I have heard that porting on the cannondale head could lead to no extra power or even worse, loss of power!

This is my experience with porting on the Cannondale head. I have a Cannibal with Big Gun silencer, stock head pipe, stock gearing, and Moto mapping.

I had a problem with my quad smoking right after break in. I had come to the conclusion that valve seals were the problem. I called up the dealer and ordered them. I did all the work myself. This was the first time I had disassembled a Cannondale motor, but I have many years experience of working on ATVs. Once I got the head of I looked at the exhaust ports. They are not round they are crescent shaped. My first thought was to match the ports to the exhaust, so I did. Then I did some polishing, a little on the intake and a lot on the exhaust. I still did not get a mirror finish, but I really didn't want that. After I reassembled the machine I put it back on the computer at the dealer. His sales rep was visitng at the time and I asked him to ride it. He told me that my quad was one of the strongest he had ridden.

I do not have a flow bench or a dyno, but with general knowledge of flow characteristics I do think I made a positive difference in horspower.

I am anxious to see what some of the big shops can do.

 

Well, Cannondale will tell you different. I talked with the main R&D guy. He's the one that gave me that info. He said it's very easy to mess up, maybe you just got lucky.