Originally Posted by OutlawJim

Any of these guys saying they are out-running modified 250Rs on 400s or Raptors need to take a look at the guy riding it. I have owned a Baldwin Racing 250R that was without a doubt the baddest machine I've ever had the pleasure of riding. The 400s and even 450s of today do not compare. A lot of guys look at the number and think just because it's a 250 it's not up there. Back when 4 stroke race bikes where first entering the market, there is a reason why the 4 stroke 426s and 450s were allowed to compete in the 250 class (bikes). Back when I owned my "R" my uncle purchased a brand new 1998 Team Alba Banshee with a Motofast pipe (sounded like an indy car) and those machines were neck and neck. We raced them on straights and at the motocross track, both machines are extremely capable and would be my #1 choice if still on the motocross track today

thack82, thanks for the 1st person description, you are spot on! I spent a lot of time on the Alba Banshee which already came with upgraded a-arms and suspension. It was purple and yellow, I'll try and find some pics! But the 250R handles like a dream, especially with some upgraded shocks. PEPS were my brand of choice back in the day

Off subject, a friend of mine just picked up a 350R Honda Pilot. THIS should be an interesting build

Originally Posted by thack82

Oh yea before I forget Scootergtpx I'm assuming you "And this thread was sooooo close." Comment was directed at me for commenting on a thread that had been dormant for some time. I bet you there are a lot of people out there that wanted a true unbiased opinion. I replayed to this thread because I didn't feel that anyone who was familiar with both quads had commented yet.

Originally Posted by thack82

Guys I can give you a true biased opinion on both quads my Brother has a 1989 Honda TRX-250R and I have a 2004 YFZ-350 Banshee. I'm 6'2" and 225lbs and he's 6'1" and about the same weight. We have pretty much the same set up pipes, heads/20cc domes .020 bore, Rad/Reed Cages, Boyesen Power Reeds, Hot Rods Crank, Keihin Carbs, and so on. (If you want more of the mod information I'll list both complete builds) We ride together one or two times a week and have a blast. Out of all the guys we ride with me and him are the only two 2 strokes in the pack of 400's, 450's, 500's, 660's, and 700's and we lead the pack.

As far as one vs the other in a straight out 1/8 mile drag race on pavement its close. We can race a hundred times and I would win 50 and he would win 50. My Banshee takes off and launches a little better which gives me about a 1 to 1.5 ATV length lead sometimes if everything goes perfect I might get lucky that race and stay ahead of him the entire time, if not he will creep up on me in the mid range of his power band and get in front of me. Neither one of us out run the other one by any more than a quad length when we do win. My Banshee's Power Band is a little stronger on the bottom and his is a little better in the mid range. What I can tell you is I sunk alot of money into my front suspension just to get my Banshee up to par with the 250R in handling and ride. His 250 R has Works Shocks all the way around and stock a arms. I had to buy a arms, shocks, and spindles. Both quads pretty much ride and handle the same now. Its true 250R parts are a little harder to come by VS Banshee parts and they are a little more expensive, that being said on most Banshee mods require just about two of everything so I'd say modding the motors on both quads would cost about the same. As far as suspension it takes deep pocket to even get the Banshee's front suspension close. The Banshee rear stock suspension is fine. Also take into account that the 250R is a much lighter quad. If you get the chance to ride or own aether one of these machine DO IT!!! There both great bikes and Yamaha and Honda did a good job. Yamaha's R&D Guys tried to make a 250 that would compete with the TRX and they couldn't even get close, so they jerked there motor off a RD-350 Street Bike and set it in a quad frame. The RD-350 was about equivalent to a Yamaha R-1 Crotch Rocket today. Yamaha's R&D team put all there focus into putting a rear suspension together that would hook do to the torque of the twin 350 by the time they got that problem solved they must have been exhausted because they threw a pretty shitty front suspension under it but they were marketing the Banshee to a a completely different group of riders (Duners) and in the dunes a front suspension set up is not all that important. Suzuki followed suit and produced the Suzuki LT-500R Quadzilla to compete against the Banshee and from what I read they did a damn good job. Me and my brother plan on buying a LT-500 and restoring it and doing a similar build on it "all around 2 stroke trail riding power house" so we will have the complete set of 2 stroke history makers in our garage. They claim the LT-500 is still the fastest most powerful production Sport Quad ever made even today. All I can say is don't pass up the opportunity to own or ride any of the 2 stroke sport quads YFZ-350, 250R, LT-250R, LT-500 or even the YFS-200 Blaster. All of these quads are going to become endangered soon and your going to start seeing less and less of them in all riding environments, you won't get the thrill ride out of any of the newer four strokes.

