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Thread: Newbie/Prospecting Dale owners

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Ortonville, MI
    Posts
    605

    Newbie/Prospecting Dale owners

    Okay,
    All this info is available on our main site, www.CannondaleRiders.com , but i thought id post a quick little helper cause im bored and ahve nothing else to do.

    If you are looking to/currently own a dale, these are the things you should do to it or buy with it already occupying these things.

    1)Falicon or Timboose crank. Stock cranks are a waste of time, and dont last. If you end up usign a stock crank make SHURE it has a z400 crank bearing(bottom end needle bearing). This is essential because it has more needles then a dale bearing, and increases dale engine life a ton.
    And the Falicon is just great in general, best thing you could do to your dale. This is because they are supperior then anyone else in crank design and perfection, and are eprfect in every way. I have a race dale with its THIRD season now with no crank rebuilding and little wear!!! It increases rev speed, the engine now has almsot no vibration, and is guaranteed to be able to be rebuilt for a long time by falicon for a fairly cheap fee. That and you make your dale a 469

    2)Make shure it has all the upodates done, if not...at LEAST the important ones. These include
    *engine mount update
    *Stage 8 crank/tran plate bolt update(they backout sometimes stock)
    *Oil breather update
    *z400 crank bearing update
    And i bilieve those are the most important ones

    3)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.

    4)NEVER 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.

    5)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.

    6)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.

    7)Do some research before buying a dale. Theres a few flaws in certain models and eyars of production. For example one production eyar there was a alrge 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.

    8)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.

    9) 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
    Sponsors-----
    Quad-Tech***Yoshimura***Pro-Taper***Elka***Powermadd*** WISECO***ARC

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    North East
    Posts
    26
    Don't forget all the other sites out there, folks that are new.. there are a bunch of sites out there for help, aroracer72 stated a good place to go and check out but there are many more sites.. but there are so many more out there!!

    Big site for bike guys.. but not limited to bikes.. lots of quads stuff out there
    http://cannondaler.com

    New but gaining speed and content, yes I run that site (which has a link to this site)
    Cannondalecentral.com

    Never been to this one
    CannondaleMotorcycles Yahoo Group

    I know that there are like 2-3 others ... cannondale27 would know

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Ortonville, MI
    Posts
    605
    Knew id forget something!!!!!...haha...If you find that I forgot something post the additions in here

    ****The coolant issue is that stock dale valve covers were corroding and getting pitted from coolant. Soo the fix is to get a aluminum cover and have it powder coated(i get a special apoxy powder coat paint). This usually solves the problem, and also running EVANS coolant is part of the fix. If you dont have this fixed then eventually your valve cover will corrode through and start leaking coolant in badddddd places ******

    AND as for other sites thanks, feel free to name any other sources of dale information, I just only listed daleriders.com because thats the only site i know well and can vouch for the members, content, and information provided there. But that doesnt mean other sites arnt worth while. Just listing what i know myself. Thanks for the info, this is the stuff i wanted added....keep it coming, and hope this helps some newcommers in the near future.!!!!
    CHAD
    Sponsors-----
    Quad-Tech***Yoshimura***Pro-Taper***Elka***Powermadd*** WISECO***ARC

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    North East
    Posts
    26
    clap.. clap.. clap.. sorry the wellfare version of a clap smilie!!

    great post Chad!!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Central Missouri
    Posts
    108
    Good Info!!!
    Cannondale fx450 timbo stroker

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Gallipolis, Oh
    Posts
    1,213
    Great post Chad! These bikes can be made reliable, and are a great running bike, and also handle great. Take the time to do your homework on a bike before buying, it will pay off in the long run.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    toronto
    Posts
    66
    these posts make me want a dale so bad, but there pretty hard to find here in canada. guess il just have to stick with honda

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    north attleboro mass
    Posts
    5,813
    Awsome post, i 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 mopre question,a 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??

    thanks!
    NEATV-MX #51.
    06 Walsh/LSR/Axis 450R - Gone
    07 Walsh/JB/PEP 450R - Gone
    07 Gibson/JB/PEP 450R - Gone

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Ortonville, MI
    Posts
    605
    Well, the coolant thing cn cause other problems....but most likely it only needs the new cover. But th thing is, the stage 8 bolt update is super important because if the bolts back out then youll have major damage occur. In order to change the valve cover you have to lower teh motor and take off the big side cover anyways...soo do teh stage 8 kit while your there.
    CHAD
    Sponsors-----
    Quad-Tech***Yoshimura***Pro-Taper***Elka***Powermadd*** WISECO***ARC

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    North East
    Posts
    26
    Originally posted by rollie
    Awsome post, i 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 mopre question,a 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??

    thanks!
    rollie.. 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..

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