My last experience:

I have been a Banshee owner all my "ATV Live", but 1 year ago a change it for brand new 400ex.
Drag racing is not my favorite style of riding, but this past sunday, many of my friends and I went to drag in a 1/4 mile.
In there we have 1 full modified Banshee, 1 stock Banshee and 3 piped + Boyensen Reeds + K&N
Banshee's, plus 1 full piped Raptor, 1 full piped 400ex, and my 10.5:1 440ex, with xr400 cam, valve springs, 39mm FCR carb and Curtis Sparks Piped.

The fully modified Banshee kill everybody else, with me in second with 3 or 4 bikes behind, I also smoke the the piped Banshee's with 1, or 2 or 3 bikes, depend on the start, and the Piped Raptor for 2 or 3 bikes, the piped 400 and the stock Banshee were on last place, with 4 or 5 or 6 bikes behind me, and this happened 3 days ago.
We drag many, many, many times, and in all of them I smoke everybody, except the fully modified Banshee.
The piped Raptor can't run with me anytime, same with the piped Banshee's, but they were closed to me.
Believe me, I'm objetive in my history, I'm not a Honda or a Yamaha or any Brand fan, I just love the machine who fit the best of my needs, and for me (5.9" - 175lbs) a XC loved, the 440ex is the best all around ATV for me, but to be honest, I'm having an affair with the Cannondale FX400 .

 

Everyone here exept for KOKL must be under a doctors care for physcosis. I have an OLD 92 Suzuki Quadracer 250 with a pipe and Keihin 35mm carb and I can walk away from every 400EX I have ever raced, No matter the mods on the EX, and a banshee with pipes only has walked away from me on two occasions.

 

You'll hear the "my 400ex is just as fast as..." all the time, but just be honest with yourself and use common sense.

 

WOW,
Im not sure where you guys are getting these 440's from, but they sure must run a heck of alot better than the 3 I have raced. They get crushed rather quickly from start to finish on a piped banshee. Congrats you guys have some "out of this world" machinery

RoostKing...

 

hmmmmmmmm.....
Who cares who wins!!!!!

 

The EX is not my main ride for drags. My T4 should be ready for this season, but I would like to have a 440 that is fast enough to race and not get smoked by the realtivly stock Raptors or Banshees. I also might get my wife to run the 440EX. The Lakota she has is to slow for drags.

 

First of all not all 440 kits are the same. They range in horsepower from 35hp to almost 50hp. So to say that because you have beaten one you must be faster than all would be incorrect. It would be like saying all modified Banshees are the same.
Second, drag racing is the Banshees bread and butter. Nothing will touch a highly modified Banshee, 60 or 70 horses is not uncommon for these bikes and some big money machines make over 100! Horsepower is where a Banshee shines.
If drag racing is the kind of riding you want to do and you bought a 400EX then you made a mistake. If you want to ride in the woods and handling is also important to you, and you bought a 400EX, then you have chosen wisely. There is no quad that is the best at everything, that is why we all need at least three in our garage.

 

4Tecate...I also bracket sandrag in Missouri. Last year I saw a stock 400ex win top eliminator several times. What this means is that the 400ex ran consistant et's. In 300' he ran consistant 6.5's. There were many faster quads there but they were not as consistant as the 400ex guy therefore losing to the slower 400. The key to winning bracket sandrags is to have consistant reaction time and et's, not who's got the fastest quad, as you may already know.

 

I'd have to believe any banshee with very many mods past pipes will beat the ex. But as far as basic mods vs. an tricked out 440, i give it to the 440. Stock 400's will pull out even the first 2 or 3 gears with the raptors. But 440 are made for low end power. I have a 416 and my set up is for mid and top end power. And i lost 0 low end power. So far i have beaten raptors, banshee's and a lt250r. (all with basic mods)

 

The best 440 kit documented(and that means 440 kit,no alcohol+ other mods) makes 35 hp.The 440 kit may be relatively new to the atv world, but its been around a long time in dirt bike form, so I have been reading about it for 5 or so years and it takes a real tame/lame motor and makes it respectable, for a 400 air cooled 4stroke,but it isn't revolutionary.