Riding the WORST Motocross Bike Of All Time!

Oh Jesus Christ. I'm about to ride the worst dirt bike in history. This is the 2001 Cannondale MX400 and by some it's regarded as the worst dirt bike in history. Which is strange because this machine which was made by a bicycle company is packed full of super advanced features that are commonplace today. Reverse cylinders, fuel injection and electric starts were all 10 years or more away back in 2001. So what went so wrong and why is this bike the great American hope considered such a failure? So this is the Cannondale MX400 and today I'm going to ride and review the bike myself to try and figure out the mystery of the Cannondale and why it might be considered the worst motocross bike of all time. We'll learn all about the history of this cautionary tale and we'll talk to the proud owner of this bike to see if the Cannondale MX400 does indeed have any redeeming qualities. Stay tuned until the end for a special surprise and to find out how you can get involved in a future video. To begin our story we are going to have to travel back in time to an era of big hair, loud colours and revolutionary ideas. In the early 1980s American concrete company Cannondale entered the bicycle market and soon took it by storm with their revolutionary and innovative ideas which included the introduction of the aluminium frame. By the time the 90s rolled around Cannondale was considered a true American success story as they continued to triumph in both sales and world titles across the biking world. By pushing the boundaries with their designs Cannondale became known as one of the best in the business. As the 90s came to a close Cannondale were full of confidence and they noticed an alluring opportunity in the dirt bike market. The unveiling of Yamaha's YZ400 gave the biking world a kick up the backside. It was also the perfect carrot for Cannondale to chase and provided them with an open invite to innovate to their heart's content. And arguably it was this continual quest for innovation that ultimately led to their downfall. So the 90s were a tumultuous time for motocross manufacturers. Big board two strokes were breathing their final breaths and they were on the way out and Yamaha had completely shaken the landscape of the scene to its core and change the future of the sport. The introduction, the successful introduction of the YZ400 four stroke. Aluminium frames were also being introduced at this time. So in 1997 and armed with their aluminium expertise Cannondale decided to join the party and fill that four stroke gap that Yamaha had just created. Cannondale became the first new brand to join the motocross industry since KTM 25 years earlier and they became the only mainstream American manufacturer in the game. But that's when the problems started. It took three long years from announcement and conception for Cannondale to actually get bikes in the showrooms. And by 2001 the four stroke boom had really begun and taken hold. Both KTM and Yamaha had strong machines in the category and Honda were on the horizon. Cannondale's original and maybe naive budget estimate of 20 million dollars to design and develop a brand new motorcycle quickly ballooned out of control. Which meant that a lot was riding on the success of the MX400. But why did it cost so much and take so long to develop? Well that might be down to their obsession with innovation. The MX400 was packed full of innovative features which we had never seen before. But in reality that meant that they hadn't been tried and tested for hardcore dirt bike use. On paper the bike sounded exotic and high-end but in actuality it was weird and temperamental. Originally Cannondale were working with a Husqvarna engine manufacturer but that relationship disintegrated and they decided instead to go with their own design built by a NASCAR outfit in North Carolina. They went for a backwards engine, a backward cylinder which we see now in modern Yamahas. The exhaust pipe came straight out of the back of the cylinder so the header pipe was very short which doesn't result in great power especially compared to the rivals of the time. Another interesting design choice was the air filter placement. It's here behind the front number board and the intake actually goes through the frame. It's interesting and it's different. The air filter is right there and there's a hole in the frame to allow the air through but that hole just simply wasn't big enough to allow enough air to let the bike breathe. So they added a second air box underneath the seat here so when you're done riding there's actually two air filters you've got to clean. And to clean this second air filter you've actually got to take the rad shrouds off, the seat off, the tank off. It's a right faff to get done. Two more innovations that the Cannondale MX400 featured was the EFI fuel injection and the electric start. Completely revolutionary for the time back in 2001. The EFI just simply wasn't good enough. It was temperamental, it was weird, people couldn't get their heads around it. The electric start was temperamental and unreliable. When the bike was hot it just wouldn't work out on track and the bike would cut out