Originally Posted by OutlawJim

Any of these guys saying they are out-running modified 250Rs on 400s or Raptors need to take a look at the guy riding it. I have owned a Baldwin Racing 250R that was without a doubt the baddest machine I've ever had the pleasure of riding. The 400s and even 450s of today do not compare. A lot of guys look at the number and think just because it's a 250 it's not up there. Back when 4 stroke race bikes where first entering the market, there is a reason why the 4 stroke 426s and 450s were allowed to compete in the 250 class (bikes). Back when I owned my "R" my uncle purchased a brand new 1998 Team Alba Banshee with a Motofast pipe (sounded like an indy car) and those machines were neck and neck. We raced them on straights and at the motocross track, both machines are extremely capable and would be my #1 choice if still on the motocross track today

thack82, thanks for the 1st person description, you are spot on! I spent a lot of time on the Alba Banshee which already came with upgraded a-arms and suspension. It was purple and yellow, I'll try and find some pics! But the 250R handles like a dream, especially with some upgraded shocks. PEPS were my brand of choice back in the day

Off subject, a friend of mine just picked up a 350R Honda Pilot. THIS should be an interesting build

Originally Posted by sportszillasheex

wow is there some mis-information from this guy he thinks the banshee has better "low end" power... low end power to me and most people is low rpm and banshees suck down there. he probably means "1st gear" he thinks yamaha couldnt make a competetive 250 so thats why they put the 350 twin in it? yeah ok... and i didnt know that the rz350 was the fastest bike back then either


point of all this? just trying to let anybody know who may come across this that this guy has no idea what hes talking about. he may have access to both, but that doesnt mean he knows much about them.. kinda like a woman owning a car

Originally Posted by thack82

Well it seems that sportszillasheex knows all about my set up and pretty much everything else. My Banshee is around 100 RWHP and its built for low end. It doesn't even have the stock Banshee Cylinders it has a 392cc Serval Cub. The only thing that is still stock on my Banshee is the Frame and the rear Swing Arm.
I do have access to both and I was giving you a unbiased opinion. The member s on this forum can believe what ever they want to. I do know what I'm talking about and my Banshee did have more low end launching power with the stock Cylinders and all the low end mods I ran with them. Bottom line is your junk would hold a light to my Banshee or my brother's 250R. You just another Jealous Jerk behind a Key board trying to make your self look cool, by the way you reply had about 0 useful insight on aether one of these ATV's. It was all YOUR Opinions, and you say I'm like a women that owns a car and I don't know anything about these two quads????? Haha, One of my best friends owns a Performance ATV/ Motorcycle Shop and he's put together some pretty bad machines.

You tell me what Quad Yamaha ran in 250cc 2 Stroke MX Races against the TRX-250R, LT-250R, and the Kawasaki Tecate 250???? Enlighten me!

Thats what I thought Yamaha didn't make a Sport Quad that was made to race MX until the YFZ-450.

I read an article on that years ago in a old ATV Magazine. Yamaha decided to build a Dune Quad and the Banshee was the end result, the Suzuki followed in there foot steps with the Quadzilla LT-500. You guys can believe who you want but sportszillasheex is a dumb !@#$%^&* that wants to make people think he knows what he's talking about. Do the research and you will see that this guy knows nothing. His reply was entertaining though I can't wait to see how he responds. I figure he will start out by trying to put my Banshee down in some form or fashion, but I'll just have to wait and see.