With the arrival of the cannondale, which has the around the same power, 110lbs lighter, lots of new tech, will the ds be obsolete? Who is going to buy a ds when for 50 bucks less they can have a state of the art machine that should be able to stomp a ds in a race? I was going to get a ds but I really don't see why I would now. What do you guys think?

 

Theres a big difference between 400 and 650 cc's in anengine. I will be surprised if cannondale's bike makes the power it claims. It will all depend I suppose on what an individual wants. I for one would take the 400 just because I dont wanna race open class. I wanna race my friends on 400ex's and 250r's and cant do that on a 650. Plus it weighs to much. I dont think anyone should say the cannondale will make anything obsolete since its not out yet. Hell their dirtbike has been 2 years in the waiting, who knows when the quad will really be out. One last thing, the 400ex didnt make the 300 obsolete, nothing has made the 250r obsolete so I wouldnt go as far as saying one bike will make another do anything.

 

The Cannondale does look very promising, and I would definitely wait to see what is going to come out in the next year before slapping down 7K on an overweight DS. Heck in 6 months to a year we may be able to choose between a 600cc Yamaha, a DRZ400 Suzuki, a 432cc aluminum Cannondale, a spunky new Kawasaki, or maybe even some new Honda....

I don't really see Cannondale having trouble extracting 40+ hp out of the their 432cc engine though, Yamaha doesn't have much trouble doing so out of the 426 engine. Cannondale is building that engine to compete in 250 class dirtbike events which will require it to have at least horsepower in the low 40s.

Cannondale's bike was originally supposed to ship last summer, so it hasn't quite been a year yet... Stuff like that is to be expected, they have never built a motorcycle before, and they aren't looking to put out a simple, cheezy model either. They are looking to 1 up everyone else, a pretty big task. I think they have been working on the mapping of their FI system recently, and that is what the bulk of the delay has been so far. They want to get this right the first time, with all the hype, the 7K price tag, and all the expectations, if they don't deliver, or something isn't quite right, it could kill them.

I also think once they get the bike shipping, they will have setup manufacturing, learned a lot, already have most of the FI mapping experience they need, and will be able to deliver new products in a much more expedient manner. They were starting completely from scratch on the bike. Lets hope anyway!

 

I understand the cannondale delays coming from them being a FIRST timer and all. It just makes me a little hesitant to be on the cannondale quad bandwagon. I am all for it, and like you think it has much potential. Just dont understand why the 400EX only makes 28hp while this and the yamaha make almost 50.Why wont honda make something that can do that?

 

The Cannondale delays don't bother me one bit. They are a company that is known for putting out high quality, innovative products. What would bother me is if they rushed it to market, then I would want to sit back and be sceptical. I know I am going to offend some, but the DS650 is a prime example. Take a look in their forum, nothing but people talking about the problems they have had, then justifying and attacking them when someone else mentions that it seems like a high "return to the dealer" ratio....

The reason the 400EX doesn't put out 40 some odd HP is that Honda used their existing 400cc engine, from an XR. The XR is a trail bike, not a motocrosser, thus it puts out smooth, mello, reliable power. Anyone with a YZ400F will tell you it is probably one of the worst machines a person could buy for woods riding. Honda is currently developing at least one liquid cooled high performance 4 stroke. Apparently they are pretty serious about it, as I have heard that they are looking at discontinuing the CR250 within the next couple of years and replacing it with a 4 stroke. If we're lucky maybe some of this technology will filter down to the ATVs, especially if all these other High Performance machines start coming out, I would like nothing more than to stay mounted on a Honda... But if the Cannondale comes out this fall, and it lives up to the expetations, I may be riding American.....

 

I believe so. I've never liked the DS 650 anyway. The TRX250R is still my baby but the cannondale is looking SWEET!

 

YZ426 isn't a good woods bike?? I've ridden a WR 400 in the woods....and it is the absolute BEST woods bike I've ever ridden. And I'm a Honda fan..lol.

 

That's right, The WR is not a motocrosser either. The engines are tuned quite differently, as well as the suspension & gearing.

If you'd like more info, browse thru RMD (usenet group rec.motorcycles.dirt), some of the sharpest M/C guys around.

 

Buy GasGas quad...she has everything U need.