regularly at low rpm and that's because of the dodgy fueling system in there. You can see down here the starter motor is packed in there which means that they've had to do this weird frame design. This actually bolts on and off to try and make working on the bike easier. But just in general the Cannondale MX400 wasn't very easy to work on, wasn't very nice to work on and that's just one of the reasons why people did not enjoy owning this machine. Some other strange features on the MX400 include the no link twin piston PDS Ohlin shock, the fact that the engine oil actually went inside of the frame instead of another reservoir and that there was no kickstart at all to counter that dodgy electric starter. It's said that most of these features were simply gimmicks and that they just didn't work. But I'll be the judge of that today. So let's hit the track and see how the MX400 performs. This video has been supported by our awesome friends at Beemoto and for our UK followers they have some great insurance products. You may not realize it but you can actually insure your dirt bikes even if they're not registered with a V5. If you keep your dirt bike in a properly secured locked building then check out Beemoto Dirt Bike Theft Insurance. It's designed for bikes not used on the road and provides fire and theft cover for sawn or unregistered bikes at home or in transit. So if that sounds like something you're interested in and you want to keep your pride and joy safe and insured be sure to check out Beemoto. I've put a link in the description down below. Every click there helps out the channel and helps us make more videos just like this one. So I've spun a couple of laps on the Cannondale now. I've got to get into grips with things and it's a peculiar bike that's for sure. I'm actually quite enjoying it you know. It feels quite intuitive to me here in 2023. I couldn't understand why it felt so weird and alien back in 2001. With that kind of the intake system there at the front, two air filters on this, one under the seat. It does actually sound quite breathy like the modern Yamaha's do you know. This is pretty good. It's got that old school plush seat that's super comfortable and it seems to turn very well. Stopping on the other hand it's not so great at. The brakes are lacking somewhat I would say. I'm a bit nervous going into some of the corners. The handling I can put it wherever I want really. Those tight lines which I was not expecting from an old thumper from 2001. Suspension feels pretty plush only as a standard on this. It's a high end. It's not so bumpy at the moment but it's coping with everything we're throwing at it. That felt pretty quick around there. The chassis it's got that aluminium frame based on the 97 Honda which people didn't really like. Feels all right to me at the moment. I mean I know this bike is heavy compared to its rivals of the day, the Yamaha 426 and the KTM 526 was it. I know it's heavier than those bikes. Noticing that on the track at the moment, fresh track. Oh I thought I was going to stall it out then which they were known for in the slow corners. But the real place I can feel where this bike is lacking especially compared to modern bikes, it's hard to say for me compared to its rivals of the day. But it's definitely pretty slow you know. It feels more like a farm bike. It's a bit lazy, a bit lackadaisical to use a fancy word. The farm bike I know was down on power compared to those four strokes of the era. But yeah it definitely feels very slow. But that's adding to my enjoyment of it actually. I'm not trying to race this thing, I'm trying to have fun. And the fun I am having. So let's do a fast lap. So what was the Cannondale MX400 like to ride? Well I was actually pleasantly surprised. The power delivery on this thing was silky smooth, so enjoyable and so confidence inspiring actually. The bike's slow, let's face it, the bike's slow. It's heavy, way heavier than any of its rivals from 2001. And it was slower than any of those rivals as well. This is a 432cc four stroke and it was putting out about 43 horsepower on the dyno which is way slower than the 426 Yamaha and the KTM of the time. And like I say it's heavier as well. So when you're on track it feels a bit like a tractor. It's not very fast at all. The best comparison I've got is if you've seen those farm bike races that you see online where they're just absolutely riding the nuts of the machines. That's what it felt like riding this. You're sat in the bike with that nice comfy seat, the centre of gravity is quite low and you can just ride the wheels off it because you don't feel like you're going very fast. It's controllable, it's easy to manage. Which in my opinion is a big win. I'm not out here racing. If you was racing it'd be so frustrating. You'd be having 125s buzz you here, there and everywhere. But for me out on the practice track this power delivery is silky smooth, puts a smile on the face and that's what I'm looking for. Handling as well, like I said you feel like you're sat in the bike. I like that old-fashioned feeling on these older bikes. The seats are comfortable, you can move up to the tank in the corners, you feel planted and