Well I went to the track yesterday and rode the C-dale for the firs time. I was pretty nice to it during the breakin, but I did get on it a few times to see what it had. These are my thoughts on this bike, very preliminary. Scary fast, I could pull a wheelie in any gear with just a stab at the throttle, and a tug of the bars. Suspension is stiff up front, the rear feels great. I took a jump four times, getting about 3 feet of air, not too much, but it felt great in the air and landings were a breeze, it made me want to just hit the jump harder each time. Starting is tricky, but once its started I never had it stall on me all day. In the mornings here it is cold, 20-30 degrees, so it is hard to start in the morning. The engine is loud, and makes noises im not used to, but I think it will grow on me. I changed the oil, not too hard, but it sure doesnt feel like it holds much oil, i only drained out one container 1.05liter, and then put one in, and it read correct.
I did break one thing, the link below should take you to my photos on yahoo, thanks brian, and you can see the before and after. It was my inline fuel filter, it hangs below the gas tank, and when you get some good air, the swingarm compresses and the reseviour of the shock pushed the in-line fuel filter into the underneath of the gas tank and mine cracked the fuel filter, so I was leaking gas. I have a picture of this at yahoo, so I went and got a factory honda one, and then zip tied it to the aluminum frame crossbar under the black EFI/ES body plastic, there is a picture of that too, just an FYI. Over all this sucker is screaming, I was very careful and slow to break it in, but i could tell there is some serious power in there. Im changing the tranny fluid today, any suggestions. Hope you can get to the pics, let me know if you cant.




my photos

 

oh yaeh,
the photo of the welds is to show those who havent seen one what a sweet american weld looks like.

 

BTW, you can buy those fuel filters from O'Reilly's for $2.09. My gas line and fuel filter were tie wrapped to my frame to prevent what you just described, you might want to do that if it wasn't.

 

Well, I went to Swan MX today for Rnd. 1 of the Lonestar State Championship Series and the accelaration is incredible. I was just about tied for first in the holeshot until the layout of the track forced me to drift over and than about 6 people got ahead of me [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img] and then the rest of the race wasn't that great. It IS only my second race on the Dale and I have never ridden this track so I guess it wasn't to bad... I'm getting better. Not to start a "brand war" here, but I did beat a Raptor pretty good. I just thought I would throw that in since you ALWAYS here the Raptor and C-dale owners compete, and I just wanted to join in [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] .

 

trout, congratulations. Very cool machine. Keep us posted.

 

Hey trout!
glad you had a good first ride! Change the spring preload to softest on the front shocks. Reduce the air pressure from 5.5 recomended to 4-4.5 psi. Much better ride and no performance penalty on moderate jumps. For the tranny oil, Do Use full synthetic. I've had fewer missed shifts with it. Tip the bike up a bit to help gearbox drainage. What til you find out what this machine can really do!
I'm still waiting [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Yeah i used synthetic oil. I tell you what though, this sucker is a Bitch to start. IT is cold here now, snowed five inches last night and it is 6 degrees this morning, so I think I am going to garage this thing till it warms up, it wont start. I was thinking about turning the idle screw up a few notches, any body know how many RPM's ='s each click of the ****, its probably in the manual. I just cant believe how hard it is to start. I have to crank on the starter for 3-5 seconds before it will kick in, and i usually have to give it a little gas too, its just got to be too cold I hope, I can always get it to start, but it takes a while. I didnt find any loose nuts or bolts either, I was sort of surprised, but they were all tight!

 

Strange, Mine starts first time even when it is single digits. Try adjusting idle screw, make sure battery is fully charged and check spark plug. I usually turn key on then hit stop button, wait 3 seconds and vrooom!!!

 

Hey, what the heck kind of head are those star heads anyways on the oil filter and the engine case. I used a little socket to get the oil filter cover off, but I think I was stripping it. does anyboday know where to get a star tool like that, I e-mailed cannondale but got no response.
thanks

sparkyEX,

when you turn on the key the fuel filter kicks in for like 3 seconds, I wait for it to do its thing then I hit the starter, if it above freezing it starts up, but not if its like 20 or colder. The spark plug is fine, cause like I said it will always eventually start. I am at 6000 ft. too, but that shouldnt matter with EFI. Why do you hit the stop button before you start it? IT seems funny talking about starting quads, it is usually a no brainer, but mine is tough. Do you have the gp1000, or the 500ecu? The dealer told me that there have been problems with the gp1000, and the 500ecu is better, I think he just said that because that is what mine had on it, but he did say that mine had the cold weather starting update programmed in, but it doesnt seem like it. One more thing, after you kill your cannibal, do you let the fuel pump do its thing for 3 seconds then turn key off, or do you turn the key off right away?

 

I don't remember exactly what they call that screw but on the older C'dale's like the FX400, they used those screws throughout the quad, it was a pain. I call it a reverse torx but that's not the proper name. Someone said it's a 12 point socket but that's not correct either. I went to a local tool shop and they had one, sorry I cannot remember the size or exactly what they are called. Go to a local tool store, I believe even Sears has these and tell them you need a socket for a "star" type screw, kind of like a reverse torx, they should know what you are talking about, or better yet, if you have it out, take it with you.

The GP1000 computer is far superior to the old GP500 computer, trust me, I had the GP500 and I had alot of problems with mine.

Also, don't turn the key off until you turn the quad off with the stop button. Wait a few seconds then turn the key off.