front tire….. your creation e]reminded me of sending those creations through the woods of Ohio down a stream bed and off the waterfall, yeah we were mountain biking before it was cool using what we found and could build and repair….

[@BadIdeas101]

This is my new favorite video of seths

[@kainpwnsu]

It's so wrong, yet splendid and beautiful.

[@TheDarKris]

That’s funny I ordered a Specialized Status frame that’s made for a mullet but because I have 27.5 inch wheels I sized up my fork. Here Seth’s doing the exact opposite of what I did 😂

[@Themildcyclist]

I did this with my 26inch lefty and put a 27.5 infront, rides amazingly well

[@usa_rail_productions]

Your editing is 5 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@steelzeppelin]

Lookin in shape there Seth.

[@jcsrst]

I have a lefty on my gravel bike and I love it. It's weird and everyday people notice it 🤣

[@mushtikla1]

That lefty looks absolutely insane! lol I could just sit and look at it for hours lmao

[@datalaforge]

Really nice camera movement in this one! I’m happy I stayed for the Teddy Ruxpin reference. 😎

[@bildo99ify]

Glad to see you happy, buddy!

[@michaelkendall9852]

Very unique bike but definitely awesome. Great video

[@ninotocka]

Whoever shoots and edits this stuff... Good job.

[@brianodoherty4773]

Love it sir. Keep calm and Mullet lefty it on :)

[@benstein846]

Great vid Seth! Fellow Lefty owner, but mine is the Olaf (100mm travel fat fork). Typically if the Lefty bottoms out, you need to reset the needle bearing (not sure that is the case for the Ocho though, but it is easy to do). I occasionally run mixed wheels on my hardtail as well, 26 x 5 studded by 29 x 3, or 26 x 4 by 29 x 2.6. Depends on conditions, time of year, and what I'm in the mood for. It is a good fork, but does have some idiosyncrasies.

[@nolancree7197]

Watching these videos knowing Seth started as the “how to guy” for car stereos brings me immense joy.

[@paulschroeder847]

Very fun video, thanks. And more thanks for sharing some hardtail love. ❤️

[@gregnowak2492]

Very cool, man! Love it!!

[@majoromg449]

well I never thought I would see a Lefty on your Diamondback hardtail. Great stuff! One question though, don't you need a special, stiffer headset for the fork?

[@tybronder172]

No, they updated it so you can use a normal headset.

[@zethjugos1250]

For the old lefty yes, the newer versions are plug and play for any frame

[@ChrisNieves]

Lefty bikes are awesome and about time they get some press time.

[@trytropex4708]

I think I found a new favourite video on this channel.

[@moparpunk44]

I love the Versus tires. I have them on both my bikes. Awesome tires!

[@NanoDex]

Going by the design points, I bet the engineers were paranoid too and way overbuilt that thing. Love a good lefty! Looks so cool!

[@johnnyk6906]

as always awesome comparison.

[@henryleydon2775]

Cannondale owes the majority of their lefty sales to this 1 man

[@illwillsquared]

man the lefty is so old, crazy cool too see people just finding them now

[@crjmoto]

I had a Prophet w/ a Lefty and it was awesome. That bike was awesome looking back...

[@colinmartin9797]

the single most gorgeous bike I've ever seen in my life is sitting in the Seattle REI - a lefty cannondale hardtail on 29's in a color I can only describe as "wnidows blue screen" with vintage bright yellow lettering, and white wall maxxis ikon tires on polished rims. It's a work of goddamn art and was on sale for only like 3k. I wish I had that disposable income

[@twintwitch1]

I love his Boston. Great video

[@-A.n.d.r.e.w-]

That was totally wicked!! love!

[@bowty_mcboatface]

Educational AND entertaining... as usual.

[@AceSkates]

reminds me of the old 6-9ners from back in the day when some makers tried 29s at the front and 26 at the back

[@mx1742]

Yep I remember those too, the one my friend had was a Trek

[@fatknobby]

And way back Cannondale did 4-6ers...time travel to 24 R, 26 F

[@johnhitt5231]

Much love for the Lefty.

[@MLampner]

I'm too old to try this stuff but I enjoy watching it and I learn things I can apply to my more limited range of things I can handle. At 71 you don't do jumps.

[@johnolson7052]

Definitely need to keep the franken-bike as is, Lefty mullet mixed component beauty! ❤

[@tedarcher9120]

Wow that looks SICK

[@stephensbikerepair]

Absolute banger of a video today. I’d love to spend a day at your park it would be my dream!

[@Zaquerooni]

That "heyl yeeahh" at 3:19. I feel it all the time 🤣

[@stoneenforcer]

Lefty is the best front bike suspension ever engineered. Its a mini aircraft landing gear on roller bearings. Approx 600% for efficient on bumps then anything else on the market.

[@sillyios8662]

Amazing video! Could you please do more flip bike videos? Love these.

[@matt_m126]

Monster of a bike. The weirdness makes it perfect in my book.

[@z383tpi]

Now that you said it... I wanna see you ride (parts of) Berm Peak on an XC bike...and a BMX bike. 🤔 Not to see you get hurt Seth, but because I feel you'd do a great job explaining how the each of the 3 perform/ feel different.

[@hornzeerides72]

Great video...I was always wondering how aggressive the lefty could be run...thanks

[@erichbachman7363]

This video actually made me go to my local bike shop and buy a left 140mm, 29! I'm happy to say that eating sausages and fries with this fork has been delightful!

[@Jesticles85]

pretty sick! i want a lefty now

[@matthewbjordahl2866]

Always wanted to see a lefty on a hard-core hardtail