I was racing Fourstates MX last Sunday and even though I was riding smoothly in practice, I really did horrible in the race.
Moto 1 - I WWWAAAAYYYY over jumped a step up and my foot got caught behind my foot peg (luckily I was able to keep my foot up and not run my leg over), and then I was coming around this 4th gear pinned wide sweeping corner and my outside tire hit this big, deep mud hole and almost caused me to wreck.

Moto 2 - I over jumped a table top in the first lap and then in the second lap I cased a triple which bent the right side of my handle bars, and sprained my right wrist and really hurt my left wrist. I DNFed in that moto...

Well today I was trying to wash my quad and I when I stood infront of the Dale, from a distance something just didn't look right. After I stood there a while and I couldn't figure it out, I proceded to wash it off. I started wiping the a-arms off and thats when I noticed what it was that didn't look right. My lower right a-arm was slightly bent.

Well lets see here... stock silencer split, handle bars bent, and a-arm slightly bent. THIS SUCKS! I'm not hard on my quad, I just had a run of bad luck. I am by no means blaming cannondale, but rather I just want to know what you guys think I should do... The a-arm isn't bent very bad at all, so should I just ride it like it is and buy a new pipe or should I set my "pipe money" aside and put that towards a set of a-arms?

 

Right now the aftermarket stuff for the C'dales is real expensive, if you can wait a few months and we have more of a selection, you can probably get aftermarket a-arms cheaper and have more of a selection.
The a-arms are easy to take off, I'd try straightening it if like you said it's not bent too bad. You will want to keep a close eye on it in the future because you will have a weak point now. You might call around to some of these dealers like R&S and see if they will sell you one of the stock a-arms they removed from their C'dales before they put on their aftermarket arms. Maybe someone who is a member here has already done a a-arm swap and would sell you their's cheap.

I rode my Cannibal the other day for the first time since the moto map upgrade and the HMF silencer, big difference in low - mid performance. You can also see some additional top end performance as well.

 

i am starting to wonder about an aluminum frame quad...

 

CornDog, what's an aluminum frame got to do with the a-arm bending?

 

If you're "wondering" about an aluminum framed quad, why would LRD be building an aluminum frame for the 'R? The Dale frame has a "thicker" frame, so whats to worry about? Brian, I think it was you who saw Cannondale stress testing these frames, elaborate on that for CornDog.

 

I personally have not been at Cannondale's factory. I was talking to Johnny Hale a while back and he had a racing buddy that toured the facility and he was telling the story about the frame's that are constantly being stressed. He told the story about they had came back 24 hours later and the same frame was still undergoing the stress tests. He said you could not believe how much the frame was being "flexed" as it was being tested!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img]

I still want to know from CornyDog what an aluminum frame quad has to do with a bent a-arm?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

<< CornDog, what's an aluminum frame got to do with the a-arm bending? >>



i knew you were going to say that.

wait, are the a-arms steel?

 

in 3-4 years these aluminum frames are going to be falling apart. i don't mind cause i knew that when i bought it. i didn't expect mine to crack so soon but they fixed it for free so everything is okay now.

 

Good grief CornDog. Why don't you quit b!tching, and spreading LIES about a quad you friggin own? You don't even know what your a arms are made of? I think you should be riding a BREEZE instead of a Cannibal. The name is about as ghay as the rider.

YoDaddy. You gotta pay to play. I told DJ the exact same thing today. His a arms have been bent for a while, and it's not slowing him down. You were gonna upgrade the pipe anyways.. Why not now? A-Arms would be gone in a year too. Look at all the he!! I've gone through with my 250. I've invested almost $1000 into it and none have been mods,plus the $4000 purchase, and have ridden it a dozen times or less. Still brings a smile to my face.. Even though it's broken... again.

 

Have seen the aluminum framed CR's? I haven't seen or even heard of one falling apart. I know theres more stress on a quad frame but still, Cannondale knows what they're doing with aluminum. My cousins friend has a Cannondale mountain bike and it is awesome, he thrashes on it and it has yet to break his frame.