I passed 250 hours a couple weeks ago and it still uses no oil or smokes. Of course I was smart enough not to put a K&N filter on . I also just installed the latest hex code and the moto speed map and it has more power than ever before. I checked the valves on my spare engine (sandstorms dune motor)and they were spot on after 200 hours.

As far as comparing atv engine to diesels thats a little hard to swallow. Atv engines run in filth and dust with a wide variance in owner upkeep and maintenence. And diesel engines even high speed ones have nowhere near the piston speeds dale engine are capable of(nearly 12,000rpm). The cannondale engine was designed to be as light and compact as possible while running on the ragged edge of endurance.

Im more concerned with my stock crank bearings failing than I am about cyllinder wear. The cool thing is you dont need to mess with boring cyllinders because of the wet sleeve design. And you dont have to split cases and tranny to change it out either.

 

They sure are sweet quads!
i havent seen to many of them in NS none now that i think of it

 

They are a rare breed indeed. Since there were only a couple thousand built that comes out to about fifty per state.

 

I never heard that.Cannondale did have 100hrs as their benchmark but that is on a dyno under heavy load and I believe full throttle.They tested a YZ 426 and that consistently made a 100 hrs before damage so that is what they went for and achieved.

 

On one hand a 100 hours is not that long but.....

I gernaded a JE piston after 1 1/2 years and the rings were still pretty good. My quad was hammered on weekly during that time. We were tearing it down every 2 months to look at wear and make changes for upcoming work. I was doing the R@D for craycraft. I think it all has to do with warmup and shut down. You do those 2 correctly and change the oil you will get a lot of life out of it. On the other side i have seen plenty of quads go thru Bobs shop that the owner claimed had "20" hours on it and was beat to a pulp. there are a lot of varibles involved. I think honda claimed you needed to change the rings on the crf450 dirtbike every 20 or so.??

I know that my quad has more clearence in the bore than JE was recomeending at the time. That might have a little to do with life as well as what ring gap you run.

If a stock cannondail needs to be torn apart after 100 hours i would look for something else. Stock it does not produce enough HP to warrant that type of service IMO

 

100 hours, you guys are crazy.. i could get 100 hours in a week long vaca at Glamis.... Dang i dont plan on ever rebuilding my DS engine as long as i own it.... i had a 80s model honda 200sx with 1000s on 1000s of hours......even two strokes can run way longer than that, my late 90s YZ250 was raced and dune ridin only and i only rebuilt it about every 300 hours.. it was a modded 2 stroke running in sand and heat! i know friends who run 250Rs on the stock bore.. at least 2 i can list....... come on guys get real...

EDIT: on the other hand i do hear of tons of C'dales with new/replaced motors and there like 2003 models.. so maybe those engines just rattle themselves apart w/in 100 hours.. but that aint a typical 4 stroke trait.

 

I think you are confusing wear with parts failures. Most 03 engines have unbalanced cranks due to a vendor issue and have a very high failure rate if not rebalanced. The 02 engines had problems with crank plate bolts not having been locktighted by the engine assemblers at the factory. If even one bolt would come loose it would cause a lot of damage. Many owners didnt take the steps nescasary (updates)to avoid these problems and that led to many an engine failure. Its good fuel for cannondale bashers but very misleading.

Whats up with comparing other quad engines to cannondales? The only other 4 stroke quad engines with thier power to wieght ratio are the new 450r and the yfz.