It has been along time since I have ridden a Banshee but I remember then being insanely quick. Are these bikes still the fastest bikes to be had on flat open terrain? How will my stock Predator hang with a Banshee? Are they close enough that it will come down to the rider or am I simply outclassed?

A stock banshee will be in trouble racing against alot of the quads of today.The technology put toward the new 4-strokes (all the 450's,several of the can-am's,etc)have made alot of them very strong compared to the older 4-strokes.
The banshee has sooo much potential though.Just pipes,porting and a few other mods will really wake one up.

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Sold all the quads but can't stay away.Hope to be building a polaris soon.

So, since very few of us ride stock quads, the Banshee is still the king of the dunes.

The trouble with the Shee was that it never really had a good frame or suspension! Sure, it has a thrilling powerband, but no way did that make up for the other bad features.....let this one die a natural death!

I live along the I-10, the route between LA and Glamis. Use to be all you saw in the back of trucks and on trailers was Shees. Now, you hardly see any. Tells me that folks ditched their old Shees pretty quick!!!

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Southern California.....

Desert: 450R and 400EX
Mountains: Rancher 420 and 350 4X4's
Kids: Two 250EX's and 90
Dual-Sport Bike: XT225

Past rides: 300EX, 2wd Rancher 350, Recon, TRX90, Z400, LT160, LT80, Warrior, Blaster, CRF230F

Edited: 04/21/2008 at 08:36 AM by reconranger

I figure if your banshee is one of the big ones(ported,stroker crank,cub cylinders,etc...)then odds are good that it will be king of most dunes.If you're just on a piped banshee then you might be in trouble.

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Sold all the quads but can't stay away.Hope to be building a polaris soon.

i would say the banshees time is coming near an end. sadly.
The new 450s are hard to beat. Banshees do respond very well to mods though.
my friend had one and the powerband was truly amazing.
The banshees do come pretty corked though.
with a few mods they may still be the king of drags

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2008 Honda foreman 500 w/power steering
2007 Honda 450r
2004 Honda recon
2003 Honda foreman
1983 Honda 185s 3 Wheeler
1998 Polaris xc 700 Snowmobile

All Honda Red Except the Snowmobile

Heard a rumor this weekend of a 4-stroke, twin cylinder shee coming late this year. Anyone else heard this?

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'95 F-250, Ext. cab, Long bed, 4x4, 7.3L PSD
-Bone Stock
-18-20 MPG
-220K mi. and counting......

'02 400ex
-Supertrapp IDS 2 slip-on
-K&N with airbox mods

'02 350 Warrior (girlfriends)
-a lot of wrenchin'

the banshee's will be pretty much legends, i mean look at the quadzilla, it is still untouchable when it comes to 2-strokes, altho the suspension sucked and you broke your foot trying to start them but their still around and pretty rare. i guess the banshee will always be known to everyone but these new quads are getting faster. so if you modd the banshee's then they will probably still rule the dunes. but their now middle class quads when it comes to stock.

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08 polaris outlaw 525irs
87 honda 250x
05 yamaha blaster 200 (sold)
91 honda trx200 type2 (sold)
86 honda trx250 (sold)

heard that rumor to many times

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2008 Honda foreman 500 w/power steering
2007 Honda 450r
2004 Honda recon
2003 Honda foreman
1983 Honda 185s 3 Wheeler
1998 Polaris xc 700 Snowmobile

All Honda Red Except the Snowmobile

herd it and its bs. as far as shees go if upgraded all the way they are pretty much unbeatable in a hill shoot. as far as 4 strokes go the raptor 700 is the king right now. the problem they are having now is not the engine making enough power is the tranny hold it. ive herd someone is putting a way better tranny together like they have for the shees.

Interesting comment's by everybody. It's nice to see that there is much respect for the sport quad that set the standard. regardless of what you are riding you always brag if you smoke a Banshee. My brother is looking to purchase one this month. Win or lose, I can't wait to race him.

The KTM 525 stock will and has beat stock and mostly stock Banshee's and modded 700r's.

I have pictures and videos of a friend hot-lapping at the sand drags.

That has been going on for a while, but I'm not sure if Yamaha is going to do it....If you looks at it logistically from a marketing and sales stand point it seems like a long shot.

Right now the Raptor line is 250/350/700 and I'm not sure there is a place for another open-class machine in their lineup.......

Even if they ditch the 350 as some suspect might happen, it seems that another open class (500cc twin) has no place with the 700 in the mix.

If anything, they bump the Raptor 350 up to a 400cc class machine to compete with the z400/400ex machines better, but that too would hit the 700 in sales. I think a "Banshee" would be in direct competition with the 700 and Yamaha would not want that.

I'm not saying it's impossible but it seems highly unlikely.

Suzuki has toyed with the idea of a 700cc sport machine too, but testing has shown that the z400 is still too close to the 700 in performance so they have delayed production on that one...

