that was either rider error or their machines where half blown. Not one Banshee has ever won at the track I work at. They will get the holeshot....but they fade back before the end of the first lap....

 

Is the "250R Era" over? Its hard to tell. some people really get excited by new machines, even if they are infierior.Regardless of how good the new Dales turn out to be, the affect is going to be great, finally a new racer, it should prompt answers from the big 4 and hopefully we will see some truly great machines.250R VS Dale, its hard to say, Kory Ellis in the last DirtWheels turned his fastest laps on his 250R, faster than his YZ440 quad and the YZ is faster than the Cannondale.

 

The cannondale may be the hot machine in the near future, but I wouldn't buy one until the company get all of they're bugs out. A friend of mine had the priviledge of test riding the cannondale before it was released to the public. He rode it on Elizabeth City MX track in NC. Within a few minutes of riding, he broke a weld on the frame and cracked the front plastic. This is all without crahing.
Also, another scenario. One of the local shops here in the area bought the bike as a demo bike to promote their shop. Last thing I heard from them was that the bike was spitting oil out the tail pipe.
The cannondale definitely has potential, but I would give them some time to get all of their ducks in a row before I would make the change. My honda might not be as fast, but at least I know that I will finish the race with it still running.

 

I have an opinion about all these reliability questions with the new Dales but it isn't exactly quad related.

I bought a $2000 C'dale mountain bike (Delta-V 1500) back in 1992 and it was the first model with the shock in the head tube (head-shok). Well, three weeks later it broke - and they fixed it for free. That one lasted about six months and then quit again. In the meantime, C'dale had redesigned the shock to make it a lot better. The dealer replaced my blown head-shok with the new redesigned one for free again. Well, it made it a year and blew up again. By this time, C'dale had AGAIN redesigned it and AGAIN they replaced it for free and even gave me a bike to ride while I was getting mine fixed. That one has lasted forever - I still have the bike and it still works great. C'dale saw the problem and reacted by improving it twice and now there isn't a problem anymore.

What is my point? I have two points:

1) That you should wait a while until they get the bugs out of their new product - anything this complex and new will have a few problems in the beginning.

2) That C'dale is a standup company and I think based on their track record that IF there is a problem with this new quad they will find it, improve it, and make good to all the people who bought them.

I applaud C'dale for having the ***** that Honda didn't have to come out with a true race machine (or at least closer to a real race machine than we had before). No matter what happens, this C'dale can only be good for all of us quad riders.

 

No bashing so far thats great!! Afer reading some comments I know the era isn't over, but I think anybody can sence that all things must come to an end or at least a slow down. No the 250r will never die, but I can see the new age start to slowly rise up. When you've been on top for so long there's only one place to go.

 

i owuldn't be so quick that the new race ready moto440 is going to take over tracks. remember the rebel star 250? people where saying the same about that when it first came out. but it never sold well. of course the cannondale has a better chance because quad racing is more popular now plus all the parts on it are from the same company. i hope they do sell well. then maybe other manufacturers will start building better quads. it'll be like the muscle car days where they would build racers from the factory. their motto was "win on sunday, sell on monday". hopefully that sentance will start to be the same with quads.

 

2 stroke motors will eventually become extinct , just like leaded gas has. The environmentalists have more money than the government and they are willing to spend it in court and are willing to pay off politicians to support them. Plain and simple, 2 stroke motors pollute a phenonemal amount for each gallon burned. I read once that a 2 stroke motor pollutes as much in one 24 hour day as an automobile does in a year.

 

You have Gotten some ridiculously bad information.A powervalved,correctly jetted,fuel injected 2stroke using the right oil will put out less pollutants than a YZ426.Just the right oil and correct jetting makes a HUGE difference, do you really believe us ATVers and dirtbikers have ANY discernable affect on the worlds pollution?

 

Well, I think you all are still arguing over the Green's OLD OLD reason to ban ATVs. The pollutant idea has really died down. I mean, someone will reply and say "What are you talking about? The number one reason that environmentalists oppose atv's is the pollutants."

But as often as I come to the ATV internet hangouts to see what's new in the ATV world...I look at the opponents. (keep your friends close, your enemies closer--I probably should subscribe to their internet newsletters). Well they really stress their opposition to ATVS on ANY public lands because it "destroys the land, scares the animals, and the riders are harmful because they overcrowd and litter." One of the arguments is that riders go off on their own trails, which are not designated but have marks because of the loggers of 20 years ago and ATVs have kept the dirt route alive by continuously going there. I also read some of these losers will be spying on ATVers in certain national parks (all this is found if you go to the sierra club and do a search on the ATVS)..

I know that this doesn't go with the TOPIC but I feel the forum has moved on to more anti-green views and the pollutants.

 

I really don't know scientifically about pollutants, but I do know that a two stroke motor @ 32:1 ratio burns 4 oz. of raw oil per gallon. A normal day riding will burn a gallon per hour minimum, (powervalved or not). At 24 hours that is 6 quarts of raw oil per day. I don't know about your car, but my car doesn't burn 1 quart in a year.Does raw oil pollute more than refined gas? I don't know. Maybe someone in here can tell us. 2) I think that ATV's and motorcycles play a very minimal part in the world's pollution, but the other side doesn't like us and that's just the way it is.