This may sound stupid but...........
 

i have a 400ex n i share it w/ my bro (he mostly rides it) I grew up w/ auto n jus shift wheelers. My new boy friend just got a yamaha banshee, and he keeps on askin me to drive it but i'm totally clueless about driving clutch (but he doesn't know that) and instead of makin an a$$ of my self i wanna learn on the ex. i need someone to explain in "girl terms" how to let off the clutch w/o stalling it and then so on....pleasssse help me!!! email me @ foxyracer07@aol.com thanx

This may sound stupid but...........
 

My favorite advice that I love to give. Start at the top of a hill (facing downhill). Make sure that you can go through each gear without moving. Put it in 1st (still facing down hill). Slowly release the clutch. You should start rolling. Once, you find that one spot where you start moving STOP! Then do it over and over again. Now you know where the clutch lets out! Once you get to the bottom of the hill try it on a straight away start to add a little throttle. So to recap/summarize: Let clutch out slowly and start giving gas. Oh yeah! Hold on if you give it too much gas!!! You don't want to pop a wheelie on your first attempt! hehe

I find going downhill is easiest to learn about clutches

A good afternoon of that and you should be able to ride, but you need to practice with the gas part.

This may sound stupid but...........
 

A good tip from LTZ400guy about starting out on a down hill,although I don't know what he meant by going through each gear without moving?Anyway the starting off is the hardest part.Rev the engine up a little with the bike in gear and SLOWLY release the clutch lever.If the bike stalls immediately you either let the clutch out too quickly or you weren't giving it quite enough gas.Next time rev it a little higher and let the clutch out very slowly and gently.This will take some practise.Once you can start off the rest is easy,its just a matter of getting your timing with gas and clutch until you get smoothe.Rev the bike out fairly high in each gear,let off the gas quickly pull in the clutch and select the next gear.You can let the clutch out quickly now without fear of stalling as long as the bike is rolling at a decent speed.Hit the gas again and repeat over and over until your out of gears.The banshee will probably need a little more rpms to get under way from a dead stop so don't be surprised if you stall it even once you get good with your EX.The key is being slow and smoothe on the clutch lever.Once you get good you will be able to hear if the engine is bogging to low and is going to stall and you can actually pull the clutch back in and start over with a little higher rpms without even stalling the bike.Good Luck and it takes lots of practise so don't be discouraged if you have some troubles.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

This may sound stupid but...........
 

Thanks for the advice i think to night i'll try it out and c what hapens [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] and again thanx [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

This may sound stupid but...........
 

you might have a little trouble learnign how on your 400ex and jumping to a banshee they are totally different ones 2 stroke and ones 4 stroke taking off you will have to rev the banshee a little more then you wont find no power in the banshee until you push the throttle and kick the band then hold on cuz it will fell much differnt then a 400ex

This may sound stupid but...........
 

yea dont forget that every quad requires different amounts of throttle and clutch. i hopped onto a ds650 and gave it as much gas i do in my 400ex and i ended up riding a near-grabbar-grinding wheelie

This may sound stupid but...........
 

just pin the throttle pop the clutch and hold on...j/k [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

This may sound stupid but...........
 

Once you get it down pat on the 400ex and then try it on the banshee and are riding along.... get ready for a white knuckle ride when you hit the powerband..... Your first time on the banshee I would suggest a nice wide open area cuz when you hit the powerband it is going to take off like a bat out of hell all of a sudden.

Like the other stated a nice and easy hand on the clutch when letting it out and a decent amount of gas.... You wont have too much problems learning a clutch esp if you alread have the foot shifting and riding down pat....

Good luck with it all..... And welcome to the forums!

This may sound stupid but...........
 

My advice:

This is how I taught my wife and it works (well kinda) for her.

Rev the throttle on/off (pop on/off quickly like you are warming up) as you release the clutch. Of course don't rev it too the moon.

As you slowly release the clutch and feel the quad move, slowly increase the amount of gas you are pumping on/off.

You will start to feel how much throttle you have to keep on as you feel the quad move. Release the clutch slow-and-smooth and regulate the gas as it starts to pull.

The key is really smooth clutch release. Throttle control will come as you feel how much torque is getting to the ground, and how far out the release point of the clutch it.

Hope something here helps.

This may sound stupid but...........
 

if you think you will get embarrassed by riding badly in front of your boyfriend then i would hold off on riding the shee for a while. 2 strokes are VERY different from 4 strokes... trust me i know from experience. I had my 400ex for about 4 months when i hopped on my friend's blaster. No, i didn't stall at all, but man did i sound like an ass. As i found out the shifting is much different on a two stroke. You really have to listen to the engine. On my 400, i can sometimes shift just by knowing how long each gear lasts when im going in a straight line. Also, when the powerband kicks in on a blaster, the front end pops off the ground pretty far. I can only imagine what it would be like on a banshee. When starting on a 400, i like to start in neutral, rev the engine once and let off the throttle quickly, pull the clutch, shift into first, then give it about 1/2 to 3/4 throttle and let out the clutch. If im in the woods, ill let off the clutch kinda slow, but if im on a straightaway, ill just dump the clutch. Good luck.