because it is heavy the centre of gravity is quite centered and quite low which makes it really easy to turn. The main thing that I felt lacked here were the brakes. When I first got on the bike I thought I was going to overshoot every corner but I soon got adjusted to that. Also the engine braking as well. It was so severe on this. If you pulled the clutch in as you went down the box it felt like you speeding up into the corner rather than slowing down. I asked a guy like can I crunch down the gearbox and he said yeah absolutely crunch down the gearbox. That's what you need to do to slow down in some cases. When you had the clutch in and you roll into the corners it was pretty weird. You wasn't slowing down at all. Which was a feature that many of the testers back in 2001 mentioned was the engine braking on this bike. In terms of the suspension it's got Ohlins on there. High end stuff. The track's not too rough out there today so I didn't notice any drawbacks really of this stuff. Maybe the front was a bit washy in some of the looser sections but if you ask me good suspension on the Cannondale MX400. The chassis which was based on the 1997 CR250 which I think everybody universally hated which was an unfortunate design choice for Cannondale. But out there today I don't have too many bad things to say about the chassis. I could put the bike exactly where I wanted. It turned where I wanted it to. Inspired confidence in me. But I think if you read the reviews from back in the day it wasn't necessarily the performance on track when the bike was working that the testers didn't enjoy. It was the reality of actually owning the bike. It had weird problems. The ECU back in the day wasn't very good. The electric start back in the day wasn't very good. Thankfully for us the owner of this bike has worked for three years to get this bike reliable. We didn't really experience any of those reliability issues here today. The only thing I would say that it did conk out at low RPMs which was very annoying. But we do have an electric start and Guy's got that electric start working a treat. Back in the day they said when the bike was hot it wouldn't work at all. Guy says it's actually the opposite for him. When the bike's warm the electric start worked every time. It's actually when it's cold for Guy that he has to get a booster battery out to get it going. But those reliability issues seem to be ironed out on Guy's MX400 that's sat here behind us right now. So this definitely isn't the worst motocross bike I've ever ridden. I've ridden bikes that are far weirder and far more difficult to control. So why does the MX400 have this reputation and why is it considered such a failure? Perhaps it's because it didn't live up to the insane hype of the time or maybe it's because it played its part in sinking the entire Cannondale empire. So as you can see Dirt Rider magazine actually named the Cannondale bike of the year and that's back in 1999. So that's before the bike even came out. That's the kind of hype that they were building for the Cannondale MX400. Like I said the hype surrounding this bike which was the great American hope was absolutely insane. But inevitably the reality of owning one of these temperamental beasts eventually dawned on the magazine testers of the time. Motocross Action magazine gave the MX400 a scathing yet honest review which meant that by the time the bike was reaching dealers it already had a pretty bad reputation. Which was bad news indeed for Cannondale. It's said that Cannondale had sunk 80 million dollars or more into this project which they thought would cost 20 million dollars. And when the bikes were received poorly this share prices for Cannondale began to plummet. Meaning that in 2003 Cannondale were forced to file for bankruptcy and that was the end of the motorcycle project. Eventually the bicycle side of the business was taken over by new owners and the motorcycle assets were sold off to ATK which is another American motorcycle brand. So according to the riders of the time the bike was a disaster and obviously Cannondale's financial situation was even worse. The project had killed the company. In every sense of the word the MX400 was a big fat failure. Despite the problems and pitfalls there's obviously still a small community of fans of this Cannondale MX400. But why? Why do people still search out and buy these machines? Let's find out. Videos like this feature on the Cannondale MX400 are made possible on our channel by our awesome sponsors 24MX. And I've got a special code just for you guys to get 15% off a whole load of items across the 24MX store. Like the pump-up mechanic stand, the loading ramp and the race tents. Just use our code MAX15 for 15% off. As always a big thank you goes to 24MX for supporting what we do. So I'm here with Guy Redshaw the proud owner of this very special very rare bike that sat behind us right here. After riding this bike today I know that it's not the worst bike ever made in terms of its on-track performance. It's just not. It's fun to ride. It's good to ride. But maybe the thing that let it down back in 2001 was it certainly wasn't the best bike to own. Firstly what is it like to own one