Thinking of buying first C-Dale need advise please

[bryan.young1]

Hey all,

I have only owned Honda quads before 250X/400EX found them bullet proof and extremely easy to work on. Had a friend that lost his oil plug (400EX) on the trail and didn't notice until he got to the end of the trail. no telling how long he had been going with no oil. he took it home got a new plug and filled it up and the thing never missed a beat. Anyway since i dont know anything about C-Dale product other then they look pretty bad *** all MX ed out was hopping that you all could give me some heads up...

Pros
Cons

im looking to get back into riding for fun. Want to hit the MX tracks and do some trail/dune riding.

Thanks for any advise


The one im thinking of buying is HouserDale432's that was up for July Quad of the month.

Thanks again

[04yfz450nj]

in my opinion there great quads fast I think one of the best handling quads out there to this day.I have owned one the crank bearing goes on them which is y the have the z400 bearing update there acouple updates once u do them there pretty reliable quads.I think kind of a pain to work on.also go on cannondaleriders there alot of great info there

[bryan.young1]

Thanks that's great info. why in your opinion are they a pain to work on? Also how easy is it to get parts for these? It seems like ATK's website is selling the same exact chassis in 2010 as it was in 2003 except for the 450 motor so it seems like that would be an easy place to get parts fast, but the lack of a list of authorized dealers made me wonder if its possible to run down to pretty much any quad dealer and find CDale parts or if there always special order. Anyway thank you for the feedback and the website ill check that out as well.

[Brown450R]

You can find everything you could ever need on ebay or cannondaleriders.com. Plenty of parts available.

[bryan.young1]

Cool thanks I will do that. Its good to hear that parts are not hard to come by.

[04yfz450nj]

there really jus different than any other quad till about now jus think in 2001 till 2003 they had alum frams an fuel injection what was it til 07 or 08 did one of the forein bikes come out with the fuel injection an such I really do like the quads as i said a pain to work on the oil goes threw the frame not a pain I think its pretty cool.once u update it there great quads.there really isint any dealers I know there is a guy in pa who rebuilt mine but that was like in 05 or so.

[Brad77]

Yeah the site sponsors over at Cdaleriders have the hookup on parts.
Once a Cannondale has the proper updates it is a reliable machine. Although I do consider it to be a little more heavy on the maintence side of things. I am a maintenance freak though and it may be just me.
It helps to have some mechanical knowledge when owning a Cannondale. Considering it has quite a few wires and sensors. Having a D&M kit installed on a computer is a must have.
They are fun quads and I even after all these years I still have people ask me what it is.

[bryan.young1]

thanks for all of the feed back from everyone. My mind is made up. I made and offer and it was accepted. will be picking it up first week of august. downloaded the manuals and have been going though them last few days. Don't think ill have a problem, used to tear my X and EX apart all the time no problem and aside from the new coolant system and a few quirky differences that i can talk to you pros about i should be able to keep her oil changed filters changed and clean gas in her and life will be good :) Thanks again for all your feedback it was 2006 when i last was on this site and not a thing has changed. Its still chocked full of people willing to help out with good advice and info.

[04yfz450nj]

post up some pics when ya get it also what model did u get

[bryan.young1]

Here are the pics that i saw to buy it. Wont be able to pick it up until around the first week of august, but ill have my camera shutter smoking once i get her home and ill post some new ones. lol even though its been almost 5 years since i had a quad I'm still the same old working class dummy that buys the quad and then has to dig for change to get all the gear and a trailer to tow it (sigh) i guess things never change :) any way ill post two more pics I haven't been this excited since the first time i ever rode my 250X. Was my first quad ever and i remember smiling so big that my face hurt.

specs below

Frame: Stock CAAD
A Arms: Houser +3 LT
Swingarm: Stock
Steering Stem: Stock Arens Bros.
Stabilizer: N/A
Axle: LSR Axcaliber
Carrier: LSR Billet Twin Row
Locknut: LSR Anti-Fade
Hubs F|R: Stock/400EX
Bars: Pro-Taper
Throttle/Clutch Lever: Stock/Stock Magura Hydraulic
Grips: Pro-Taper Pillow Top
Nerfs: AC Racing
Bumper: AC Racing
Grab Bar: Stock
Front Shocks: Custom Axis Triple Rate Fully Adjustable
Rear Shock: Ohlins ZPS Fully Adjustable
Brake Lines: LSR Dual Lines
Rotors F|R: Stock
Rims F|R: Hiper CF1/DWT Beadlocks
Tires F|R: Holeshot MXR6



