The Santa Cruz Heckler that I tried in several different configurations to build up, just never worked for me. As much as I thought I had a great concept to build the Heckler around, it just never panned out. Oh well.
So, it's gone, and in its place, is this grellow beauty...
So, it's gone, and in its place, is this grellow beauty...
This is a Cannondale Jekyll 800 All Mountain from 2004 in the 'Team' colours, which was this excellent yellow/green, sponsored by energy drink maker SoBe. SoBe, I just now found out, stands for South Beach Beverage Company. Who knew? They are now owned by Pepsi and may or may not still exist.
When's the last time you saw one in a store?
The Jekyll's claim to fame was its dual personality rear suspension, offering a FR shock position, and an XC shock position - more on the weirdness of this setup this later - with 130mm of travel from an air shock, but only 110mm with a coil shock (what?).
A far as I know, there never was any Hyde from Cannondale. I always wondered about that. I guess they could have tried calling it the Jekyll/Hyde, but that would have been dumb.
It also features a 1.5" headtube, allowing the use of Cannondale's Headshok fork on some models. Higher end Jekylls like this one, ran Leftys. You may remember that two or three other bike companies went with the 1.5 standard - we'll talk about this more later as well.
When's the last time you saw one in a store?
The Jekyll's claim to fame was its dual personality rear suspension, offering a FR shock position, and an XC shock position - more on the weirdness of this setup this later - with 130mm of travel from an air shock, but only 110mm with a coil shock (what?).
A far as I know, there never was any Hyde from Cannondale. I always wondered about that. I guess they could have tried calling it the Jekyll/Hyde, but that would have been dumb.
It also features a 1.5" headtube, allowing the use of Cannondale's Headshok fork on some models. Higher end Jekylls like this one, ran Leftys. You may remember that two or three other bike companies went with the 1.5 standard - we'll talk about this more later as well.
I was able to trade my Santa Cruz Heckler frame for this Jeckyll, which made me very happy, at first anyway, because it's going to fit me way better than the Heckler did. I say 'at first' because it took me a couple days to remember all the goofy ways that Cannondale made your life really difficult.
The first way was the rear shock. It's an excellent Fox Float RC, with rebound and compression adjustment, and the ability to run a cable operated lockout. This is very cool.
What's not cool though, is the body of the shock is threaded. This allows the mounting collar to be spun on the shock, moving it forward and back relative to the frame. Nobody else ever did this.you'll never put another shock in this frame. But it's cool because you can change the BB height and the headtube angle by tweaking how the shock mounts to the frame.
Strangely the manual describes the FR shock position as having a higher BB and steeper headtube angle, while the XC position lowers the BB and slackens the headtube. This sounds like the exact opposite of the geometry I'd expect from a freeride bike, and a cross country bike. Maybe FR and SC don't actually mean anything?
Next up in the 'I'll make my own bikes with hookers and blackjack' parade that is Cannondale, is the goofy oversized cable housing stops. The adoption of hydraulic disc brakes resulted in manufacturers scrambling a bit to figure out how to stick the lines to the frame. Most used a groove that the line sat in, and then you used a zip tie or a clip to hold the line to the frame.
Cannondale used a guide that was bigger than the hydraulic hose. Way bigger. So much so that you needed a sleeve to snap it in. And then they decided, 'let's do that for the shift cable too!' Because, you know, Cannondale. What this means is that I need to either buy the handy Cannondale kit from one of the last dealers in the USA that still has one, for $50 (?!?!!1), or go full length housing and zip tie it.
I'm ok with zip ties for now.
Finally, we have the headtube. One and half inches of 'we need to put the shock in there!' madness. Excellent if there was a long travel Headshock to go in there. I don't think this exists.
Also excellent if I wanted to run a Lefty. I don't.
Instead, the rather easy solution is an FSA Orbit Z headset - fits a 1.5" headtube, but connects to a 1/8" fork, which I have. In the future I might look at a Cane Creek headset that allows the use of a modern tapered fork, but this is fine for now.
I'll build this with some black XT wheels, XT dual control levers, RaceFace cranks, and a Rock Shox SID fork. I think it'll be good, so watch this space.
The first way was the rear shock. It's an excellent Fox Float RC, with rebound and compression adjustment, and the ability to run a cable operated lockout. This is very cool.
What's not cool though, is the body of the shock is threaded. This allows the mounting collar to be spun on the shock, moving it forward and back relative to the frame. Nobody else ever did this.you'll never put another shock in this frame. But it's cool because you can change the BB height and the headtube angle by tweaking how the shock mounts to the frame.
Strangely the manual describes the FR shock position as having a higher BB and steeper headtube angle, while the XC position lowers the BB and slackens the headtube. This sounds like the exact opposite of the geometry I'd expect from a freeride bike, and a cross country bike. Maybe FR and SC don't actually mean anything?
Next up in the 'I'll make my own bikes with hookers and blackjack' parade that is Cannondale, is the goofy oversized cable housing stops. The adoption of hydraulic disc brakes resulted in manufacturers scrambling a bit to figure out how to stick the lines to the frame. Most used a groove that the line sat in, and then you used a zip tie or a clip to hold the line to the frame.
Cannondale used a guide that was bigger than the hydraulic hose. Way bigger. So much so that you needed a sleeve to snap it in. And then they decided, 'let's do that for the shift cable too!' Because, you know, Cannondale. What this means is that I need to either buy the handy Cannondale kit from one of the last dealers in the USA that still has one, for $50 (?!?!!1), or go full length housing and zip tie it.
I'm ok with zip ties for now.
Finally, we have the headtube. One and half inches of 'we need to put the shock in there!' madness. Excellent if there was a long travel Headshock to go in there. I don't think this exists.
Also excellent if I wanted to run a Lefty. I don't.
Instead, the rather easy solution is an FSA Orbit Z headset - fits a 1.5" headtube, but connects to a 1/8" fork, which I have. In the future I might look at a Cane Creek headset that allows the use of a modern tapered fork, but this is fine for now.
I'll build this with some black XT wheels, XT dual control levers, RaceFace cranks, and a Rock Shox SID fork. I think it'll be good, so watch this space.
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