Well, here's the CannonDale!!

[Lomax]

I actually have 3 sets of plastics for it, the Cannibal's were the nicest for the shot so I laid them on it. Its a 2003 Moto. The engine is in SanAntonio preparing for me to spend gobs of money on it. This is truely a remarkable machine to say the least about it. There are so many things that no other machine has ever had untill here recently and still alot of things that they still dont have.

[Cody]

WOW....... Its gorgeous *wipes away tear* Haha.

[Lomax]

Yeah, I know its rough, ok, really rough, but I have always wanted one and now I have it. I have full intentions of bringing it back to better than its former self over the course of the next year or so.

[willcamach]

i dont know about those quads they were and still are very cool quads but the motors are so hit and miss id be scared to sink my money into one but for what they run you cant get a better deal just gotta get the right one cause she will blow on you very quickly if not

[Cody]

I wasnt saying it's rough, im saying I like it. I think it's cool. I bet it runs FAST.

[Lomax]

i motors are so hit and miss

All but the very last ones off the line had the same problems, Crankshaft, Motormount bolts, and Camshaft covers. I think those are the only major issues with the motor. I have already located a fix for those problems as they are all bad on mine due to the fact it was raced (and its common). There are other problems with them that I will address along the way, I am just going to start at the swingarm and work my way forward, Doing the engine last. I think I can make are reliable and be a really fun machine to ride. I cant wait to see how those Ohilins Shocks feel going across the rough stuff.

[Billy Golightly]

Man, it looks beat considering how new it is. BUT, I know that it'll get fixed and when it does its gonna be one bad ass quad. I'd still like to find one of those around here, they sure are cool. Good luck on getting that one back into a runner Will...keep us all informed on the progress with it.

[CHAINSAW]

Nice looking Dale. Only thing, its not a moto, unless someone switched all the moto parts to Cannibal parts. It doesnt have the moto rotors, a arms, shocks, handlebars, and it has the cannibal key cover. I think its a 100% Cannibal like the plastics say.. but those are the limited edition Cannibal graphics :)

[skippy]

i bought one a few months ago, here is the pic from before the mods.. it will almost run w my yfz..

[Lomax]

Nice looking Dale. Only thing, its not a moto, unless someone switched all the moto parts to Cannibal parts. It doesnt have the moto rotors, a arms, shocks, handlebars, and it has the cannibal key cover. I think its a 100% Cannibal like the plastics say.. but those are the limited edition Cannibal graphics :)


There were 2 Cannondales there when I bought this one. Mine had the moto plastics and the other had these (cannibal) plastics. I was able to get all the plastics from the guy and there were several differances between the 2 of them. Mine has Ohlins shocks, Larger rotors, different Axle, and the A-arms looked different than the other one. I dont know, I Will run the numbers on it to be sure.

[Rm250RF900R]

Yeah the early cannondale motors were junk. I think you can send your motor to ATK and have them put all the upgrades into it? ATK did buy out cannondale. I know one of the upgrades are the z400 crank bearings. Forgot what the others were. Good luck.

[CHAINSAW]

There were 2 Cannondales there when I bought this one. Mine had the moto plastics and the other had these (cannibal) plastics. I was able to get all the plastics from the guy and there were several differances between the 2 of them. Mine has Ohlins shocks, Larger rotors, different Axle, and the A-arms looked different than the other one. I dont know, I Will run the numbers on it to be sure.
Yours has the Cannibal/Speed/Glamis front shocks.. the blaze and moto had piggy back resivours. Your rotors are still cannibal/speed/glamis. The blaze and moto had wave rotors front and back. Again, your A Arms are not Moto ones. Moto ones were like a +2 or +3 and were rounded on the end, instead of making a type of triangle like yours do. I can also tell that axle is not extended either, so its a cannibal/speed/glamis axle. The handlebars are the cannibal/speed also, but has the 03 cannibal handgrips. Moto grips had red where yours are gray. Like I said, unless the previous owner wanted his moto to look exactly like a cannibal, you dont have a moto. I run Moto plastic on my speed every once in a while, but it doesnt run like a moto ;)


Rm250RF900R - The first motors they made were the FX400's which were carbed. Yeah, most people say they were junk. They then went to the 440, but with cable clutch. The late 01-mid 02 motors were supposedly the best. Some of them had billet cranks, and other goodies inside which made them stand up... these had hydraulic clutches if memory serves. Then the 03 model machines had unbalanced cranks, and thats the ones that have the big problems. The crank bearings dont last, but its a hit and miss kinda thing. Some machines only had 10 hours before the bearings went. Some are still running with over 300 hours, 295 of those being race hours. I have an 03 speed, and just this last oil change saw metal shavings in my tranny oil.. so its time for my upgrade... My machine has around 60 hours on it roughly.
Thats the biggest problem, other then the valve covers were made out of magnesium, instead of aluminum. Now guys are making aluminum ones, so that solves the rotting problem of the old covers. ATK does upgrade the motors, but Ive been reading a lot lately that they dont do a good job, that its best to send to it one of the few people still working on cannondale motors.

And ATK bought the remaining inventory of Cannondale. Dinli bought the blueprints, and rights to keep making them.

[Rm250RF900R]

Hm thats interesting. I guess you learn something new everyday. How do you know so much about these C-dales?

[Lomax]

Chainsaw. I have a number for the people making the 450 stroker crankshaft for the Dale's. I dont know if they need a core or not. I am begining to lean on what you are saying. I need to find a place to run the numbers to be safe. This will help. I know for a fact that its an 03 (tenth digit of the VIN) and the stock plastics for mine were grey/yellow. Whats that????
Mine has the hydralic (sp?) clutch system on it.

