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So, before I let rip with this latest story of my life with two Cannondale MXers, here’s something I heard in a play recently, and it’s about people’s stories, just like mine here. It goes like this; “A story is like an orgasm, in that only the individual telling the story or having the orgasm is the one that is really interested”. Whilst I laughed at this, there is some truth to it, so let me manage your expectations with this latest post/story, and say that whilst I hope you (may) find it interesting, don’t expect it to be orgasmic please.
Firstly, whilst it’s great to own two Cannondales, making sure that both of them have all of the updates done needs some thinking through and investigation/learning. I believe that Cannondale ended up doing less than 10 full recalls, although there were approximately 50 modification bulletins during the motorcycle and ATV production. Cannondale certainly didn’t catch every bike or ATV in the world with every recall or modification, and it must’ve been a huge financial burden for the project, as well as no doubt keeping some people awake at night.
The global history of product recalls is actually quite fascinating, and a bit of internet research reveals recalls like; The Little Wonder TV antenna that was sold in the USA. It was recalled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in August 1973, and was one of the earliest recalls of any electronic device. Apparently, the product connected the antenna terminals on the back of the TV, directly to the AC mains! Not good!
Anyway, back to the plot; the new, ‘black bike’ got run in and very dirty, so once it was cleaned and I was satisfied that all was well, I turned my attention back to the ‘red bike’. Essentially, this needed the following four things doing, including two factory modifications:
Fit a new rear tyre: I can’t write anything witty, orgasmic or interesting about fitting a rear MX tyre, except doing it on the shed floor with tyre leavers and brute force is not something I look forward to doing. Ever! ✅
Fit the starter motor diode modification: This one is a bit more simple to do. On these early MX400 and X440s bikes, the starter motor could kick back some voltage and fry the ECU. Not good. This didn’t happen on the later bikes and models as the wiring harness was updated. I did this modification on the black bike during its build, but the red bike should have it as well. To date, I’ve not had this voltage kick back issue on the red bike, but I’m in the business of risk minimisation with these bikes, so I soldered the two diodes that I got in a kit from Dave Muller.✅
Chain adjuster bolt breakages: When I was cleaning and checking the frame of the black bike, I noticed that one of the rear wheel chain adjuster bolts had sheared off and I had to drill it out of the swinging arm, re-tap it and put another bolt in, which also needed to have the head of it shaped to fit. According to Ken of Black Widow ATV, this is quite common with these bikes apparently. The bolts weld themselves into the alloy swinging arm when water and dirt gets in the threads, and then they snap off when adjustment is required. To ensure that this doesn’t happen on either bike, I’ll make sure I keep those adjuster bolts well oiled/greased.✅
Fit the factory headstock recall modification: This is much more interesting than the first 3! Yes, really, but still not orgasmic! When I last saw Dave in Arizona and got some parts from him, he handed me an original dealer recall-modification kit, and he looked at me and said something like “If you’re bike hasn’t got this update done, it should be done. All of the parts and instructions are inside the bag”. I didn’t look at it until I got back to the UK and spread it all out on the bench in the shed. The first page of the instructions are pretty clear and uses phrases like ‘a headstock breakage can cause death etc etc’. I’ve been riding this bike for 3 years unknowingly avoiding death, and I also had an event to ride the following weekend. This stuff kinda gets in your head a bit once you know it. Anyway, I did check all of the headstock area for any cracks etc and it all looked fine, so I did the event, which didn’t have massive jumps or whoops, and I didn’t die (obviously). Phew!
It is fortunate that a) these recall kits are available and b) that people in the Cannondale community share the knowledge of all of the updates. The red bike seems to have missed most of the updates apart from the replacement alloy rocker cover on it’s original engine, so either the bike avoided the UK Cannondale dealer it came from, or the dealer avoided the bike.
Fortunately, when I stripped the black bike back to its bare frame, I noticed that it had received this important recall modification, so it was good to see how it had been done and how it fitted with the bearings, the frame and the fork yokes.
