Hi, I'm new to this site and I'm just looking for people's opinions on this problem. I'm stuck between choosing a 2008 outlaw 525 S, not the IRS, or a 2004 banshee. I'm not a track rider at all. I mainly stick to the trails and such. I'm really into speed which is why I have this problem. Any suggestions would help.

 

525s, is going to be better for trails, and it will out drag banshee's. if you like trails then get a 525irs, i have one and there is so much clearance for roots, and mud.
but i would defina;ty not get a banshee just my opinion.

 

Banshees are the king of speed straight line once built, but can be a handful on trails and downright miserable once the going gets technical. For straight up trail riding you would probably be happier with the Polaris or really any of the 450 class quads as well.

 

a banshee is not a good "woods" machine... i agree with scooter86 100%... shop around and find something that fits your style of riding.. you will be alot happier in the long run

 

Welcome to the forum. Get ANYTHING besides a Banshee for trail riding. Whenever I come across one it's just sitting in a parking lot or on the side of a trail, with the owner talking about how fast it is, while everyone else is actually riding. Banshees, when you put big bucks in them, can drag race really well but are useless on trails IMO. Plus they're a really old design, like a Model T Ford of the ATV world. As far as I know there were no major changes or high-tech improvements from 1987 up until they were discontinued.

I would get the IRS over the SRA for anything except racing on a track. IRS will get you 90% of the places a 4x4 ute will go, and the Outlaw is one of the fastest stock ATVs made.

 

The 525 would be the preferd choice of those two for trail riding but my choice would be the obvious! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

as a banshee owner myself and a fellow trail rider, i love riding my shee but its gets very little use unless im going to the dunes then the other quads sit. I ride my shee on trails but you will be working this machine nonstop rather than enjoying the trails. so for trail riding i would def recommend any other machine unless you are dead set on having one. if you are dead set on 1 of these 2 machines i would have to go with the outlaw and for trail riding i would go with the irs over the sra. the sra will only help in power sliding where as the irs will be better for almost every other situation. just my 2 cents and that is all i would ever suggest it is worth just 2 cents lol

welcome to the forums

 

Welcome to the forum.

I own a banshee, and the thing is great on the trails. I love it!! It will smoke yzf450s and it better for where I live cause there are more straight aways than trails. I would go with the polaris one cause it is a 4stroke, and two cause you don't have to wait for the power to be there (as where on a banshee you have to wait for the powerband to get some real speed).


I would wait and buy the KTM525 quad, I test rode one and it is the best thing that i have come across so far. My banshee is as about as lite as you can get them and the KTM525 feels atleast half as lite as my banshee. Plus the KTM525 stock is all chromoly so you really don't have to upgrade much.

 

I just posted this today and already I'm getting the impression that the 525 would be better on the trails rather than the banshee. Even the banshee guys are telling me to get the 525! lol. I kind of figured, but this guy is selling this banshee for pretty cheap and I just wanted to make sure that I wouldn't regret it. So I guess my second question would be: Is there much performance upgrades you can do to the 525?

 

you won't want to for now at least. Those are pretty quick, they are supposedly the fastest accelerating quads on the market today. They have some stuff out there for them, it's just a matter on how much you want to spend (money might not be an issue with you since you are buying it new, no offense) and I personally would never buy something new unless your going to keep it for a really long time, otherwise you just loose a bunch of money. That's just my thoughts though.