How do you guys with the new Scrambler 400's and 500's do against the competition? I ride a '98 Sport 400L that is totally stock. I raced my friend who has a stock '98 Banshee (on pavement)and I can just walk all over him until I hit top speed, then he has a good 5 mph on me or so. I would argue that either he doesn't know how to drive, or his Banshee runs like a dog but it is the Second one he has owned, and the other guy that rides with us has had two Banshees as well. I'll probably end up confusing everybody by explaining this but originally he had a '92 Banshee. The other guy had a '89 Banshee (with tuned pipes) and the '92 would win in a race. Then the other guy got a '96 Banshee with some fairly minor mods (K&N filter and different sprockets) and the '96 was faster. Then my buddy with the '92 bought a '98, and the '98 was faster than the '96. So with that gibberish said, that tells me that the '98 must be running like it should, wouldn't you think? To be honest, when I bought my quad I wasn't expecting much. It was a friends and he gave me a great deal on it, but if it wasn't for that I wouldn't have bought it. I didn't want to buy a new one, so I was really looking for a second had Banshee or 250R because I had always been under the assumption that they were "THE BEST". I tell you one thing, it didn't take me very long to get used the the auto tranny, reverse, and the electric start on the Polaris. Then I raced my friends Banshee and I loved it even more. I know a lot of people say bad stuff about Polaris, but I have to admit that they make a great machine. I just always wondered why I hadn't heard of the 400L's before. I just also want to point out that I don't mean to put down the Banshee in any way. It's much easier to build a fast Banshee then it is to build a faster Polaris, at least for me anyway. But stock for stock, I'm really happy. Anyway, thanks for reading this. I had seen a lot of negative Polaris posts lately so I just thought that I would through in a bit of a compliment and express my satisfaction. Take care everybody.

-Josh

 

My riding buddy has a Banshee. Stock, mine would most likely get the holeshot for about 25-50 feet than it would be over for me. Last time I raced him I had the trail pipe with clutching, roller clutch, V-Force II reed valves with an air box mod. I got the holeshot for about 200-250 feet and he gets me once again on his higher gears.

Now with my trail porting, 39mm carb, lightened flywheel, FMF silencer the outcome might be different. But then again all he has to do is add a few hundred bucks and he will get me on top end again... It's a vicious circle!! LOL

 

Xplor,

Thanks for the response. So you and your friend haven't raced yet? Boy, it only took until two days after I bought my quad to line up with my friend with the Banshee, hehe. I guess that I'm a glutton for punishment...so I thought. I can get him pretty good for probably 200 or so yards (however far it takes to get to top speed on the old hog), then like you said, the Banshee pulls away. I don't think he will mod his, so if I can get my hands on the RcR Stage 1 kit like I want to, it will probably be a little closer don't ya think? Oh well, racing is fun, but it doesn't really matter how fast your quad is when you are in the tight trails like we go on. Thanks again for the reply.

-Josh

 

My brother has 92 Banshee with a toomey T5 kit which is pipes silencers and a two into one air filter kit, That set-up against my stock 400 would eat me up after about 50 feet no problem, But with the addition of my HPD pipe DG silencer and a V-Force reed cage and the HPD complete clutch kit I can pull him easy now until we get to a couple hundred yards or so and his top end rev just walks away, But all in all im very satisfied wiyh the way my upgrades have performed. Most likley this winter I will go with a wiesco piston and the HPD cool head as my final steps with my bike, So far reliability hasnt been a problem and I dont want to push my luck. As far as the 400l's are concerned the only difference between the Sport and The Scrambler models is the suspension travel, The 2000 and up models gained about 2 inches in the front and the rear, Other than that I think everything is the same, The newer ones have tapered bearings in the axle carrier too but not a big deal. All in all you have a very good bike which is basicly the same as the 01's except for a few cosmetics, Invest away in some mods you wont be disapponited