Well First off Thank you all for the lively discussions.

I picked up my new speed on sat. rode it for break in on sunday.

What a different bike, I had a 400EX and this thing totaly smokes it. Third Gear wheelies, damn that was a first (no clutch use).

The big thing I need to work on is my riding style. I was used to keeping the 400EX RPM down. Can't do that on the Speed.
It so different, suspension, steering, ego stuff. Only turned it off once by accident. One loose bolt, rear break pivot bolt.

Jumped it on some small stuff, felt great. Have to keep constant trottle on the face, I started wheeling up the face of one and did a uncomfortable Indo,

Now for the questin:
1. After the first two 10 min rides my exhaust was still chrome. I noticed when loading it up after the whole break in that the middle of the pipe was BLUED, Is that normal?
2. High speed shimmy, When I picked it up they said the front left was not holding air, you think they put some of that stop leak in there and it settled? Anything else I should look at?

I'm impressed, my two buds (quadracer and DS) are going to start seeing alot of that rear end. Still looks like a Texas Bullfrog to me. No offense to Texans.

Later

Smitty

 

Thats great smitty911, It will take alittle time to get used to the very different engine. The blueing of the pipe is normal, they all do it. Check for loose head pipe nuts. There used to be a problem with them coming loose, I dont know if Cannondale has done anything to keep them from it now, if not some lock tight will be all you need. I dont know about the high speed shimmy. It could be some of that slime stuff. Check every thing, if its all tight then put the front up on a stand and spin the tire to see if any out of balance is noticable. If not take it back and have the dealer fix it. The first FX's were twitchy feeling at high speeds but the front end updates pretty much fix all of that. Let us know what you find and have a blast on that Speed!

 

Both C'dale's I had did the same thing on the silencer discoloring. My FX400 I had also did the high speed shimmy, especially on smooth ground, like the street. My Cannibal does not do that, I assumed that might just be one of the front tires being out of balance a little which would be hard to correct unless you got a new tire/wheel.

 

SMITTY!!!!! Hurry and ride it a bunch and you'll get used to the many different characteristics of the cannondale. ....and you will be so FAST!

Congratulations!

Both my fronts are flatspottted. Shimmy is normal. hahahaha

 

Ryanstones,

Are the front flatspotted from the killer front breaks? They should be that bike can and will STOP NOW. Not sure you need them that tight, I let off the gas and she stops just with the motor.

Smitty

 

Checked my pipe and it blued too. If you didnt try allready, in fourth gear if you stab the throttle and pull the bars youll wheelie too, no problem. The ranks are growing, wont be long and the C-dale will be the defacto standard of high performance!