Cannondales in general

[wistech]

Well heres my story. My 02 speed has well over 200hours on it. No valve adjustment yet. Oil is changed every 5to 10 hours with synthetic in both cases ,filter every other time. (thats a lot of filters) All updates done at 20 hours.

MY problems
1 Oil was silvery about 2 months ago and had some metal chips in the engine oil filter but that was 4 rides ago and now it is back to clean oil at no metal in filter so something got ground up but it must have been a weak part I didnt need.

2 6 headlight bulbs replaced , the spot welds break where the bulbs prongs are attached to the base connector.

3 The stock (toaster) broke apart internally after 25 hours of use and I welded it back together and has been fine ever since.

4 last sunday my quad started dying and backfiring at full throttle, fuel filter was full of dirt , maintenence issue

5 I overfilled my oil by a few ounces and it rejected it and spit it out the air filter vent . I corrected the level and that cured it,maintenence issue

6 Winter season is coming up and it has been cranking slow and starting hard , I load tested the battery and it is below specs so I installed a much larger battery (YTX14BSI) and now its back to starting instantly , maintenence issue

7 found rear shock bolt broken but it never fell out ,

With that said it has never left me actually left me dead on trail and is still more quad than my skill level can cope with but I am getting better. I still love this machine and dont see getting rid of it anytime soon. I even bought an extra engine if this one ever does get around to wearing out.

On the other hand one of the guys I ride with has a 400ex with aproximatly the same hours on it and pisses and moans about its low power every ride along with its cheapo stock suspension. Its now using oil and ticking, the swingarm pivot bearings are loose,bent the original axle and trashed the bearing carrier, the front plastic mounts are broken,chain guard slide fell off,and now on the last ride the rear axle bearing failed again and locked up the trail destroying another carrier and sprocket hub and possibly the axle too, this was our first breakdown in a year. where we had to cut a ride short. He still loves Honda and cant wait to get rid of the 400ex and buy the 450r ,go figure.

[Ryanstones]

A full year, of trouble free riding every weekend far outweighs the 4 months i was down with a case of bad cranka$$. Now with most of the engine issues known and parts available, I'm happy knowing i'll be able to keep her going for a long time.
The Cannon just fits me right! YFZ is way too small and I won't be kick starting a honda450 anytime soon. :deal: ex or Z400 power aint gonna do it either.
Everytime on this machine is a thrill, a rip roarin blast that satisfies my soul. I almost never ride my Vforce. For me, the 'dale has and represents a spirit that can't be captured in mass production. It gets a little more maintenance than my other quads, but I enjoy doing it, and aside from the bad crank, has had fewer problems than my yammies.
A new 'dale with a new crank and bearings and other updates for under $5000 is the absolute best deal around!! I'm pretty sure there is another in my future. I have hopes for ATK and Dinly, and interest in all the new machines, but the CANNONdale is a classic.
Heck, i even love the way my 'frog looks!

[Ryanstones]

w o o d


:wow

[LapTraffic]

hope to have this put together by the weekend

[Jammer72]

Hey Laptraffic you been in my garage??:wow Looks like one I've got.:head:

[LapTraffic]

looks like your bike or looks like your garage?

3 quads 4 sets of tires and a 54" john deere tractor, You cant walk in the freakin thing!

[Jammer72]

Both 5 quads 1 lawnmower and zero walking space.:cry:

[bknight]

i was a little down about buying my glamis.
and was thinking about looking at getting sumething more reliability the cost to fix it for me is to much right now???? but its running no probs . im a little like Ryanstones i like the look of the frog LapTraffic your frog looks good to

[Jaybr]

QUOTE

Originally posted by Jammer72
Both 5 quads 1 lawnmower and zero walking space.:cry:

Sounds like you guys need to build bigger garages:p

[Jammer72]

I'm working on it. If only I could stop buying cannondales. It's like taking in stray animals that no one wants.