QUOTE
Originally posted by SnellCRP
Hey Tinklevalve, Do you think that if you didn't already own a Cannondale that now that they are out of business that you would still consider buying one... ... the only thing now that I would be afraid of in buying a Dale is that I wouldn't be able to get parts.
Ah, yes, my given Indian name, "Fiddles with Tinkle Valves".
All things considered, to be perfectly honest, I would not have bought a Cannondale had I known what was going to happen. I, however, am a recreational rider who just wanted something "different". I do not race, except for the occasional grudge match on the dunes. I do, however, win a lot more on the 'dale than I would have on the Z that I thought about buying. Since one of the main things that sold me on the 'dale was their reputation for taking care of their customer, well, you can see that one of my main selling points is out the window.
If your only concern is parts, then buy the dale. Parts are not a concern anymore, for the most part. If you have mechanical skills, don't mind increased maintenance, and like the idea of having a bit of Americana, then the 'dale is the bike for you. The fact that it runs like a scalded monkey on trucker-grade Methamphetamines is good too.
Be prepared to tear the bike down to do the updates; the coolant fix is critical, as is the crankplate/trannyplate issue. Oil breather reroute could be helpful, though many (like myself) have not done it and have not experienced problems. Get yourself a few tubes of loctite and dielectric grease and you will be fine.
That's my 2 cents. I love my dale and will not get rid of it. Then again, if I did, I'd be losing thousands of dollars. I'll ride it until it's dead, most likely (hopefully through natural causes!), unless prices come up again. In that case, I might consider selling. I dunno, time will tell.
There are a lot of horror stories out there, but keep in mind, most of the people that post on this board with their problems fall info one of the following categories:
1. Bike broke and they need help.
2. They race, using their bike harder than most.
3. Just a regular, like me, who likes to stay informed.
You can see that people in the first two categories are going to have a lot more breakage than most. Maybe that's why it seems that breakage is so prolific among the dales. My personal thought is that, if 1 of 10 are having problems on this board, probably only 1 in 50 in the real world are experiencing the same problems.