Body:

Plastic: Stock Silver Cannondale w/Carbon Fiber Hood
Graphics|Seat Cover: N/A/Stock
Number Backgrounds: N/A
Handguards: N/A
Bar Pad: N/A
Fuel Tank: Stock



Engine|Drive System:

Cylinder|Head: Wistech Ported
Bore & Stroke: 95mm/61mm
Displacement: 432cc
Cam: MegaCycle
Carburetor: 46mm Throttle Body
Air Filter|Box: UNI w/Outerwear/Cyclone
Pipe|Silencer: Modified Header/HMF
Clutch|Plates: Updated Stock
Gearing F|R: 13/38
CDI|Killswitch: Optimum GP Control MC1000/Gunnar
Cooling: Liquid
Other: Aluminum oil pump gears, aluminum valve cover, aluminum impeller, Blue Bolts w/NordLocks, Z-400 rod bearing, Re-located fuel pump and pressure regulator, Larger fuel pump inlet, Dyno tuned.

[bryan.young1]

its houserdale432 quad that was up for quad of the month for july

[bryan.young1]

last one

[cannondale27]

Thats a awesome quad!Looks to have all the updates.Congratulations.

[04yfz450nj]

dam nice cdale if u dont mind me asking what ya pay for that thing

[bryan.young1]

Picking it up this Sunday looks like. he wanted 4500 im giving him 4 plus a half way drive to pick it up. I think
I'm getting the better part of the deal since he says he has about 10k into it since 2007 when he started the build from bone stock never ridden. Ill post more picks plus start a new thread to review my VersaHaul V90 ATV carrier when i pick her up.

[bryan.young1]

ended up comming down a bit more on price and picked it for for 3800. Runs perfect and is super clean motor has about 18 hours on it since the motor work was done.

[bryan.young1]

first trip to the tack tomorrow cant wait:)

heres a link to the Full review i did on the carrier

Full Review VersaHaul VH-90 (http://www.exriders.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=445735)

[LT250RMan]

Very nice machine. How do you like the power these have ? I noticed they are high reving compaired to any other 4 stroke quad.

[bryan.young1]

Crazy power. its been ported and polished etc, so even though its a 432 it pulled out of every turn in 4th gear like a 450. ripped around the track and was in 4th gear the whole time just ripping out of the turns with no problem...................then after about 3 sets of 5 hard laps each i went for a 4th set and only made it 2 laps and she gasped and died on a straight away. tried to restart and only got a grinding sound coming from what i hope is the starter motor or starter clutch. Not sure why that would have stopped the engine but when i drained the transmission fluid tons of metal shavings came out. oil was clear but I'm afraid my first ride on my first Cannondale was cut way too short:(

[LT250RMan]

:eek: Wow man don't try to start it anymore, sounds like you should call dave muller at canno-moto and let him know what happened and he will help you out. Have you checked the motor oil yet ?

Im in the middle of building a cannondale. Im sending my motor to dave before I think of starting it and getting him to completely rebuild it.

[bryan.young1]

yea i stopped trying to start it after it started grinding rite after it happened. drained the oil and it was clean, when i drained the transmission fluid it was full of metal shavings though. Its at a local shop now getting checked out i bailed out when i saw all the shavings and knew it would need to be at the least cleaned out really well. I am hoping that it is just the starter clutch or the starter itself that failed. i cranked the motor over by hand and everything moved fine and like i said the oil was clean no shavings so hopefully i will be ok but yea sucks big time. Hey what is Dave mullers Number and location? tried looking it up and couldn't find anything on Google.

[LT250RMan]

canno-moto.com
dave muller
360-574-2613
battle ground, wa
98604

[bryan.young1]

the mechanic says the crank went out. This is confusing since the kid i bought it from said he had put a Z400 crank in it not too long ago. I told the mechanic that i spun the motor by hand and it moved smoothly but he said that doesn't matter and that the crank was likely installed incorrectly and only had to be 100ths off and it could cause a failure. $1000 to fix sound rite? or am i getting ripped off again. what a great bike i payed 3500 for it rode it for 2 hours and now it needs another $1000 bucks of work maybe ill get 3 hours out of it this time. sigh