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Alta's competition was set for 250 class four strokes. Alta succeeded in producing a motocross machine that outperformed any 250 class machine off the showroom floor in both performance and reliability and they accomplished that in their first try which is unheard of. I don't know the politics but why wasn't this bike allowed to race? If a company is building enough bikes that I can go to a dealership and buy one, it should be allowed to race. If Alta could've raced Supercross and got the bike in front of that crowd I feel that would've changed the trajectory big time. Husaberg was doing the lightweight racing 4-stroke way before Yamaha but noone gave a shit until Yamaha put Henry on a 4-stroke for Supercross.
Cannondale's demise was bad engineering. Alta's demise seems more like politics.
Alta's demise wasn't about politics, it was because they ran out of money. But they did build a very good electric dirt bike, and I wish they had stayed with it, because I believe electric bikes are going to be a normal part of the industry soon--they had the holeshot on everyone.
And like I said, I also feel they would have started at the base with junior minicycles and not tried to jump right into supercross. Just my two cents,
DC
Racer X
The Shop
Also in the news today is Beta going into MXGP, why is the barrier to entry in your series and SX so high?
As far as eBikes go, in my opinion we need enough of them to come out to give them their own class and maybe even their own series. Because even though it is the same sport--racing dirt bikes--they are not the same machines.
DC
Racer X
Also my opinion, racing at the Pro level should represent the fastest way around a track regardless of how. If practice riders can buy faster bikes (Alta) it makes a mockery of Pro racing. I think we have seen in GNCC the size of the bike is not really the determining factor, and 2t or 4t doesn't matter with an open rulebook.
Thanks for listening and responding, and I am a huge fan of all you do for the sport. And Texas is ready for a National again..
Also the AMA says they have nothing to do with the rules, it is the promoters.
DC
Racer X
I have little doubt it would be a fan favorite to see some of the boutique brands put teams together and cheer for the underdogs.Including e-bikes and equal displacement 2t's. No manufacturer will do it if they aren't welcome to promote their new models. If the fear is that they would suddenly dominate, that would be progress, if they suck there is nothing to lose. The track should be the ultimate proving ground.
The Premier Class has lost it's luster, 250's are just as fast. Let's make the Open class special again.
I picked up a Cannondale last year just because of the nostalgia. It's a cool piece of american history. This bike has all the updates done as well as revalved Ohlins suspension, brembo brakes, ported head with bigger cams and better mapping along with a 460 big bore. It actually runs pretty good!
Gary and the team he assembled, were in fact, VERY experienced and capable in the design and development of motorcycles.
As an individual, Gary is extremely talented and a brilliant engineer. A dying breed who's accomplishments are too many to list and also go largely without the credit they deserve. Case in point, all of these years later and most people, even industry insiders, don"t know that he was behind much of the Cannondale development. Although it is also one most would not brag about after the way it turned out!
The actual story behind this motorcycle is very long, the gist of which has been captured in this diary, but many facts and occurrences are missing. Not criticizing the story, just trying to shed some additional light. It is actually nice to see some are still interested it's history and talking about it.
I can tell you this for sure, Gary and his team had little to do with the final outcome and ultimate failure of this MC.
The project was pulled from Gary waaaay too early and brought "in house" to Cannondale. The bike required at least 2 or more years of development (IMO) to produce a reliable, competitive machine. Cannondale management was not having any of that!
Due to the time and money wasted with Folan, the project was way behind and millions over budget with nothing to show but a literal, milk crate full of engine parts! (5 mil. spent on the worst engine I've ever seen) After pulling the project from Gary, they rushed the bike to market to appease shareholders who were growing weary and skeptical of the project and it's potential for success. Almost all of the "poor engineering" and issues that existed, were known about, most to be expected at the stage where the bike was at.
Forced by "Bankers" to get the bike to "market" when it was well known and proven, to only run for 15 min. before the ignition completely failed! Among many other issues that everyone here is aware of.
An actual quote from Cannondale management, "We don't know anything about engines, but we know we can develop one faster than you" Well, they got half of that statement correct!
American corporate culture, greed, hubris (someone else in this post nailed that one) arrogance, to name only a few, is what doomed the project and the company.
The AMA say it's the Promoters who have control of the rules.
MX Sports are the Promoters, to most of our knowledge.
Or, does it come down to the France family company / Daytona group, who MX Sports 'lease' ( for want of a better term) the running of the sport from?
Or, is "they", basically the major manufacturers - Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki and the KTM 'group' of bike names? So, effectively, this "they", being able to keep out the smaller manufactures like Beta, TM and Sherco, who may want to do the Nationals, even in a small way.
You are a true steward of our sport, you obviously love it, and you deserve to make a good living for all you, your family, your employees and volunteers do for the sport. I'd love to see the US Nationals have the same sort of Manufacturer access as they do in the GNCC series, and the same sort of equivalency rules.
I was just a privateer and a college student back in 1985 - '86 and didn't have much say in any of this (other than to read about it in Cycle News like everyone else) but I believe the homologation numbers were built around a reasonable manufacturer's model-year run at that time, which was 400. And maybe now it's time to revisit that number or maybe go back to having a one-year exemption (like they did with four-stroke development) on those minimum numbers to help others join the sport. At the same time we don't want to destroy the production rule, because I personally think it's worked pretty well over the years to keep a balanced playing field. It's awesome that we now have seven OEMs racing on the AMA circuit right now, and a very strong post-COVID marketplace for motorcycles. Eight or nine OEMs would be even better, no doubt. But it would take of those entities listed above to agree to such a move, not just one person or series or sanctioning body...
Sort of related: Don't forget about one of the lessons of the controversial Cobra's arrival in the mid-nineties. It was an elite entry-level product that the founder Bud Maimone thought would revolutionize junior minicycle racing and lead all of the existing OEMs to up their games and build better, faster minicycles. It certainly revolutionized the class, but it also led the existing OEMs to simply stop development of their 50cc motorcycles because they really didn't want to make elite entry-level products and knew they couldn't compete with Cobra's remarkable little machines, so why bother?
DC
Racer X
Pit Row
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