Ok, im an in the market for a new quad. I want to go w/ C'Dale but im not sure which one. the speed,blaze or cannibal. where i ride it is 1500 acres of trails and has various obstacles such as: deep mud, creeks, hills, rocky hills, loose dirt,and gravel roads. my quad will never see dunes or a track. so what do you think would be a good 1 to go with? Does C'Dale have good customer service? How reliable are they? Good suspension and handling? Good bottom end torque as well as good mid to top end rev's? also is there much differencs between the 3 quads, if so i would like to know. thank you for your time and replies...

 

<< My quad will never see dunes or a track. so what do you think would be a good 1 to go with? >>


If you want a cannondale for where you are riding go with a cannibal


<< Does C'Dale have good customer service? >>


I would say best in the busisness. They are all about taking care of the customer.


<< How reliable are they? >>


Take good care of it and you should never have to worry about problems. They do require a bit of TLC though. Its not a Honda that requires little to no maint.


<< Good suspension and handling? >>


Very good handling. The frame and suspension geometry are very good. The more you spend the better shocks you will get.


<< Good bottom end torque as well as good mid to top end rev's? >>


Its safe to say you will not find another ATV anywhere that will rev like a dale. THe low end on a dale is like 2500 RPM (idle speed) and yes they will pull hard right from the start.


<< also is there much differencs between the 3 quads, if so i would like to know. >>


Frame and engine are all the same. The more spend the more race ready you get. Check out the Cannondale website for all the differences. Get a dale and you will not be disapointed. Like no other......

 

mnwildfan- you said that the c'dale requires a little TLC, as in what are you talking about?

 

He means you have to work on it more, maintnence wise.

 

That is correct. By TLC I mean you need to pay a bit more attention to all the bolts and fasteners so you dont lose one. Oil changes are a bit more intensive. None of the required things needed are dificult but they need to be done. Wouldnt let this detur you from getting a Cannondale, it is actually fun after a day of riding to sid down with a cold one and go over all the bolts with a micro torq wrench.

 

AHH this leads to a good question, what do you all use to tighten up your bolts, I heard there is a special torque wrench or something for aluminum? could this be that micro wrench you speak of?

-josh

 

As far as I know, a torque wrench is a torque wrench. Just inch pounds or foot pounds.

 

You are correct a micro torq wrench is absolutely necessary to properly work on your quad. The difference between that and a regular torq wrench is a micro goes from 4-300 inch/pounds where a regular torq wrench goes from 25 Ft/Pounds (300 inch/ pounds) to 175 foot/ pounds or 2100 inch/ pounds. A micro is the tool for your cannondale. You can get one at sears for 70 bucks. Keep in mind the specs I listed are for my tools some manufacturers may be different. All the torq values are listed in your owners manual. Photocopy that page and stick it on your tool box so you will always have it right at your fingertips. Cannondales are special machines and require special care. Not difficult just a bit time consuming. On the good side if you do this you will almost never have a Corn Dog like meltdown of your machine and you will enjoy it every time out. No matter what machine you buy do yourself a favor and get the wrench.

 

MNWildFan,

I printed off the torque table from the owners manual, but you said you torque wrench got to 300 in/lbs which is about 25 ft/lbs, correct? Well on the table I count 12 bolts that you have to tighten tighter then that, actually all the way up to 125 for the rear axle nut and 55 for the swingarm pivot nut and quite a few from 45 down to 25 ft/lbs of torque. So am I reading this wrong or is your torque wrench not go high enough to tighten these things, or you have 2? thanks for you help I am just curious

-josh

 

You will need two wrenches. We have been racing MX, this is our third season. We started with a new stock 400EX. The only stock Honda parts left are the plastic's and front bumber. Everything else has been upgraded several times and last month repowered to a YZF426. It takes 30 minutes longer to do the same get ready to race stuff on the C-dale than the EX. But we have less than half the money in the c-dale and its just a tick slower than the EX. I dont think we will need to upgrade anything on the C-dale. Our EX will need a new chassie at the end of the season.

So once we get to know this great american machine we will all be very happy that we own it!!