I just sold my sport bike and I'm looking into building a street legal supermoto. I have had my eye on this Cannondale 440 thats for sale near by(electric start, Ohlins shock, Marzocchi fork, fuel injected, hydraulic clutch). It is an 03 with only the break in miles so it looks brand new and he is asking 3k (not sure how much I could talk him down). I know these bikes need some motor work done to fix the factory defects. My question to you guys is do you think it is worth buying this bike and putting the money into it to tard and fix defects and come out with a nice looking and performing street tard that is pretty unique or not? I would be doing mostly short commuting on regular streets and possibly jumping on the highway for short trips (less than 10 mi) every once in a while. Thanks for any input you have.
Need advice and help: Cannondale
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Check out www.cannondaler.com if you haven't already.
With the $1K you'll have to put in to the motor to make it somewhat reliable I think that $3K might be too much initial outlay for the bike. If it's not a factory SuMo then you're looking at another couple grand at least to get it set up with supermoto wheels, brakes and tires.
Also remember that all the trick bits are now dated trick bits since the bike is essentially 6 model years old.
With the $1K you'll have to put in to the motor to make it somewhat reliable I think that $3K might be too much initial outlay for the bike. If it's not a factory SuMo then you're looking at another couple grand at least to get it set up with supermoto wheels, brakes and tires.
Also remember that all the trick bits are now dated trick bits since the bike is essentially 6 model years old.
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1,083 Posts
Great bikes when dial in.
Rough to service if anything breaks, thin to none spare parts support.
Rough to service if anything breaks, thin to none spare parts support.
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I was looking at cannondales a while ago, I seem to remember some of them having electrical issues? Cant remember, but check it out.
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The cracknfails (carryover from MTN bikes) are kind of an odd sort. Weird frame design, like someone else said no new spares being made at all, and they had issues from the start. I can remember dirt bike magazing testing them and they went trough three motors just trying to test the thing. I thin for the money you're talking you could do much better.
They're not bad machines once you get them figured out. The only thing I dislike about the Cannondales is the fact that the motor must be removed for any service other than oil and spark plug changes. The motors respond very well to mods. I had a Cannibal quad with a Timbo stroker and big bore kit that took all I could throw at it out at the sand dunes with out giving me any issues.
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If you look up MXA's Worst bike ever it was the 1st fuel injected mx'r which was a cannondale. But what do they know...
In all if atk is fixing the problems and they've been out since '84 also make a 700cc 2 stroke, id maybe go with it. (cannondale)
In all if atk is fixing the problems and they've been out since '84 also make a 700cc 2 stroke, id maybe go with it. (cannondale)
That bike is worth about 1800 to 2500 even in perfect condition. I would look to finding a s440 but it might be tough as there are only 35 in the the USA . 03 bikes are the sweetest chassis but they wont run long as the rod bearings were the worst and the cranks most unbalanced. You can update them to be bulletproof for $250 to $1000 depending current condition ,what parts you want and if you do the work yourself. The myth that there is a lack of parts is rediculous. When the factory closed they had enough parts on the shelf to build hundreds if not a thousand more machines. Between the major vendors and ebay you can get anything you want and for prices that are far lower than you would pay for other machines.
Personally I dont recommend Cannondales to the general public because you need to to be a hands on go getter type of person who is not worried about tackling the regular first time issues that come with these machines from the factory. They are not buy,gas and go machines without updates. Once done however I will put them up against any 450 for reliability and performance. And we do every season.
As far as building a supermotard if you can find an already updated mx bike(they should be able to prove it with a list of mods,reciepts) for $1500 to $2000 expect to spend the usual $2000 to $3000 on the motard and street legal kit. I have been riding mine to work everyday and its a blast for night street fighting with by buddies ktm450.
Its true about the bad rap the original unupdated Cannondales have. They were awful and no matter how many races we win or how insane we build these machines into the general clueless public will always see them that way. The one benefit is it does keep prices down .
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Good point.....let me rephrase that. I wouldn't want you to buy a bike with non-existent parts support or insanely high priced parts.
There is a guy just up the street from my house that literally has a barn full of Cannonale parts. There are also several businesses that cater to the Cannondale crowd. Cannondale parts are not that difficult to find, nor are they expensive. It may be a little inconvienent to have to order a part because there are only a handfull of dealers, but nearly every time I go to buy parts for my Jap bikes I wind up having to order them as well.
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