basic info... [Archive] - ATV Riders Forum

rollie

04-05-2007, 12:59 PM

For the last couple of months now the main stream ATV magazines have been off the hook for the latest and greatest ATVs to hit the trails. Yamaha has been in the spotlight over the new 700 Raptor. A huge improvement over the last 4 yrs of the hugely popular ATV, that's for sure. If you haven't had a run down of the new and improved 700, read on.

The chassis is new and improved, using the YFZ front end, basically everything from a-arms to spindles, even brakes, widening the creature by 3 full inches. A chassis that is almost half aluminum, which has only been done on one other production machine. The motor has undergone a few changes as well, four valves replacing the five that was found on older models. A larger displacement, 686 cc to be exact, engine to keep with the current trend of go fast guys. And a fuel injection system that's relatively new to the ATV world. But lets step back and take a look at some of the innovations that have renewed themselves almost 6 yrs after the first radical ATV to hit the market, yeah I'm talking about Cannondale.

Cannondale started life in 1971 as a modest little bicycle company in a loft above a pickle factory. Since that time, they have created some of the most advanced and innovative road bikes and later mountain bikes in the world.

Then something changed, the world of ATVs was growing and Cannondale decided to break the mold. They started working on creating the most advanced, and unique ATV on the planet and ended up with an incredible machine for the die hard racer. Enter the Cannondale line of ATVs, all of them more purpose built as anything on the market today. Can you imagine, a bicycle company designing and building ATVs? And they not only did it, every other ATV company hasn't caught up to them yet, and its been 5yrs. Cannondale incorporated a fuel injected system that wasn't just the first, but the most tunable and programmable fuel injection system of its time. With nothing more than a pocket PC or a laptop computer, adjustments from timing, to fuel delivery in every rpm range could be changed. With two independent fuel injectors spraying fuel directly into the combustion chamber, two cams and four valves cycling the air and fuel into and out of the mill, this 432 cc engine could produce nearly 40 hp box stock. Cannondale was the first to offer a full aluminum chassis. It was just as innovative, with an aluminum frame designed to not only cool the oil from the engine, but to keep the weight as lite as possible. It is one of the most rigid chassis ever built, that's including the titanium chassis from Lonestar for the legendary TRX250R. Ohlins shocks do the job of keeping your bum from getting sore. This ATV was and is still a venerable force in the ATV world.

Unfortunately, the Cannondale monopoly on creativity has deflated in 2003 with the news that the little bicycle company would declare bankruptcy. Why did they leave the ATV scene, a lot of factors contributed to the equation. An incredible amount of money was spent on initially designing and testing the ATV and dirtbike lines. With less than 6,000 units sold since 2001, Cannondale simply couldn't cover the costs. In 2003, they tried to cut manufacturing costs by installing different crankshafts and engine cases. They not only malfunctioned, but Cannondale had no way of fixing the design. That put the nail in the coffin and finally ended the companies dream of dominating the ATV world for years to come.

However, that wasn't the end of the story, Cannondales still live on today. Cannondale owners around the country still ride and enjoy their rare and collectible ATVs. A couple of websites, as well as two aftermarket companies offer Cannondale owners a place to talk about their machines and fix the problems that happen to any high performance machine. The Cannondale community is a strong one, individual owners even developed a new crankshaft with the help of Falicon. Falicon Crankshaft is a leading company in the racing world, not only building cranks for the Cannondale, but they build crankshafts for the Yamaha and Honda 450's as well. Not only have these owners gone through the task of building crankshafts, they have built decompression weights, subframe conversion kits, intake systems, camshafts, and valves. With a member base of less than 1500, huge gains have been made in keeping these machines alive. This undying devotion to a company that has been gone for 2 yrs is why I keep my Cannondale, and for that matter keep fighting for places to ride. Every time I think that maybe I'll just leave it to someone else to take of, I look at those individuals and what they have done to keep they're dream alive. Whats your dream?

1)COMMIT and perform the extra maintenence. If you have a z400 bearing'd crank/falicon, and have all the updates, and change your oil/clean tranny filter regularly, i GUARANTEE your engine will last as long if not longer then a Jap quads engine. This means changing your oil every big/long ride, or every two weekends or three of play riding.

2)EVER EVER throw a dale together..EVER!!!!!. If you do your engine is already doomed. You gotta be patient and take the time and money to COMPLETELY update and build your engine RIGHT and the best it can be, and then it will be the most reliable/powerful/fun quad youve ever owned!!!! If you chince or rush a dale rebuild i can almost guarantee you its gonna break down.

3)Trust only TRUSTED dale builders. Dont have your local shop fix your dale, or a friend, or a unknown dale builder. If you go to Cannondaleriders.com and post a topic about engine builders you'll get all the reliable and trusted guys responding to you. This is a thing alot of people mess up on by getting the right parts but the wrong people assembling it.

4)Before ever doing anything post your probloem and plan of attack on Cannondaleriders.com so you can obtain the experts help and all of our guidence which we've all been there and done that. That site will save your butt soo much you wouldnt begin to bilieve it. I can GUARANTEE you that if you talk to daleriders.com people you'll get the solutiuon to your problem and plenty of offers for help.

5)Do some research before buying a dale. Theres a few flaws in certain models and years of production. For example one production eyar there was a large batch of chincy crappy cases used, that crack. You wanna make shure that the word Cannondale is cast right under the countershaft sprocket on teh engine case. If you have questions about this, ask a knowledgeable dale person.

