As you may know I work as a bicycle messenger or courier at the moment and I've got a tricked out Avanti Escape with rigid forks I'm riding currently. I can't bear to see my Cannondale sitting there each day not being used so I've decided to convert it to rigid forks and get it out on the road and start using it as my main work bike.

The bike is a Cannondale F800 2004 model XC mountain bike. Its a hardtail with a Lefty Jake front fork, which is one of the most beautiful things I have ever ridden; as long as that riding is done off-road. On the road it is simply wasted effort, there is no lockout on the front fork so a lot of energy is lost riding up hills and turning is not so tight and accurate as a rigid fork bike.

I'm paranoid about two things when it comes to using this bike at work, the first is getting it stolen and the other is chipping the paint work. Avoiding theft really comes down to locking it up correctly and Perth isn't as hardcore when it comes to bike theives as many other cities in the world. So this can be dealt with by using a half decent lock and remembering to always lock it.
Avoiding paint chips and scratches is trickier but after reading around I think using a clear plastic covering on the bike will work. There are companies which tint car windows and they also use a clear plastic adhesive around wheel arches of cars to protect against stone chips. So I will hunt down this kind of plastic and give that a go. Otherwise there are kits I can buy online, although I've not seen any in Australia.

Other than theft and paint chips, the other thing that needs work on is the forks of the F800. The Lefty Jake is not suitable for the kind of riding I do while at work, so I did a little ebay shopping and obtained, at little cost, a set of Cannondale Fatty R rigid stunt forks.
These forks use the standard 1.1/8" headtube size rather than the Cannondale's oversize 1.5" tube. So a reducing headset is needed. To this end I've ordered a Canecreek Double XC Short from my favourite online seller Chain Reaction Cycles. This replacement headset will allow me to use the rigid forks. The angles of the bike will chance slightly as I believe the Fatty rigid forks aren't suspension adjusted or compensated so I will lose a small amount of height at the front. Combined with the stem I will be using which I turn upside down to further lower the bars will create a more race like and aggresive angle at the front of the bike.

I have also ordered a new front wheel so that I can keep my current Lefty wheel so I can fairly quickly change the bike back into a suspension bike when needed. I have gone for a Mavic XC 717 rim attached to a Hope Pro II front hub with black DT swiss double butted spokes.

Other changes that will happen include removing the two smaller chain rings from the Shimano HollowTech II Hone cranks I use and fitting a DMR chain guide to further lighten the bike. When I'm working I only use the top ring anyway so the smaller gears just aren't worth it. I'll also fit my XT shifter so the drive train will be XT shifter (rear only needed), Hone (Shimano LX in black) cranks and external style bottom bracket, LX sprocket and XT rear mech. Brakes are very nice Hayes 9 hydraulic discs, front and rear. Tyres are 1.5" Slickasaurus which I find to be very good.

I will try to take some photos of the build process as I'm working on it and post them in the next article. Now I'm just patiently waiting for the post to arrive.