Now for something a little different...

[MarinaFazer]

Sounds great! I love the FJR.

 

[HorizonChaser]

Very nice ride! I was looking at the FJR when I lost my '05 FZ6 back in May and the only thing that kept me from getting it was that I would have to special order it and really, Hawaii isn't really suited for doing what the FJR is made for so I got an 09 FZ6 that the dealer had on the lot.

In two years when I get back to the mainland, I will definitely be getting an FJR. The only question will be whether or not I keep the FZ6 as well.

 

[Bruce McCrary]

That's my dream bike too.:thumbup:

Can you give us more info on the accessory driving lights on the forks please? From what I can see in the pics they mount on the lower portion of the fork? Are they wired to the headlights? How did they conceal the wire? Are they aftermarket?

(I know...I ask a lot of questions)

As we all know the FZ6 headlights aren't exactly the most illuminating, and I've considered trying to rig up driving lights on my own, with no idea that someone apparently makes them already. I'm not willing to invest the time/$ in a HID setup, so this looks perfect.

Thanks!:Flash:

They're PIAA 1100X's ( PIAA ). At first I wasn't real excited about the placement, thinking I'd prefer them up under the fairing below the headlights. Still do really, but... This past Saturday during our ride Bryan commented about how the front of the bike was a "Wall of light" because of the separation between the headlights and the accessory lamps. He also commented on being able to see those lights between the trees on a twisty section of 221, but couldn't see the headlights. I'm not sure they'd clear the front fender with the forks compressed so it may be a mute point anyway.

The wiring that was done left a lot to be desired which is why we're doing the re-wire. We are trying to do a better job of hiding them and blending them in with existing wires and the brake hoses. There is a switch (a real nice switch btw) that operates them and the PO had them tied in with the low beam lights. Switch on, low beams on, they were on. Switch on, high beam on, they were off. Bryan and I decided to have them solely operated by the switch and operate independently of the headlights.

Once we're done I'll take some close ups and post them.

Bruce

 

[Bruce McCrary]

On a side note, how are the Cannondale's holding up? Can you get parts for them still?

I sold C-Dales on the bicycle side back in the late 80's and early 90's, nice bikes for the most part. I don't care for their house brand components however. Too many warranties.

Oh man, you've done it now... I love talking about 'Dales!

Holding up? Kind of a loaded question.

The '03 X440R was bought as a parts bike right after the bankruptcy. It was a demo bike that the area rep and I were using to 'spread the word'. He brought it to me a few weeks before the bankruptcy because it wouldn't run. We were swamped at the time and didn't fool with it. After the collections company took over they wanted us to buy the bike. We told them it didn't run, come and get it. They wanted an offer, so the owner of the shop told them $500 and they took it. He later gave it to me as a bonus of sorts. I took it home and put a fuse in the fuel pump and it fired up, but didn't run well. I never really messed with it too much, but feel like all it needed was a fuel pump and some tuning.

The '02 E440R was my last race bike. It had been sitting in a crate at another dealership that was failing (pre C'dales financial problems) so the rep brought it to us with some attractive pricing and financing. When I told him I was interested he called the factory and pulled some strings for me. I bought that $8k race bike for $3,500 in late '02! We pulled it out of the crate and disassembled it, then re-built it making sure that all the known updates were done as well as a few we'd figured out. Up until '04 the bike gave me zero problems and was one of my favorite race bikes. It fit me and my riding style so well... It was a tad bit heavy, and didn't knife through the tree's like my previous bike (a KTM 300 EXC), but with the suspension mods and set up we did to it, it wasn't far off. Late in '04 it finally ate a water pump impeller (C'dale made them out of plastic) which was the first 'failure'. I didn't ride it much after that for other reasons. Later, Bryan wanted to see about using the engine in a formula SAE car at school. We found that the magnesium cylinder head cover had been eaten up by the coolant so he yanked the engine and replaced it. The SAE team settled on using a V-Twin Aprilla engine and Bryan forgot to put my engine back in the chassis... Ehh, it needs to be gone through anyway.

The really cool thing about that bike is that is number 64 of only 93 built that year! I kid everyone that it's like the Shelby Cobra's of the dirt bike world!

Cannondale was a GREAT company to work with. The people made it such a joy to do business with them and they were so enthusiastic about the project that it became contagious. I got to know several of the engineers and designers as well as test riders and customer service folks. I even had a couple of conversations with Joe and Scott Montgomery.

The "intellectual property" was bought by a Taiwanese company by the name of "Denli". They were supposed to continue where Cannondale left off, but after unveiling an ATV with some truly bizarre looking plastic on what was mostly a stock Cannibal at Indy in '04 they just sorta faded away.

Frank White of ATK in Salt Lake City bought what was left of the complete machines and all of the left over parts, pieces and tooling along about the same time. He made some minor changes to the engine, had stock style plastic made in blue and re-badged them as ATK's. They have remained virtually unchanged since. They've about run their course though and Frank has been working with Highland Motors on releasing an all new thumper, but as I understand it there are some financial issues to overcome first.

What's funny is how much of an impact they had on the sport and how that impact is not credited to them. For example, Yamaha's '99 YZ 400 four stroke was released after seeing what Cannondale was working on. There were no real race ready ATV's prior to Cannondale, then everyone was forced to step up to the plate. The '09 fuel injected KX450 with a programmable ECU has been touted as the latest, greatest thing... Cannondale had it 10 years ago, plus had an ECU capable of allowing multiple maps to be loaded and by using a handlebar mounted switch the rider could choose between three maps. Kinda like the CRF450 and R1 has now. Now Yamaha has recently released drawings and specs on a proposed 2010 YZF450 that are so Cannondalish it's hilarious! The air filter is in front of the seat and the fuel tank under it, why? Because the fuel injected four stroke uses a reversed cylinder head. Wow... Wonder where they got that idea? It is just a concept right now, so it might now ever see the light of day. None the less, it does pay Cannondale a huge compliment.

See, I told you I love talking about them!

Bruce