Honda only went with a 700 when they decided to make it IRS, they also did not want to take sales away from the 400ex with a machine in direct competition.

It seems that the sport ATV lines are all streamlining into basic groups.

Entry level sport (250cc class) Raptor 250 is the new breed and soon Suzuki and Honda will follow with upgrades.

Mid level sport (400cc class) This line has become the bread and butter for Honda and Suzuki, and even the Raptor350 sales are still strong.

Racer machines (450cc class) All the racers are selling well. The YFZ is still #1 in sales with the 450r right on par and the LT-R450 gaining ground.... The KFX450 is still lagging behind but it is the newest.

Open class big bore (Raptor 700, Outlaw 525) The Raptor is still selling a ton, and the Outlaw is still new.

Special sport (700xx, Outlaw IRS) the IRS machines are not selling great, but they are selling and are projected to steadily increase as they find their market.

If anyone would do it, Yamaha would.... they are the ones who have a history of offering the most sport machines to choose from. As it is the fact they have the 350 and the 700 to fill in gaps for those who don't want a racer, or are interested in a trail machine bigger than a 250, could eventually force them to cave in......

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'05 Zuki z400
'06 Raptor 350 (wife's)
'00 Honda Rancher 350 4x4

^^^^^^
ill give you that
wait till this new dasa duals and fci intake come out. will take out those ktms no problem in hill shoot and drags. and you will beable to get this all for probaly 1000-1200 bucks.

The DS650 Bombadier/Can-am is rated very close to the Raptor for king of the sand dunes. Considering the Raptor is 50cc bigger motor with F/I.

Buy any good used DS650 for around $3,000 or more depending on your money situation. The new 450 sport quades are awsome if your an average weight rider. If your a bigger guy forget it.

Garman

ive herd the ds650 are very expencive to mod though. and sence the ds650 is no longer around there wont be a ton of aftermarket support like there will be for the raptor. raptors are now getting over 100hp and are blowing the crap out of the trannys. they are working on a billet tranny like the shees have.

the thing with being king of the dunes is, its hard when you dont have the factory backing. the banshee never received any upgrades (except A arms from J arms) but in reality it is the same quad from 1987 with he same motor from 1987. i think the banshee will always be a legend and if yamaha came out with a new one (highly unlikely) i would be quite offended. regardless of brute speed, banshees have always been insanely fun to ride (anyone who has can attest to that). Banshee owners must realize that the reign of terror is over and with the factory (and after market companies) backing solely four strokes, it is only an inevitability that four pokes will surpass banshee's. what i do know for sure is, as of right now, there are more fast banshees out there then any other quad.

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'99 SHEE

I have never owned a banshee, but I have ridden one and it scared the living hell out of me! It was mod out, of course. IMO, they are the best quad out there...I am sorry to see them go. The aftermarket parts are endless, you can literally spend tens of thousands of dollars on them. Of course, modern technology will prevail, but there will always be a place in our hearts...our memories...of the banshee. BTW, the banshee I rode has ranked in the top 5 of "DUNEFEST" here in Oregon for many years. It would take a book to write the mods it has....let's just say the seat is cupped so you don't get bucked off! LOL! Just the sound of it makes me nervous!

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How deep is it...

2007 Sportsman 800 EFI Deluxe
ITP SS108's, 26" Mud Lites, 2.5 Warn, Synthetic Rope, bumpers, Dalton Clutch, K&N

2008 Sportsman 700 EFI X2 - The Wife's
800 rims, 27" Mud Lites, 1.5" spacers, 2.5 Warn, Synthetic Rope, Dalton Clutch, K&N filter, brush guard

2007 Troy Lee Predator 500
HMF Sport exhaust, UM Racing air box, K&N filter, Jet Kit, UM bumpers, UM nerf bars, etc...etc...

Come on, but let's give props to the original sport-bike. The Honda ATC/TRX 250R. Now I haven't raced every bike you mention in this thread, but the ones I have raced weren't even in the same league as my R.

The well maintained 250R will always be king. You just can't replicate the powerband of a 2-stroke in a 4-stroke. Even the Banshee will lose 9 times out of 10 racing the R.

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'85 Honda ATC 250R
'91 Honda TRX 250X
'85 Honda TRX 250
'70 Honda CT 70 Trail Bike

I think that banshee 500 twin came from a dirt wheels april fools edition a couple years back.

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08 Grizzly 700 EFI EPS Camo
Warn: Winch, Bumper & Plow
Ricochet A Arm Skids
Shock Covers

Hers: 06 Bruin 250

The Shee is and will be the legend as the Yamaha RD line from the 70s. It isnt practical for Yamaha to bring them back, but we will all have "I remember this wicked Shee that..." type memories to recall, and stories to tell, much like the RD350s or Kawasaki's H1.

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03 Raptor 660R, Full FMF Exhaust w/Power Bomb, DynoJet Stage II, Xtreme Starter Clutch
06 Cool Sports 250ST-D (gf's)
07 Roketa ATV-110H (son's)