Personally, I think the Banshee is the best choice mainly because it is still being produced and you can buy however new or old your budget will allow. The 500 and 250R are all at least 12 years old. Riding trails may give the wide 500 some problems but it proabably does well in that environment because of it's torque. The Banshee doesn't like to go too slow too long or it will overheat. The 250R doesn't seem to have that problem. Frankly, I am not a 250R fan so I would buy a Banshee, 500 then a 250r as a last resort. Do some reading here as this has been discussed a lot and you will gain a lot of insight.

 

You know the coolest part of my "ancient" LT500? The look the guy riding the supposedly "fast" Banshee gives me when he eats the roost off of my Padla-Brats. My bike is 15 yrs. old and still outperforms most anything, whether at the dragstrip, hillshooting, or trails. When we ride at Little Sahara I can usually outrun "most" everything at the strip. (I'm leaving out the wheelie bar'd, nitrous or turbo'd banshee's) I can handle most any extended swingarm, longrod, alcohol, drag piped wonders at the strip. My bike is still on pump gas (91 octane to be exact), stock swingarm, stock gearing, still has front brakes, and can trail ride for hours. In my opinion the LT500 is the best "All-Around" machine. Sure, you can spend $20,000 on your Shee and make my Zilla look slow, but follow me through the trails for a few hours! Each to his own, but I'm staying with the King! Zilla's Forever.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Amen ZillaRider02,well put, alot of ppl do under estimate the Zilla,I run into it often at the race's.I have NOS on my bike just for the guy's that spent $20,000,heck this year at one race you aren't allowed to use Alky,turbo,nos just the hp of the motor I left the bottle on the bike but I did disconnect the battery cable's and the nos button,when I started spanking Banshee but I was accused of cheating until I showed the official's that I had disconnected everything,you should have seen the look on the Banshee guy's face,all of them,can't wait til next season,but heck I still think they're all good bike's,Just the Zilla is the King and that's why I own one....

 

Apparently the 500 runs better in the mid-west than they do out here inthe west. I give the 500 about as much respect at olds as I do a 250 R or an LT 250.. Not much...

RoostKing...

 

Wow another disbeliever,my Zilla run's quite well I had Vito do my motor a while back and it's been a great runner ever since.When I first got it 5.5's is all it would do in 300 ft.,after taking it to Vito,4.53's,come to Mich in the summer and I'll show ya.All I do is drag my Zilla,too fast for trail riding.

 

the quadzilla is and will be the king of 2 stroke sport quad til the end of time,think about it,a 500 cc like that offer the best of all worlds,
there is torque,midrange and wild top end power as well,4 stroke are way off when comparing to a high performance big bore 2 stroke.
banshee roost for sure,but is is not a big bore but a top end screamer for wide open spaces,the zilla is king on 4 wheels...


conquering the throne!!!

 

Zillas are fast but the swing arms are junk common with older suzukis. I'm not sure but their is probably an aftermarket fix to that

 

The swingarm is junk?

How has my junk swingarm put up with Zilla torque for almoast 15 years without a single hint of weakness?


ps. Roostking.... My baddly running, misjetted, 'WRONGLY set up for dragging on high grip dirt' Zilla only ran a 10th of a second slower than your great running, strapped down swingarmed, ported banshee that day.

If you dont recall, your fastest that day was a 5.6, my fastest was a 5.7.
Although admittedly probably not as fast as your now 420 Shee, my Zilla is running a lot better..... (up the hill)

-Matt

 

The Banshee and 500 are as different as Quads can be. I am totally unbiased as I have owned 2 500s and 2 Shees, and presently own a 90LT and a 98 SHee. As far as stock and mildly modified goes, the 500 is FAR superior to the Banshee in terms of raw power. No it does not scream like the twin in the Shee, but what the hell does that matter? As far as wild, full blown ***** out drag, you cant beat the Banshee in the long run, eveyone and thier mom makes kits for them and anyone can work on them, where the 500 is limited to a select few builders.

As far as reliability, both bikes will last quite a while if properly maintained.

And whats this about the swingarm on the 500 being junk?? Where in the world did you get this opinion? Have you actually experienced this enough times to place all 500 swingarms in the same catagory? or did your uncles brother former roommate know a guy that broke a 500 swingarm while jumping a house.

 

My swing-arm (stock) has been extended 6" with an air tank built inside it for an air shifter and has not failed me although I don't care much for the design on how ya have to unloosen 4 bolt's and adjust 2 nut's to tighten the chain,my buddy has an Lt250,an 85 that is that has a stock round housing,lucky him,he laugh's at me every time I have to tighten my chain cuz of all the grumbling and muttering I do while doing the task.....Zilla