Tuesday 10 March 2015

Replacement Cannondale Lefty SuperMax 2013 hub bolt

I was riding along on the road and I saw something ping from my Lefty out into the road. I thought nothing of it, presuming that something on the ground had hooked onto the huge tires on my bike and flung it off, and so I carried on riding.

But there was a 'ping' in my head as well that said it might have been something. And as I rode on the way back, the sense grew stronger and more clear, it must have been something. So when I got back and inspected the bike, sure enough, it was something. Somehow the Lefty cap, but not the bolt, had come loose and flung itself off into the road.

I went back to where I'd seen it flee and found the cap bent out of shape, probably smashed into the ground by a car tire. A replacement was the only option.

What replacement part do you need?

This is NOT the bolt
you were looking for
I have a Cannondale Trigger 1 from 2013 with a carbon Lefty SuperMax PBR 130mm. I mention this because if you do too, then the regular Lefty bolt, that's sold 'that it will fit all Lefty's', will in fact not fit any Lefty SuperMax.

The Lefty SuperMax cap is much deeper than the regular Lefty cap and is the only thing cap that will work.

However, when you look at the Cannondale owners manual, you'll find the same product code as the regular Lefty cap and bolt. Which really isn't helpful and caused me to buy a bolt that is sitting uselessly on my workshop side. Thanks Cannondale.

Finding the right part

This is what the right
part looks like
Annoyed that I had wasted £25 and not wanting to try ordering any more bolts that wouldn't work, I found CannondaleSpares.com and fired them an email. They advised that the easiest replacement part was in fact a Mavic kit and that would solve my woes. And it did.

The part you'll want is the Mavic Crossroc SuperMax assembly kit. Mavic part number: 36709301.

How to fit the Lefty SuperMax hub bolt

  1. Remove the wheel from the bike and remove any old hub bolt parts (for example, my bolt remained perfectly intact and in place)
  2. Prepare the hub bolt with a decent grease (I use Exus E-G01 grease) and then screw into hub
  3. Prepare the new threaded bolt stop with blue Loc-tite
  4. Thread into the hub using a lock-ring fitting tool (I use a Park Tools FR-5) over the hub bolt
    1. Do it up to 15nm (tight)
  5. If you now unscrew the hub bolt it should push against the threaded bolt stop
  6. Put the wheel back on the Lefty axle and screw in the hub bolt
  7. Re-fit the disc and test ride to ensure it works as expected
Hope this helps someone.

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