Anyone see the latest dirtwheels - August 2001? Page 163 lists the factory fixes for the Cannondale FX400 problems. They have already:

1) Acknowledged the problems
2) Taken steps to correct on quads in production
3) SENT OUT FIXES TO FIRST-RUN FX400's AS APPROPRIATE

You got to love an up and coming American company. I have a feeling my next bike will finally be American!!!

 

Artoux,
I don't know anything about the 650EX, sorry to say. It may not even be the quad that Dirt Wheels has been dropping hints about over the past couple of months. What I do know is that in the July issue of Dirt Wheels, the editorial dropped the first hint that Honda was developing a new sport quad. It also hinted around about a new Suzuki sport quad and a new Kawasaki sport quad. Then, the August issue showcased the 2002 Yamaha and Honda lineups. At the end of the Honda lineup article, they dropped some more serious hints about Honda's new sport quad. They even showed a picture of the new Honda CRF450 motor and stated they wished that this was the powerplant inside the new sport quad. If you go to Honda's site and check the motor out (http://www.hondamotorcycles.com/mode...number=CRF450R), you can see that it's already got a counterbalancer, making it quite suitable for a quad frame already. Honda claims it puts out 55HP and 36lb/ft of torque (both at the crank, I'm sure). Not a bad motor. Curtis Sparks is even building a quad frame for it (http://www.atvscene.com/thisjustin/s...50R6-19-01.htm) and plans to sell the motor/frame package.

The Honda lineup article then goes on to say that the XR650 motor is also a possibility for the motor on the new machine, especially since it's been proven for a couple of years on their dirt bike lineup (as was the XR400 motor before they stuffed that into the 400EX). My personal bet is that Honda is going the more reliable, tried and true route with the XR650 motor and let the die hard racers go after the CR450F motor for themselves the same way Yamaha did with the YZ426F motor.