can anyone give me tips on cornering or turning the bike. i always overshot when i turn. do i need to put a lot of brakes or just downshift the gears? i have a banshee and i don't have problems compared to my 400ex. thank's!

 

Hit the front brakes right before you hit the turn... (I am sure you know this) but you could have a prob with the toe-in/toe-out on the front of the bike...

 

To answer your two questions first of all, the answers are yes & yes. If your intention is to get thru the corner fast and you're in a higher gear like 4th or fifth, You need to get a handful of front brake & downshift; the gear you choose will depend on the corner itself, the soil condition, the terrain after the corner, such as a jump, tabletop, etc.. In a 90 deg turn that has no berm, I sometimes like to jab the rear brake just entering the corner in order to break the rear end loose & steer thru the turn with the throttle rather than excessive turning of the bars
This allows you to be on the gas exiting the turn.
You need to shift you weight forward towards the gas tank entering the corner in order to weight the front tires, thereby preventing understeer, or pushing. On exiting the corner your weight needs to come back toward the rear to give traction to the rear wheels.
Weight transfer is key to getting thru corners quickly and all of this is a matter of trial & error & must be adjusted or eliminated as circumstances dictate. I haven't even touched on the subject of picking lines, a whole nother topic.

 

The faster you're going and the sharper the turn, the more weight you should have on the inside (of the turn) on the foot pegs. You should be almost sitting on your rear fender while doing this. Hardpacker is right also by jamming just your rear brake in a turn (not the front!) you'll force the 400EX to skid through the turn.