Go to the dealership, set on both bikes and see if they will let you take a test ride. Make you decision from how the bike feels. With my size, the banshee wasnt even a thought. Though I do ride my brothers shee from time to time. His bike flat out runs, but he has alot of money tied up in the motor to make it that fast.

One of these days I'm going to get my big bore and sneak up on him.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Ride both. To ride a shee right you need to have a cocky attitude and a set of ballz. When ever you go ridding and people start raceing eveyone there wants to beat the banshee no one gives a crap about smokeing a DS. This is so they can go and brag to there friends because the shee is widely respected. When people do engine mods to there bike they wana try it agenst a shee. Everyone compairs there bikes speed to a banshee. Theres a reason for all this. It's king of speed. If you want and can handle speed get the shee. It you want funny wheel covers get the DS. Nuff said.

 

DS has alot bigger seat for a woman to sit on lol!!!!!! Get the ds electric start dosent take 2 stroke oil (6 dollars) every time you ride wont get hot all around a better deal

 

I have my DS, and a close friend has a '03 shee. I am in love with my DS, due to the locations we ride. Trails, long tours, and some track. This is not all to kindly suited to a Banshee, so in my case, As I have done, I'd get the DS. But like others have said, If you like speed, and might get into hillshooting or drag, Get the shee, it is way easier to mod, and cheaper as well.

I would say it all depends on how much you weigh, where you ride, and what you want it to be in the future. DS for trails and long tours, Shee for drags, and cheap mods. However, like Brown650 said, No need for oil in the DS, plus it has Electric start.(However, kinda a bummer if you ever leave your lights on in the middle of nowhere and the battery dies, no backup)

Either way you will be impressed with what you get. And as for the V-Force, both will take it, just not in the holeshot.

 

if youre gonna do trails, get a raptor. and this is why:
the ds is about the same power, but way larger and heavier.
the banshee is a handful on trails and will wear you out...fast.
the raptor is similar engine size to the DS, narrower, way lighter, and not so much work as the banshee on a trail.
if your choice is banshee or DS, I'd get the DS. it'll be less work to ride and more fun.

have fun and wear that helmet! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] hope that helps ya.

 

one thing i have noticed about the ds is how stable it is. it might be it's wieght but it's not nearly as easy to tip over as a lot of the quads. it's a little harder to wheelie until you learn the balance point, used to think i was going over because you have to get it so high. like they said it's comfortable. i never get a sore butt after riding for several hours.

 

the ride of the ds is much nicer, top speed is very simlar upkeep is in favor of the ds by a lot, very easy machine to maintain. you will adapt to riding what ever machine you get. it's not like you can jump on the ds and know how to use all 12 inch's of travel, or for that matter control that 500 pound beast, but if you are into your machine you will figure out how to adjust to your needs, i bought 2 ds's in 01 and the wife rode one and i the other and guess what we didn't like each others machine, same but different. now for the banshee that is one neat machine, easy to make fast, and i mean really fast. very seldom do i see a race hill that doesn't have a banshee as king. but they give up the ability to ride allround for that speed. good luck

 

Yeaa alright let me say a few things...I dont mind kickstart, i dont mind mixing oil ive been doing that my whole life. And really want just speed...the trails i ride in arent that hardcore..and it isnt like im gonna be riding in them for like over 3-4 hours. And by what you guys are saying, if i want pure speed and top end...get the banshee?

 

Pretty much I guess.

 

you'll not regret it.