[CHAINSAW]

Hm thats interesting. I guess you learn something new everyday. How do you know so much about these C-dales?


Ever since I got mine, Ive fallen in love with it. Ive researched a lot on the cannondales, because when I have mine out I get asked them all. The only thing I havent been able to find out, is the exact number of Cannondale quads that were made. Ive read that only 1200 some odd were made, but have also read somewhere in the 5200 range, but that also included the dirt bikes.

Lomax, you talking about the Falicon cranks? They are supposed to be the best thing, instead of buying one from ATK. Id love to stroke mine, but dont have the cash for the crank.. but if mine is bad, then I guess Ill have to go that route. The only machines that had gray and yellow, were the Speeds. They were the step up from the Cannibal, and a step below the Blaze. The Glamis was pretty much the same thing as a speed, but came with paddle tires, a whip, and a little different map. The Speeds were the lightest of the Dales, coming in at 370 lbs dry. They had the rev limiter set at 11,600 rpm like the blaze and moto.
Youll love the Ohlins, they are super nice. Someday I might get some with resivours, but I dont need them for my style of riding really.

Here is a pic of my speed the day I brought her home. Since then Ive piped it, and Im going to change the plastic again over the winter... Id love to have a dozen more.

[Lomax]

Thats got to be what mine is. I have Black Widow ATV running the VIN number so that we can be certain. According to Dirtwheels (I have the issue somewhere) there were 6000 quads and 2000 Dirtbikes. I dont know how accurate they are but thats the numbers they posted on them. The machine is over at my brothers house so He generally goes out there and looks at it or messes with it some. Anyway, The Stock width of the Speed/Cannibal/Blaze is 46 inches accros at the A-Arms. The Moto 50. He said that he measured mine last night and it came up to 50 inches???? I am not sure where exactly he measured at but he's got like a book of specs that he downloaded from somewhere. If that is accurate then I am convinced that I have a Cannondale Mutt lol......

[CHAINSAW]

Not sure where he measured from either, but those are not Moto A Arms. The width of the moto was 50", but I dont know where they measure from. I know if you put 400ex spindles on, that adds like 3/4 or something, but I can tell from the pics those are Cannondale front spindles.

[Billy Golightly]

Is it possible their aftermarket A-Arms? I know a few different companies did make some...

[skippy]

i thk those are the same arms that are on mine..Cannibal,, mine came with a wider offset wheel.. so it bumped to just shy of 50..

[Lomax]

The results are in: Its a 2003 Cannondale Cannibal LE. According to Black Widow ATv this is an extremlly RARE and desirable model to have in the collection due to the fact there is only just a few of them. What makes it LE was the Graphics and the Ohilins shocks came standard along with.... umm something else, I dont remember what they said. Wel,, now we know. Time to get to work.

[skippy]

cool.. its the same quad as mine,.. if you need any help just ask.. i have since changed mine alot,, but the fuel injection is very cool!!

[CHAINSAW]

Is it possible their aftermarket A-Arms? I know a few different companies did make some...

There are lots of aftermarket ones,.. but those are dead on 2003 year model cannibal/speed/glamis a arms. You can tell by the tab on top, going around in a 1/4 to 1/2 circle.


Nice man, there were not many of the LE's made, so you do have a rare machine, of an allready rare breed anyhow :)

[370banshee]

i;ve only seen a few cannondales aroudn when i'm out riding... they are either quick or broken... and i NEVER see em in teh trails.. only on the MX tracks

[370banshee]

oh and tehre was the one i saw drag racing... to bas he saw what the back of my shee looked like haha.. those dales are a strange looking machine... very inovative though.. and i;ve heard alot of good thigns about em.. to bad they are a 4 stroke though

[Lomax]

Well the work has begun, here are some updated pics of what the Cdale currently looks like.

[Lomax]

The rest of the pics

Chainsaw and Skippy: I am missing ALOT of parts and I know very little about this machine so I will be calling on you guys trying to figure out where some of the items that I do not have go lol..

[skippy]

no prob.. enjoy... i have some extra laying around also... * polishing the frame? or powdering??

[Lomax]

I think that we are going to go the polishing route. I was considering powdercoating or painting but then I am getting into putting more money in the wrong area's of this dale. Other than hours of elbow grease, about 20 bucks will polish the frame/subframe out. I am going to paint the swingarm to match the A-arms. That reminds me, can you take a close up picture of the rear of your swingarm. I think that my chain adjustment system may be broke from a chain de-railment. I also have no idea what everyintg is supposed to look like 100%.
I am going to keep this thread alive for a very long time with updated pics, progress reports and questions for the Dale owners.

[willcamach]

you should really go to cannondaler.com.... or canondalriders.com you will find all of this info there and plenty of help with your questions

[Lomax]

I joined cannondaleriders.com but they never sent me my comfirmation e-mail. Ido need to hope over to cannondaler though.

[CHAINSAW]

Check this
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cannondale-Engine-Service-Manual-Motorcycle-ATV_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ34240QQitemZ8016882 817QQrdZ1

I have one of those, and its worth its weight in gold. It has detailed pics about everything. He can also sell you the parts list, that has every part that is on the machine, its part number, and a pic of it. I bought one from him, and I think he charged me $35 for both, in a 3 ring binder.

[Lomax]

I think thats what my buddy is sending me, I'll send him the link so we can see if thats it, if not, then its definatly a must. Thanks