I purchase a used Cannondale E440 with the Ohlins treatment. I am not a freestyle rider by any means, I enjoy technical terrain, trail riding, that genre of offroad activity.

I test rode it last weekend in Lucerne Valley on a friends' property. He owns a boneyard surrounded by many acres of terrain carved out by the elements, mostly consisting of small hills, valleys, shrubbery, and the like. Trail riding at it's best. Anyway, I gassed the bike up and headed off. This area is frequented by all terrain vehicles, and their tracks showed in the soft dirt and cliche clay. The first thing I noticed on this bike was the mellow low end. Don't get me wrong, it's plenty for what I do, but my 250cc RM 2- stroke has a lot more pull from idle. (A sidenote- all it takes to change this drastically is to hook the ecu to a laptop via an interface and a new "map" uploaded. A map is just the characteristics of how the fuel injection performs coupled with information from the various sensors in the engine. Exactly like jetting and carburetor/ ignition mods, but much more effective, much easier, and with excellent results all the time. It's similar to the "hypertech" chips and programming modules available for cars and trucks) When coming upon a valley that needs to be wheelied over, blipping the throttle in first gear going about 10MPH would result in a sufficient wheelie 1/2 of the time. I might note that this is also a result of the soft terrain, so the harder the terrain, the more traction, the more successful the wheelie.

I have to say that when on a flat dirt road, I tested the throttle limit by 'flooring' it so to speak. I have to say, compared to my two stroke there is about 25% more throttle, as in, the grip twists 25% more distance. When I thought I was hitting full throttle, I was actually at 3/4 throttle. This was even more impressive to me. The bike CONNECTS at 3/4-full throttle. This is what makes this E440 map great for straightaway stuff. It turns into a straight up beast going into the higher RPM's. I have been riding since I was 14, and the way it pulls is really a thrill... (Like a shot of nitrous) If I could get that sort of power throughout the powerband the bike would literally be unmanageable.

Naturally I tested the terrain at a slow pace to see what I was up against. There were some naturally occurring valleys about 2-4' wide and anywhere from 1'-2' deep at the most, occurring from the rain. These are what necessitates the wheelies, because even at 16 MPH they can bottom out the front forks. I would say I stayed at 1/5 throttle, because the terrain required a lot of looking ahead, anticipating, avoiding, etc. The suspension soaked up everything. The best way of demonstrating this, are the little bumps created in the roads from the cars and trucks driving over them. They create 2" high x 2" wide bumps, similar to the ruts you have on certain freeways, designed to make a lot of noise when you sort of stray, they make a lot of noise and get you back to reality. They wreak havoc on my 3rd gen S-10. With the Cannondale (Ohlins), it was like driving on a flat paved road. There were no noticeable vibrations, other than those created by the engine which were negligible. There is a considerable amount of noise emanating from the engine. It sounds like someone used small river pebbles to lubricate it. This is due to straight- cut gears. I hear they can handle more horsepower at higher rpm's and take less power to drive than conventional cut gears. The noise is distinctive, and when you stop panicking over it, it's actually kind of cool in it's own unique way.

Something I found very interesting. Whenever I ride offroad on any of my 2 strokes, even when I stretch, I get sore. Sometimes sore for 2 weeks. I didn't stretch before I rode the Dale. I rode it possibly around 8 hours over 2 days, maybe more. I ma not sore! No part of me is aching! My buddy, who has a 496 2 stroke KTM rode it down the road and back, and said "I'm exhausted!". I rode quite a distance more than he did and the only reason I stopped riding was because I had something to do. When I got off my bike I was neither tired nor sore. The Cannondale is a perfect offroad machine. I have ridden a few bikes in my life, and none of them comes close to the Cannondale. It's a mechanical work of art, and is the best of the best in handling and performance.

Night riding! At night, the desert gets cold. Really cold! I decided to have a go at it regardless. The E440 has a headlight, with 2 separate sealed bulbs for high and low beams. There was a difference between hi and low, but it wasn't night and day. I used the high beam for my riding though. I was faster riding at night than I was at day, mainly because of the limited visible terrain boosting my confidence. A good thing about the Dale: The oil is circulated partially through hollows in the frame. The frame warms up, but it never gets hot. I wore dress pants the first ride ( I know, I know), and it never irritated me, I tried pressing my leg against it, and still no irritation. In the cold it was really a good thing to have that warmth there. In the daytime when the temperatures where higher, it still wasn't an issue. I didn't have any troubles riding at night, and the headlight was more than adequate. The taillight didn't want to work. It wasn't a big concern where I was riding, so I never looked into it.

Some problems I had. The bike backfired and stalled twice when riding. Both times were off idle giving it a blip. When I bought it the idle was set pretty low, and it should have been set higher. I am told the idle was way too low. This could be an explanation. I haven't checked my grounds, which I hear can also cause this. Both times it fired right back up with the electric start. Kind of scary, I was pretty far from my buddy's house behind a hill when it happened the second time. If it didn't start back up I'd be hurting. Anyway, about gas mileage. I estimate about 40+ MPG. With all the riding I did, I never used all 5 gallons of gas I brought. I wasn't expecting to do half the riding I did. It was too much fun to stop! With my 2 strokes, I can see the gas in the tank and estimate how much gas has been used. But with the Cannondale, the tank is black and you only see down a small portion of it. After a brief ride, I checked the gas level by peering into the tank, and was disappointed to see it much lower than full. However, upon examining the design of the tank, a very small amount of fuel is visible from the gas cap. The confidence booster was when I filled the tank after a long ride. Less than a gallon every time. I had 1/3 gas left in the jerry can, and when I started riding I had to top off the fuel tank. The gas tank holds 2.6 gallons, so it was nice to see so little gas go in.

All in all I'd say this is one of the nicest motorcycles I have had the privilege of owning. I am anxiously awaiting Dinli and ATK's Cannondale- like offerings. A shame is that most of the people who I have talked to about the Dale on the net and in person have had negative things to say about it. "It's slow", or "It's unreliable" are two things I commonly hear. Race statistics are all that are needed to shut the first bunch up. Visiting the good people at www.cannondaler.com shut the second group up. If people actually knew the truth about Cannondales, they'd be the best selling offroad dirtbikes out there. For the money they cannot be beat. I want another one! At my earliest opportunity I will acquire another one. It may be a ways away, but I want another one!