I never found out why they stoped making these, they are probably the best 4 quads ever made so what caused the stoppage??

 

good question! i was wondering the same thing my self but never got around to asking i think they should bring them all back the more the merryer!!

 

you guys need a small lesson in marketing, a given product has only so much appeal. it needs to change to open up opportunities for sales and product development. the fact that you guys like a given machine, doesn't mean you will purchase a whole production run at a retail price. its cost prohibitive to sit on single design. you will only sell limited amount of units no matter how good they perform.so be prepared for the next new products, they will have all your buying history behind them.

 

Because environmentalists dont like two-stroke machines because they pollute a little more. Yamaha is the only one to stick in there and keep a few two stroke quads, which probably wont be around much longer.

 

yea i have often wondered the same thing.. and why yamaha didnt stop the banshee o well some company needs to come back with a bad a$$ 2-stroke again like a 250r again or the zillia and make them for a year in limited quanities and then try to develop a "enviromentaly safe" 2stroke

 

I think the fear of lawsuits scared the manufactures, so they quit building high performance machines, Yamaha stuck it out and deserves a lot of credit for that even though they did not develope anything new until the Raptor came out. 1999 was the turning point when Honda released the 400ex and revitialized the sport quad segment, its to bad honda has set back and let all the other manufactures pass them up these last 2 years, but I know when they do release something new it will be worth looking at for sure.
Just my $.02

Dirthead

 

You guy's have hit the proverbial nail right on the head!

Lawsuits and Enviro-****'s!

Too many 13 year olds with no helmets getting hurt on the big HP machines, and lawsuits were flyin' (Can't be my fault!!!! You made a machine that's too fast!! WHINE!)

Hats off to Yamaha to thumb their nose at them and continuing to produce the Banshee.
From a marketing standpoint, it would be very wise to bring out the big HP machines once again as a reintroduction... they'd make a fortune! I know my 17 y/o machine could use replacement.... So I'd spend the $$ for a couple!.... but there's nothing out there better at this time, so why should I??

Again, Kudo's to Yammie! Just wish they would have contiunued development and made improvements thru the years.... can't imagine what a techno advanced banshee would be like!

 

Yep, Lawsuits and Environmentalist put the stop to those quads. Sad but true.

 

Yamaha wasn't the only manufacturer to keep the 2-stroke, Polaris also kept them in their machines.

 

Enviro-nuts and lawyers are the reason.

The Japanese manufacturers (the only ones making ATVs at the time) reached some sort of under the table agreement not to import into the US any new 3-wheeled ATVs, as well as taking a 10 year hiatus for importing new hi-performance ATVs. I think Yamaha got around that by not changing the Banshee for a looooong time. This is all rumor, but is what I have heard.
The TRUE sport quad market is very fanatical, but also very small, sales-wise. People buy a quad, and over the course of time, modify it to exactly what they want. Very slow sales of new machines because of this. You hear over and over 'if anyone made a TRUE hi-perf. machine, they would make a killing...NOT!! Look at Cannondale...they spared no expense to make the 'ultimate' machine, and sales haven't met expectations. What sells far more are the machines like the 400ex, LT400, and Predator. A fairly hi-perf, but relatively low-maintanence machine that is fun to go fast on. Just not enough real racers to justify the R&D for a new racing machine.
The real racers basically build their own, anyway. They may START with a 250R, then change a few little things like the frame, swingarm, a-arms, shocks, handlebars, steering post, axle, wheels, rims, add nerfs, and mod the engine to the point of un-recognizability.