Dont they assemble the 400's in the states ??????

Anyway I dont care what country makes it or I'd be riding on a DS(yeah I'm Canadian)

The point is my 400 is the right quad for me and The only thing I would change on it is reverse and maybe more top end....



Probably honda wont come out with a new hi perf machine for a while but when they do... nothing will have been overlooked or guessed.... and they wont have to change half of the quads components the very next year cuz it was poorly desinged to begin with.


Oh yeah yamaha had the guts to show up with a 660..... The idea behind the quad is very good but they did not take enough time to desing it well.

Same goes for cannondale and a lot of their *models*(i'd call them projects) that needed top be revised right after they went into production.

Buying one of these quad is becoming Yamahas or Cannondales *test rider* Exciting eh! But they dont pay you to do it YOU pay them to *test* if their quad is good enough for the rest of us. And YOU pay the reapirs after that 6 months warranty is out.


Before I bought my 400ex I gave yamaha a shot by waiting to see if the raptor would be a good quad. The reason: power is nice The outcome: I'm glad I waited long enough to see that the raptor was not desinged well enough and had problems.

And if honda ever makes another High perf quad I wont have to wait and see if it's a good quad cuz from experienc I know that they do their homework.

 

As a totally impartial observer, I would say that Honda makes Sport ATVs (the 400ex and 300ex) while Cannondale makes Racing ATVs. If you want to race a Honda you have to put a lot of dollars into it to get it to perform like the stock Cannondale. Therefore I would say the money difference is nill. The mods to the engine on the Hondas will also affect their reliability so again the difference is a wash. The question is, do you want to buy it all at once or piece by piece?

If you want a "High Performance" machine (and all the additional maintenance) buy the Cannondale or the Honda (and spend the money on mods). If you want a "Sport" machine, buy the Honda.

 

Yes, some 400's are assembled in the US. Mine was made in South Carolina. They did a good job putting it together. No problems thus far. Here's a link to tell by your VIN where it came off the assembly line.
http://www.exriders.com/tech/vin.shtml

 

Newzboy,

Then go to that forum and STAY THERE! We don't need your crap here.

 

Touched a nerve, did I? I noticed that rather than construct a well thought out argument as to why one should stick to Honda in light of their ignoring public demand, (at least most of the honda guys backed up their views, which I can respect)...You choose to take a swipe at me. Obviously, if this were a war of wits, you sir are unarmed.

 

Newzboy,

Sorry, I don't feed trolls!

 

I'll go ahead and group that response with your previous one. ANNNNNNY WAAAAAY, Back to my point...I know that dependability is pretty important to all quad owners and its probably one of the top 3 reasons you all bought hondas... That cool... my point is that I think we will see the further we get away from the initail Cannondale releases last year, they will be seen for what they are...I think they will be extremely reliable...Kind of like rotax..When is the last time you heard of a rotax breaking? Even as far back as the ATK and even the Can Am dirt bikes they were reliable. The coolest thing Ive seen though, is when something does break or isn't right, Cannondale steps up and fixes it now for free, not "next model year"....right now.... I'm not trying to sour anyone on Hondas, (heck, I've 2 in my garage) but at least VISIT the Cannondale forum and listen to what these guys (and girls( are finding out .... I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised. Hey! Even Moto93 is invited...(I dare you)

 

Hats off newzboy
unless honda comes out with something in the next year C-dale has my money

 

If you go to the C'dale forum, where are the testamonials from anyone who has put a couple of hundred hours on one? This machine just hasn't proven itself yet, and anyone would be a fool to buy one at this point (unless you have money to burn). Just be cool, and let those other guys test the product for you, at least for another year.

Maybe we havn't seen a new Honda, because HONDA GETS IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME! They don't rush stuff to market that isn't thoroughly tested and refined. Look at the Raptors. Yamaha rushed it to market to counter the DS650. They are having all kinds of problems, because YAMAHA LEFT THE FINAL R&D TO BE DONE BY THE CUSTOMER!! C'dales havn't had rave reviews in the magazines either. They make comments like "a nice first effort". Now are you going to spend $8,000 for a "nice effort"??

 

I think cannondale should try looking at building a smaller lower priced quad with most of the features the larger machines have.
A 300cc dual cam liquid cooled aluminum frame, fuel injected.... the list goes on ...