The kit does come with everything needed, including the jigs, drills and taps as well as the parts, and of course, clear instructions. The modification is basically an additional bottom plate and bearing housing to strengthen and re-enforce the whole headstock. However, to fit it requires some dis-assembly of the front end of the bike, surprise, surprise. Bike dis-assembly is the story with every Cannondale moto fix I’ve ever done, because nothing is ever as simple as the design sounds in the sales literature of the time.
Whilst I obviously want to avoid death, I haven’t done the modification yet, cos’ I just haven’t. However, I will do it when a) I’m in the mood to pull off the front end and/or b) I don’t want to take it to another event without doing it. The biggest question to ask about doing this modification is “ Do I fill in the dealer warranty sheet myself?” 🤭
And back to the black bike again…………….
Make a new seat cover: The original seat that came with the black bike had a rip in the cover, and as a new, original cover is ‘unobtainable’, I thought I’d make one. I mean, how hard can it be?…..Firstly, here’s a boring-but-true piece about the seat. When I first sat on the finished black bike, which I had fitted an NOS seat to, I noticed that it was a lot firmer than the seat on the red bike, so I pulled out the original black bike seat and felt the foam firmness, and it was also softer than the new one. I like the softer seat of the red bike because it feels more like I’m sitting in the bike rather than perched on top of it like a modern day MXer. As I wanted the softer seat on the black bike, it became the driver to get the original seat covered.
The original seat cover is made in three panels and with two different fabrics, which is then stapled into place on the plastic seat base. I removed the old cover and carefully unpicked the two rows of stitching so I could make some patterns. The main fabric of the seat is a grippy type of fabric, and the front and rear underside panels are a smooth finish, and slightly thinner fabric. Whilst searching for fabrics to match the two originals, I did get sidetracked by the availability of getting printed and coloured fabrics for the replacement seat cover, but I stuck with black as the original. After some searching, I found two fabrics that looked like the originals and ordered them.
I cut out the patterns from the new fabric and started stitching. It all went together well, even though I did put one panel on inside out and had to unpick it again (Doh!). Feeling pleased with my finished work, I fitted the cover to the seat. Incidentally, like all things Cannondale, even the seat is complex in comparison to a modern day MXer. Whilst the cover is in three panels, there is also a polystyrene block which sits inside the foam to make it a bit more firm, which I haven’t seen before on any seat. Anyway, back to fitting the new cover. It didn’t bloody well fit! For some disappointing reason, the new fabric wouldn’t stretch like the old fabric and therefore, wouldn’t fit around the foam. Bugger! With my seat covering confidence shattered, I unpicked the new cover to try and work out how to fix it, then (temporarily) gave up. Hmmmm………Whilst I usually finish every job, this one got put back in a box for another day, so the exciting finale to this seat covering story will have to wait!
X440s sticker/decal kit: Apparently, there are no X440s sticker/decal kits on the planet. Fact! So, my friend Gil at RetroDecals is creating the artwork for it and using the originals from the body panels that I got with the black bike. Gil will then have full sets for red and black MX400s as well as the X440s and he can do them in custom colours as well. He can be contacted direct using the link in the sidebar.✅
After looking at all of the updates on the list, I now have both bikes either fully updated, or will be soon, so that’s something to stick on my achievement wall. ⭐️
The weather in North Yorkshire right now isn’t great. In fact, we only have about 7 hours of daylight, everywhere is really wet, it’s bloody cold, and cleaning the bikes after a ride takes 10 times longer than the actual ride. As cleaning a very muddy Cannondale well, is as complicated as doing everything else one it, they’re staying in the shed for a bit longer and I’m using the trials bike for some winter off-road fun instead.
And Finally, get hold of a Cannondale diagnostics kit: It will be useful for future fault finding and setting up on both bikes to have the factory diagnostics kit, and hopefully, whilst these kits are rare as hen’s teeth, I have found one and will have it soon!✅
The next (exciting) post will include the headstock modification on the red bike, a bit more about the diagnostics kit, and some more riding on both of them, not at the same time obviously.
All photos by the Author
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