Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

RIIIIR#EC:J Cannondale XC400 El{{~ An interesting thing happened while I was riding the Cannondale XC400 the other day. I knew a little bit about the Cannondale's motor but, not having ridden one yet, I hadn't taken the time to dig into the specifications sheet too deeply, and I was unaware that the bike was fuel injected. When Chris Jonnum and I swapped bikes halfway through our ride, I jumped onto the Cannondale after riding a KTM 400EXC. Within 100 yards, I suspected that the Cannondale was fuel injected and, within another 100 yards, I was positive. I'm a bom-again dirt biker - having not ridden in at least 10 years - and only got back into it since I started here at Cycle News eight months ago. But I know motorcycles very well and, as a sportbike guy, I know a thing or two about fuel injection. The thing that tipped me off that the Cannondale was fuel injected was the ever-present lurch that is experienced when picking up the throttle from idle. The Cannondale has been met by the press with some harsh criticism since its premature release. Plenty of it sounds perfectly legitimate, especially regarding the reliability Issue. There are, however, some issues that aren't unique to the American company. Many of the Japanese companies have long had some of the problems that Cannondale is having in regard to fuel Injection. The difference is, that the Japanese haven't dared bring these problems into motocross; they have kept them on their streetbike products. I'm not the only one, but I am in a sort of unique position in th'!!t I ride both motocross bikes and sportbikes on a regular basis. When I realized that Cannondale was havlng the SlIme problems as some of the Japanese companJes - which have been around for 40 years - I decicled to cut Cannondale some slack. You have to give them credit for taking the bull by the horns and giving fuel injection a try from the start. Uke I said, the Japanese haven't dared yet. It's my opinion that some of the journalists who have been so critical of the bike are used to riding perfectly carbureted two- and four-strokes from Japan, not realizing that the same companies are, to some degree, struggling with injection themselves, just not in the motocross market. The exact same lurch that I have felt a thousand times in recent years on four-stroke streetbikes was present on the Cannondale. The difference is that, on a sportbike, once the rider gets used to it, it can be anticipated and compensated for. It's still very annoying on a streetbike - especially on the racetrack, where the rider uses the throttle to balance the chassis and traction mid-corner. I do see how important throttle control is on a motocross bike, and how poor response can wreak havoc on a rider's confidence. I also believe that the fuel-injection mapping is partially responsible for the Cannondale's reputation for the engine dying unexpectedly - a lot of sportbikes still do it as well. We only the had the engine die like this on<:e over the course of the day, and were told that Cannondale has been working feverishly to adjust the mapping to cure the problem; according to Chris, once is a huge step forward over even a month ago. The bike that we rode is supposed to be Cannondale's <:ross-country bike and, in that scenario, Chris and I felt that a heavier flywheel would help the bike a lot. The inertia from a hea.vier flywheel can hide a lot of the jerkiness from the <:ombination of a poorly mapped injection system and a high-compression piston. The perfect example of th,s IS the Italian 900c<:-plus V-twin motor from Ducati, whi<:h has had impe<:cable fuel injection for over 10 years. Their heavy flywheels probably have something to do with it, combined with the fa<:t that it runs Weber-Marelli systems - a company that perfected fuel injection in Formula-One car racing 20 years ago. Cannondale isn't quite there yet, and it may be a while before they are. but they are on the right track (pun intended), and seem to have the enthusiasm to make it work. We forget that the near-perfect Japanese produ<:ts we ride today went through some severe growing pains as well. You have to stop and give credit where <:redit is due; the bike is pretty damned good for a small, young company. Blake Conner ting as hard or pulling as far as the YZ426F, but the Cannondale's tractability and broad spread of power are well-suited to the Iimitedtraction situations so often encountered on trails. Part of the bike's hard for a customer to come up with after the initial purchase. Overall, we are impressed with Cannondale's progress over the past few months, and our tour of its testing comes to power: but it delivers its boost in a way that can be harnessed and utilized optimally. That said, facility leads us to believe that most of the reliability problems have been ironed out. (We can't know for sure, (Below) Among the changes made for off-road are an aluminum sidestand, an 18-inch rear wheel and a spark a"",stor in the muffler. their MX siblings. So, is the XC400 a potent off-road weapon? Definitely, though we'd like to see a couple more modifications made to better suit it for off-road use. We like the fact that it comes with handguards (neither the WR nor the KTM do), and that it has an unobtrusive sidestand (though we easily bent ours to the point of uselessness), but 22 APRIL 1 1 , 2001 • c u e I e ENGINE Four-stroke, single-cylinder DISPLACEMENT ............................••.................... .432c<: BORE x STROKE ........••••••••..•...........................95 x 61mm COMPRESSION RATIO _ _ 12.5:1 VALVE TRAIN DOHC, four valves FUEL SYSTEM _...•..•.....•....•..........Electroni<: Fuellnje<:tion COOUNG SYSTEM .......................•.........................Uquid IGNITION SYSTEM ..............•.....••••.....Constant-energy. inductive-coil STARTING SYSTEM ......•..•••• _••••.•••................ 12-V starter motor UlBRJCAllON SYSTEM _ Dry sump TRANSMISSION Five-speed, cassette FRAJlIIE ......••.•....•.•..••..•.•..••••••..•...•.....•A1uminum, twin-spar FRONT WHEEL ..................................••.......Spoke, 1.60 x 21 REAR WHEEL ...................................•.•......Spoke, 2.15 x 18 FRONTTIRE 80/l00x21 REAR TIRE 120/100 x 18 FRONT SUSPENSION Qhlins FG9910. external compression & rebound damping REAR saSPENSION ......•......Unkless, Ohilns position-sensitive damping (PSD), external <:ornpression. rebound, and preload adjustments FRONT BRAKE Nissin, dual-piston caliper, single-disc REAR BRAKE Nissin, single-piston caliper, single-disc CLAIMED DRY WEIGHT ...•...•.................................245 pounds WHEELBASE _.....••. _•......................... .58.5 inches RAKE 27.5 in. GRO

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