of these and what have you done to alleviate those problems that everyone experienced back in 2001 that soured the taste of this what I think very fun bike to ride. So I guess we've got to give some recognition to all of the quad riders in the US that have kept what what people say is the best handling quad ATV ever made which is a Cannondale. So to set the story straight there Cannondale as well as making the motocross bikes they made ATVs as well. Yeah they made a few variants of it. Now what's been happening since the company fell apart and they were stopped being made was that there are people re-engineering in sheds somewhere in the world mostly in the US with the ATV. All of the faults that were there originally. On the motor. It is yeah same motor for both. Like this motor here. This motor has been built by Black Widow ATV in the US. They're the kind of they're experts on this thing and it's great. It was completely rebuilt. It's had updated ECU. All of the things that were caused problems in the day. Somebody has come up with a solution to fix it. In your opinion then what is it like to own this Cannondale MX400 now? I bet it's quite fun to have in the garage and quite fun to roll it out the track. It is yeah for me it's a really great looking bike. I love everything about the design. You know Cannondale was a company that rethought everything. They came up with an idea and rethought it and they challenged everything that was going on. Unfortunately this didn't work but today it works. And if you look at the Yamaha YZ450F then very similar to what's going on here. Like we even said that front number plate looks eerily similar to what the YZ450 looks like in 2023 doesn't it? You know there are some people remaking parts. So all the engine components have been remade and all the modifications are done and radiators have been modified and things like that. But there are also some people that bought stock up at the time. There isn't much around the world but actually the Cannondale community the ATV and the motor community is a really tight one. Willing to help each other out it's a global community and you kind of know where to go if you need a fender or if you need a radiator or something like that. I love it. The 1990s was the heyday for Cannondale from a mountain biking point of view and they took a lot from the motorcycle world the off-road motorcycle and put it into their mountain bikes. So you know that for me was you know it was a really special time and if you're into Cannondales the holy grail of all Cannondales is this. What is it about Cannondales that you love? You've obviously got a collection of bicycles. You've got one of the only MX400s in this country for sure. Obviously you've got the kit. What is it about Cannondale that has grabbed your attention Guy? You know my perception of working in an organization like that that every day I was thinking well why don't we look at it from a different angle? What if we made it out of this? So you know they were absolute experts in aluminium. So a lot of what they did with the mountain bikes or the bicycles they've started to apply to this. It was just lucky that I came across this and it's taken me three years with a lot of help from other people to get everything ironed out you know so that we can have the sort of day that we've had today. Yeah like hours on track today. Not put a foot wrong has it? Put a smile on my face. Put a smile on your face. What more can you ask from a dirt bike? Be sure to check out Guy's blog to keep up with his adventures on board the MX400. It could be said that we're in a similar position today as we were in 1997. We're on the verge of a revolution in the motocross world and we're about to see not one but two new brands enter the dirt bike scene. The story of Cannondale could be seen as a cautionary tale. The project failed because of inexperience, over ambition and poor timing. There's definitely lessons to be learned here so let's hope that the powers that be at Stark and Triumph are well aware of the Cannondale saga. Is the Cannondale MX400 the worst dirt bike ever made? Well it depends who you ask. I thought it was pretty fun but what I do know is that we consider this bike to be the best dirt bike in the world. So we thought it might be pretty interesting and pretty cool to put the two head-to-head to see the differences. That's going to be the next video on the channel so make sure you subscribe to 999 Laser to make sure you do not miss that one. My name's Max, as always guys, thanks for watching. Until next time, I'll see you at the track. So we actually got in contact with Guy after we put a shout out in a previous video saying that we wanted to get our hands on a Cannondale and Guy messaged us on Instagram and said I've got one, have a ride if you want. Big thanks to Guy for actually sending that message and getting in touch. If you've got a cool bike, an interesting bike that you think that we should feature, please do get in touch on Instagram at OneMinuteMoto. I'm on the hunt for an Aprilia. I think it'd be really cool to get this thing head-to-head against an Aprilia. So if you've got one of those, hit me up, let's make it happen.