Gary - the Service manual and parts manuals are online and they don't indicate any changes.

400EX vs Cannibal in the tight woods?

I don't have much time on the CD in a harescramble type trail. However, I do some thoughts from the small amount of woods riding I've done so far.

Once you change out the front wheels for an offset closer to a 400EX and get some bigger tires on the front it does great. It has to be ridden more like a 250R and the high idle speed takes some getting used to, but it seems to be a very potent machine in the woods. It takes far more of a rider to control it, the throttle response and mid like to pick up the front tires and sometimes a rear and things happen very quickly.

Handling seems great so far. I did some front end measurements the other day, and everywhere I measured it's specs were better than a 400EX. Things like front wheel mounting surface to center of the ball joint - lower control arm pivot to lower control arm pivot, etc. Haven't measured frame rake yet, but it appears similar to a 250R which a bit greater than a 400EX.

I believe I could turn faster lap times on the CD than I can on the 400, but have not tested that theory yet. It depends on your riding style - if you're smooth, consistant rider, the 400EX's smooth power may be matched better - if you're a more aggressive punch it then heavy on the brakes, set, go type rider, the CD's power will probably suit you better.

I've found very little I dislike about the CD yet... It would be nice to have the idle speed of a 400EX and the power off bottom, but you can't have it all. I think a flywheel weight would allow you to lower the idle and smooth out the bottom end some if a person is strictly woods riding.

I did spend a weekend in the dunes on the CD, had a blast - it ate up the terrain, jumped well, and put on a very good showing at the drags for a bone stock quad.

 

Good too hear....hopefully an exhaust and upgraded mapping would help bottom and along with the increased peak power.
Does the maunal(s) contain specific cam info? Does the machine have any headshake at high speeds on rocky terrain? Does it slide better than a your 400ex? Can you keep the gas wide open and slide through tight corners? Will it lift the front end easily over small obstacles in 3rd and 4th at speed? I need to mount one of those rascals myself.

 

I can tell you with those wide *** holeshots on the rear, it does not slide real well!!

 

Gary -

Yes, the parts manual has cam part numbers. I believe they are all the same, but would have to double check. It also shows that the engine is equipped with HD parts like an H Beam conn rod.

A pipe w/matching mapping is supposed to really wake up the bottom and mid, but you'll never get the smooth bottom end of a 400EX out of this short stroke, big cam engine.

With the stock wheels there is some feedback - with a better offset (like my 400EX wheels) it disappears.

It doesn't slide better than my 400EX (w/RAZRs) with the stock Holeshots, but I believe it would slide every bit as well if I switched to my RAZRs... I get this feeling because my 400EX felt just the same when I had basically these same Holeshots on it. I plan on trying out my RAZRs sometime soon. With the RAZRs I believe it would slide thru the corners extremely well.

Right now the Holeshots want to bring it up on one coming out of tight turns, luckily it has a wider "one wheel" balance point than the 400EX, so it's very controllable.

Yes, it seems to lift the fronts easily over obsticles as long as you aren't down low in the power, stay higher in the RPMs and you have power on demand and it pulls very strong all the way to the rev limit. I'm told the meat of the power is 2000 RPM higher than the 400EX.

It seems to have the nice wide balance point of the 400EX, but it's hard to tell it because of the throttle response. Tame down the throttle response in the sand and it will really show you how nice the balance point is.

2nd, 3rd, and 4th are all spaced very closely together - makes for a nice selection if you need a tad more RPM. In higher speed areas, sometimes I feel 4th is a little short and 5th is too tall.

Take one for a ride, keeping in mind that a tire and wheel swap will improve handling and ride tremendously...

 

86atc: You seem to have a pretty similar impression of the Cannibal as I do. I think the hot setup might be another inch of swingarm lenght. That should keep the front end on the ground more, and aid it's ability to powerslide.

I never thought to try the Honda wheels on the front, but I did try putting some Bandits on Honda wheels on the back. It ended up being about 2" narrower, so I didn't even try it. I also tried a pair of +3" ofset wheels on the front (no I didn't buy them, they came on my 250r) and the bumpsteer was unbearable. After nearly crashing the first time I hit the brakes I took them off.

I think you might be onto something with the Honda wheels. Less bumpsteer, plus they are lighter, stronger and look better. What do you think about a +1" swingarm?

 

I would like to try my RAZRs on the rear, I think that would help the powersliding a ton - When I had these same Holeshots on my 400EX, I hated it because it wouldn't slide predictably - the RAZRs fixed that problem.

An extra inch on the swingarm would definitely help keep the front down as well as take a little traction away, but it will affect turning a bit as well.

I'm thinking the stock swingarm would be perfect when paired with a set of ZPS style shocks. It's amazing how well ZPS shocks will keep the fronts on the ground.

The Honda +4/1 style wheels work great on the front... The C-Dale's control arms are actually a tad longer than a 400EX, so you end up nearly the same width as a stock 400EX which works great in the woods. Gotta keep that offset on the rear though, or else it narrows up too much.

 

Just so you know, the stock Honda front wheels are 1.5/4" offset. It's a really wierd size, but that's what all the Honda sport quads run.

 

the speed also comes with a magura hydraulic clutch.

 

<< a true nightmare to keep running >>

Why?

 

yeh raceking whats the problem, I have had my speed about 10 hours through some pretty tough trails and it has been a champ!

-Josh