6) I hate to say it but dont go to ATK for your dale parts needs and service. ALWAYS come to www.CannondaleRiders.com first to get help and parts and service....etc.

7) and the last main thing is be patient, and dont buy a dale if you arnt built to own one. They take TIME, COMMITMENT, PATIENCE, and sometimes alot of wrenching. But once built right and assembled they will make it worth that blood and swet you put into them.

I skipped buying a new suzuki 450 and yfz450/trx450 to keep/buy another dale!!...They are just supperior in engine performance for the amount of reliability they have. ONCE BUILT RIGHT. Of course you hear failures, mostly when someone does soemthign wrong or goes chincy on the dale when fixing it. I dont care who you are or what you ride, i own/ride all three major and dales have proven the best purchase ive made. They last a heck of alot longer then any jap quad with more power then them!!! Of course you can get mroe power out of your jap quads, but then your reliability will go down the toilet.

Hope this helps noobies out, and anyone else add anything if they please. AND I DONT WANT ANY ANNOYING 450r/yfz OWNERS BASHING OR ARGUING IN THIS THREAD!!!!!!!!! No one put down Jap quads in a disrespectful way and no Jap owners put down dales in disrespectful ways.
CHAD

Me- might be picking up a C'dale soon for $1500 but it pukes a little coolant from what ive heard...is that something to be worried about? i was thinking just get the new vavle covers because most likey the old owner didnt run EVANS,one more question,i know a few people with 02 dales, they dont have a new crank or anything, and i think just the motormount update. and they rebuild theres every so often and havent had problems, so should i run mine stock and see how it is then if it blows fix it or is it extremely rare to find one that doesnt need the updates??

Reply - one nice thing about your location is there is about 10 of use that live close to you and I have personaly rebuilt about 8-10 motors now.. parts very cheap tons of service folks out there to help you.. since your so local "cannondale central" might be your best bet only because I know there is a great deal of local guys there.. not to mention us local guys run the site.. 1500K is a steal just have someone help you look it over.

It seems like cannondales where extremely unreliable, when in reality about 3000 cannondales where produced, that’s less than ONE year on a Honda TRX450R, so there are MUCH more Honda’s. 04 and 05 450R’s had problems blowing cranks, you wont here about too many of those failures because there are SO many 04 and 05 450R’s it seemed like only “a few” had the crank problem, well only “a few” cannondales where unreliable but if there where 6000 450Rs made, and 1500 had problems, most of them aren’t reported if there were 3000 cannondales made, 1000 of them fail almost EVERYONE was reported because cannondale riders are experienced riders and usually race, so it made it seem like they ALL broke and they really did not.

Updates

*engine mount update – Updates the motormount to a stronger one

*Stage 8 crank/tran plate bolt update(they backout sometimes stock) – In late 2002 when cannondale was in finical trouble they decided to use a cheaper crank in there engines, many of the cranks where unbalanced and cause a lot of problems this update fixes it, the one im getting is an early 2002 so I shouldn’t have a problem with it

*Oil breather update – Updates the oil breather line to brethe better

*z400 crank bearing update – Again a common problem after they decided to use cheaper cranks the bearings blew, Most common on late 2002 models early 2003

* Aluminum Vavle cover The stock magniusm covers would corrode over time and then put anti-freeze in bad places, The only fix for this was to run EVANS coolant because it was water based, now they make these Aluminum Vavle covers so you can replace the old one and run any coolant you like.

Why there unique:

Cannondale decided to mount the engine in the frame of the Quad backwards, so the pipe came out the back and the air filter out the front in between the lights, Because of this the Chain is on the right side, and pipe and rear brake disc is on the left.

Also, the entire side of the engine case comes off, So instead of splitting the cases to access the transmission and crank and bottom end they all come out the side of the engine.

Cannondale also mounted the battery In the front of the engine, because why have the battery on the back, side of the frame (like Honda) when they could put it in front of the engine and have a lower center of gravity and save space.

Another thing people doesn’t know about cannondales are, they are somewhat based on a Honda 400ex, the rear plastic shape is close to the same, the chain adjuster the in swingarm is the same, a 400ex axle and carrier will fit in the swing arm, the front end geometry (A-arms and shocks) are almost exactly the same, the shock length is and you can put a 400ex front on on a cannondale, its not recommended because the shocks are vavled for a 400ex but it is possible. The wheels are also a Honda bolt pattern.

Cannondales come with an Aluminum Frame as well, which is near impossible to break, and with all the new Jap quads frames breaking the cannondale frame will stay together! You can also polish it to make it looks cool.

Also a D&M kit is available for these quads, D&M stands for diagnostic and maintenance kit, this kit plugs into your Dale with a laptop and will allow you to adjust your powercurve, and Tell you if anything is possible wrong with your dale, to avoid costly repairs.

Blackwidowatv.com is a good place to go to get anything you need for a cannondale, they sell every single nut and bolt for them, and are great people. There site included Service manuals for all cannondale quads that include exploded views and much more valuable information for free! and also owner manuals. Cannondaleriders.com, Cannondalecentral.com and Cannondaler.com are also the three biggest cannondale related sites on the web. Post any problem you could have here and the members of the sites will gladly help you, Some of the members are also former Cannondale employs and can tell you the day your cannondale was built and its dyno results, not gonna get that from a Jap quad!

These are just a few of the Great things about Unique One of a kind Cannondales and ways to keep them running strong forever and could teach some less informed people how Great these quads really are.