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Cannondale XC400
STORY AND PHOTOS BY CHRIS JONNUM
lJ?hat headline is a saying that gets
U tossed around regularly among
the employees at Cannondale and,
although it sounds a bit grandiose for
a company that has made its fair
share of mistakes in its relatively brief
stint as a motorcycle manufacturer, it
actually makes sense as a company
slogan. And it also explains why Cannondale is so excited about the
chances for success with its brandnew XC400 off-road bike, despite the
fact that its MX400 motocrosser has in some circles, at least - acquired
the status of a delay- and failureplagued disappointment since its
introduction less than one year ago.
You see, when the Cannondale workers utter the aforementioned motto,
they're referring less to the swiftness
of the products they build (though
that is of course also a priority), and
more to their own ability to design
and improve those products. Cannondale, it seems, is confident in its
capacity not only to cure the teething
problems that have thus far afflicted
its motorcycle project but, by capitalizing on its ability to rapidly apply
learned information and to implement
running changes, to get inside the
development loops of the industry's
heavy hitters and become a technological leader. Or, to use another say(Above) Less than a year after the
release of the flrst-ever Cannonclale
motorcycle, the company is set to
produce its second model - the offroad-focused XC400. We tested It
near the Cannondale factory In
Pennsylvania.
(Left) The XC is based closely on the
refined version of Cannondale's
motocrosser, the MX400.
ing that Cannondale executive Scott
Montgomery likes to use, to become
"the Porsche of motorcycles. "
"When you want a high-tech, highperformance, well-crafted product,
we'll be that brand," Montgomery
says. "There's still going to be the
Hondas and Yamahas, and they'll be
really strong, but we'll be the
Porsche. When you're really an
enthusiast, and you really want the
best, that's what we'll be. And that's
really what we are in bicycling."
That last bit about bicycling is key,
as it lends credence to statements
that would normally be dismissed as
pie-in-the-sky propaganda. Although
Cannondale's entry into the motorcycle industry only began with a public
announcement in February of 1998, it
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