Cannondale Headshok Service Manual
If I could do this, I'd then invest in the necessary Cannondale parts and fit. Mical supplied this copy of the complete Cannondale Headshok service manual. Headshok Moto 120 Owner's Manual Supplement, Open & View.pdf. Headshok Service Maintenance Schedule Instructions, Open & View.pdf.
It can be done. I did all work by myself with no help. It can be a one person job. It's not half as bad as people will lead you to believe, and the design of the fork holds no terrible secrets -conceptually it's actually pretty simple! A cautionary note though: I found the job to be pernickety in the sense you had to do some stuff in the right order, and it makes a difference if you do. All I can say is that the order I've listed is the order I found that worked for me, and usually there's a method in the madness for a reason. Total cost for me to regrease, put a boot on, install new needle bearings and firm ride springkit and purchase any tools I needed: about $70.
It took me about 8-10 hours in total to disassemble, reassemble, disassemble and reassemble again (includes thorough degreasing and cleaning). Admittedly, I do have some tools already, but everything else I needed I use in the general maintenance of bikes and is not Cannondale specific (e.g.
Hammer, Slick Honey grease, Pedros degreaser, etc). Basically I had nothing to lose. If I screwed up this fork or couldn't get if back together, it didn't really matter, I'd just go ebaying and get a set of adaptor cups and a used fork (also keep in mind I believe when you strip a Headshok, Cannondale may consider any warrantees null and void). My primary objective was to disassemble the fork and put it back together.
If I could do this, I'd then invest in the necessary Cannondale parts and fit them myself. I had nothing to lose but time here. Caveat number 2. Since I do not have access to top secret classified Cannondale documents regarding servicing/assembly of Headshoks, I am not privvy to torque specs or the like. This means that I put this fork back together the best way I could (Cannondale diagrams notwithstanding) using at best some guesswork and 'common sense' ('common sense' here is very subjective I know. Let me reveal here I'm not a professional bike mechanic, nor am I a qualified mechanic in any area.
What I have done is strip various car/motorcycle engines down and put them back together -working mind you!!!! Luchshij sbornik francuzskoj estradi. -and my wife believes I have a natural aptitude for mechanics. Plexim plecs standalone cracked. Then again, she says I'm really good looking too;^).
I consider myself to be confident at mechanics. Confident in knowing when I'm out of my depth). The point here is that I'm just posting what I did -I am by no means suggesting this is the proper or appropriate way to safely reassemble a Headshok. So here you have it, caveat number 2: You mess with your Headshok at your own risk and this posting does not constitute in any way any endorsed ways of properly servicing or assembling or reassembling Headshoks. I am also not responsible for your costs or damages incurred, personal injuries, first born child, blah blah blah.
It's all your responsibility and I can't vouch for the accuracy of this post or be responsible for any mistakes contained within. Caveat number 3. OK, before I started this, I combed the internet looking for help. I googled, I yahooed, I did everything I could to search for any variation of the words 'Cannondale Headshok Headshock assembly disassembly installation removal' etc.
Let me tell you: there isn't much out there. And what there is, is hardly encouraging. Certainly Cannondale provides no technical help in the sense of stripping down a Headshok -just rather weak technical diagrams and advice such as 'service at an authorized dealer every 40 hours of use'. Anyway, here are some helpful links I found: (also has Cannondale technical diagrams in the archive.
This was the site that helped me the most -not least because of the clear directions but also great photos. On the downside -and rather worrying for anyone reading it -it does not include reassembly instructions, nor the disassembly of the bearings and races). (has some Cannondale Headshok parts as well as proprietary tools such as the castlenut tool ~$35) (Cannondale's own documents for Headshoks) is no longer available but J. Mical supplied this copy of the complete. Some of the common themes I found in the message boards are: • don't take a Headshok apart • if you do, don't ever, ever, ever take apart the needle bearings and races. Ooops, too late.