I need to read the damn article.

 

I havent read that article, but it sounds like they got the facts out to the buyers.
If you MX, the winner is the Dale.
If you put all your miles on a MX track, buy the Dale.
The fact that a cheeper, trail friendly quad could even be in the shootout tels you that the Z400 is an increadable ride, and value.

But I agree, with the Mag bashing. Very little usefull information can be found in one, except for the actual stat numbers at the end of the article. like weight, engine size, ect.

Money talks, and there are not many Dale ads in the mags.

 

My 2 cents, DW blew this article. I love my Z and would have not bought the Dale had it won the shootout. Its just not for me. Raptor660RNH, you should put all of this energy into a letter to DW. Coming on the Suzuki site and sreaming about it will solve nothing. We (us Z400 owners) had zero input on this article and I bought mine well before this article surfaced. But still makes you wonder if Suzuki had DW in there back pocket building up to the release of the Z400. Im not trying to start any junk here, just my 2 cents. Regardless of the shootout, I love my Z and would have bought one had it come in last. Just dont believe what the mags say.
PD

 

Polarisdude: The letter has been sent (email actually). Don't be so defensive(sigh)if you read the rest of my posts you would have seen a reply asking people to resist defending the Z. I think it's a great quad.

What i feel is being overlooked is the advances and ground cannondale has broken with their lineup. here is an American company that has made advances in atv's that everyone...especially the mags have been begging for. The price tag is to high. No s. thats the cost for all aluminum, fuel injection, ITP wheels. on top of trying to enter a market dominated by suzuki, yamaha, honda, bombidier and polaris.

you might not have your Z if cannondale didn't up the anty and force alot of the companies to re-think their quads. Now were getting dirt bike engines...everyone wins. if cannondale won then they should report that. Cannondale is healthy for the industry. even if you can't afford it. Yamaha now offers a list of aftermarket goodies...hinson clutch kits and all. They did that to stay competitive. why? not because they were araid of Honda thats for sure.

do i make sense?

 

i have yet to read the article but heard that they even admitted that the dale won each event. so what did they use as the excuse for saying it was a better quad? maybe that the lower price of the z outweighed the slight performance edge of the dale? but then again it was probably more than a slight edge. everyone one knows the dale preforms better, the real question is how does it do vs the 400ex and raptor? where was the raptor in this shoot out?


what did they say abbout the 400ex

 

what does it being an american company have ANYTHING to do with it? thats the one reason i'd probably never get a dale in my experience american made atvs have been pieces of S#)%, and i'm not afraid to say that i think the japanese have better craftsmanship, in automotive and electronics.

just because its american doesn't mean i'm going to buy it, i'm more likely to stay away from it.

 

Raptor660RNH
Keepin it real, it just seemed you were on the offensive so had to give some props to the Zs. Anyway, I agree that the Canondale is the top dog and I would love to own one, however, I followed the Z from its infancy when it was a rumor. Once drawings started showing up I decided then I wanted one. Now I own one, no its not the baddest thing around, but I love it. DW, for whatever reason is way biased for the Suzuki. I recall "head to head" test in DW with a piped EX against a stock Dale. The Dale killed the EX in every category. If I remember correctly the EX was praised all through the article even though it was SPANKED! Go figure. My 14 year old asked why they would modify a Honda to test it against a superior quad. Its like testing a Vette against a Civic. Absolutely stupid. Peace.
PD

 

I wonder if DW has spies seeing all this blacklash to their moronic article! HAHAHA. Hopefully, their counterparts over at the high torque mag, 4wheelatvaction, will take notice and not insult riders' intelligence when they do their shootout.

 

Well before i just made my quad purchase, I did alot of research.

And my last choices were the Cannibal 440 or the Z400.

If you look through the Cannondale forum posts, i found quite a few problems (granted they may not be devasting) with the C-dales.

I mean i would be pissed off to if I had to have my new $7000 bike towed out by a Warrior because it won't start. There seem to still be some issues w/ the C-dale. I am not arguing they are a great machine, but for the money I do beleive the Z is the choice to be made.

Hell the c-dale is 440cc's, lets just think about how the Z would really rip w/ a 440 big bore kit in it??

The only real issue that SOME people are having w/ Z's are a few cases of bent axles. And it looks like they are being swapped out under warranty.

I also read of many bad dealer experiences w/ the C-dale.

I would not have that problem, since a good friend of mine is a dealer. I even rode the cannibal before deciding on the Z.

I also love the fact that the Z motor sounds as smooth and quite as can be. The Cannibal was a noisy motor, sounded like a deisel.

They are bothe awesome machines, but for the $$ i felt the Z was the best choice.
Not to mention the looks are bad ***, and can't be beat. Of course that is a opinion thing [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Thanx,
LOBE
~~~~~

 

Lobeex,

How did you get 510RWHP out of a 81 Mustang? Did you put a big block in there? That's a whole lotta RWHP for a 5.0 if you did. Just curious.

Smitty