I just sold my ds650 its gone tommorrow so I thought I thought I would go look at new sport quads a wouldn't you know it I seen my very first FX400. I have not heard much about them becouse they are suppose to so "high priced" and know one I thought had them in town. I went to local KTM dealer just snoopen and there it sat. I went over take a peak at it and I really like it. One of the sales man came over to take to me and said the guy that handles them was out but he set up a meeting with him and me for friday. He told me they were asking 7000 grand and that was a grand of becouse they haven't sold one yet and they want to get the name out. I came home right away and came to this site to see what you guys were saying about them. So far it looks perty good but how do you guys feel they will compare to my old DS or the raptor. NO bull sh*t either. I would like to know things like how well they will do in strait out drag race with a DS or raptor handling compared to the ds or raptor and problems that you been having ,and so on and so forth. Any info you guys can give would be great!

 

There have been some problems w/ the FX but CD is standing behind their product and doing evrything to make the customer happy in his choice. They will beat A Raptor and DS in a straight line. I was slaughterd by a bone stock one up Sand Mtn at Little Sahara Utah which is the baddest sand hill in the country. I was very surprised. Click on my web address in the sig to see the hill. It's the pic w/ the Raptor going up it. They have twitchy handleing like the DS.

 

Thanks for the info sandgod.I checked out that picture, and man that is one insane hill!! We don't have any thing like that here maybe some day I will have to save up some cash and hall to some some place like that and ride.

 

Hey I've been to Sturgis S.D sort of close to you, so guess where to come if your a diehard atv enthusiast. Glamis in Cal may be bigger, but bigger isn't better. There's no hill that compares to Sand Mtn!!! Sorry it's off the subject!!!

 

I wouldn't believe what the mags are saying about the "twitchy handling" until I actually rode one. The way I see it, the FX is the only way to go. Nothing else compares.

 

Hey CrzyDSrider,Too bad your not a little closer,you could take a "free Demo ride" on a Fx this weekend at Rausch Creek MX Park.The MX Park is having an "Open House" & Cannondale is bringing there new MX machines to demo them & offers free demo rides.
If I get a chance gonna go there & check out the FX,so maybe I can tell you more after the weekend.Unfortunately I can not ride cause I'm healing a fractured collar bone.But I'll get a good look at it in MX conditions and against other quads,hopefully someone will "fly" it off a "styling" jump.

 

Well I did go to r/c to see a cannondale run..NOT.As soon as I got Iknew something was not right.There were 2 quads there allright(FX & Cannibal),but at about 2:30 & not dirty??.I knew it was just a teaser....or..bait & switch,whatever.When I asked about a "demo ride "I was told..... NOT today???....he went on to say that in about amonth ,check r/c website for exact date we will doing "demo rides here with the quads"....they were running the bike.
Anyway I got a great look at them..........sitting still.And they look well made,but there are some things that I would have done different or engineered a little different and some stuff that was impressive.
I did not understand why A-arms& balljoints have no grease fittings,
handlebars were bolted on at about a 90 degree angle to ground & sat up like an old bicycle , that would be the thing first I would change.The plastic did not seem to be supported well at frt. fender.May be needs another bracket?
The frame was welded robotically & looked great.
I liked the location of pegs & brake lever ,the shifter was nice because it folded in and was made well.Those are some of the things I noticed.
Most of all was disappointed with the fact that they did not run them,and only thing I was told about that is "we are not running them because of reliability problems"
I thought the cannondales were being sold all over NOW.So I dont what the real problem is....anybody know anything more ?

 

There was a notice on R & S Performances site,last week, about a demo ride day they had
cancelled because the A-arm ball joints had some reliability issues. This was probably why they cancelled the demo rides you were planning to attend. I had my ball joints replaced back in June just before I took delivery of mine. I just recieved a safety recall notice from Cannondale last week for the ball joints on all FX and Cannibals so I'm wondering now if the updated ones I got are even good.

Moto24
'01 FX400
'98 Kawi ZX-9R
'90 Kawi ZX-7 (superbike)
'84 VF750R
'80 Kawi KZ650

 

hey ds650dave. you should do your homework. All cannons are hand made those excellent welds are actually done by hand and sanded. I wish people would know what they are talking about before the critisize something.

 

I bought my FX400 and rode it down to my Grandparents house. My Grandpa came out to look it over and the first thing he noticed was the bead on the welds. All he talked about was the how good the welds where, and never said a thing about the rest of the bike. He just couldn't get past the workmanship in the chassis, he didn't care at all how fast it was. And yes they are hand made. The front end is a little twitchy, but as the suspension breaks in the twitch subsides. I only notice it when riding fast down dirt roads. A steering dampener will solve that. It turns and handles just as good as my 250R, just has MORE power stock for stock. It's much easier to start too.