I bought my shee brand new from Alba yamaha. Over the years most everything has been replaced but not due to poor craftsmanship. I will say everyone is right about severe frame fatigue. I am on my second stocker (aftermarket is way too $$$$). This time I gussested the rear shock/rear engine mount. That seemed the easiest to gusset. My first frame was also severly broken at the footpeg mounts. That area I didnt gusset. After all the welding was done I had it powdercoated. It seems to be holding up fine. The swingarm is a poorly designed piece of scrap. Go with a 250R style aftermarket. I never ran into a motor problem until like 3 years after I had it. That was just a handgrenaded piston. So I went ahead and sent it to CT racing to have the 370 treatment. I highly recomend CT or LRD. I have delt with both and they are both great companies. Another problem I have is bending shift shafts. That may just be hurring shifts though. Watch the wiring harness, its way close to the pipes and that has me running a custom hot wiring job. The kickstater does blow. I have also seen many a banshee MX racer explode the stock front shocks,so watch that. Axle will bend super eazy. Trash the stock filter set-up for a pro-design. K&N for sand = FOAM for dirt. I ran a K&N for dirt and MX and when CT tore my motor down the crank bearings were full of dirt. Keep water out of the left hand side cover (stators are $$$). Loose the TORS junk. My clutch lasted me for a long time before I had to replace it, so I guess its not to bad. Stock rear tires dont,wont,cant,refuse,and hate traction. So I hope I was a little help. Keep the filter clean, run good tranny oil, and change it often, and change the other stuff as it fails. If you do need parts and new aftermarket stuffs prices gives you a stroke, check out K&K ATV. They carry a buttload of really good used aftermarket parts. Ask for Shawn, he is a super guy.

 

I've just bought a 98 Banshee and the guy that had it before was as careful with it as tarzan can be with the statue of liberty (that means nothing).
I was first scared by such a low performance but changing plugs, cleaning air filter, putting grease where it should and it wotks fine...but i'm planning to buy very soon a K&N filter (the stock installation really sucks).
But someone got it right saying that the swingarm was fragile. There has been some welding done on mine. Kick starter rattles..
good engine

 

Just purchased my SHEE a few weeks ago brand new...Everyone is right about the air cleaner DUMP IT! So far so good and SOOOOOO Much more fun to ride than my 400EX! Just installed the Toomey T5's and WOW what a screamer now! I really hope I get my new tires soon so I can put some power to the ground!

The only real drawback I can see to the Banshee is it is a money pit...in a good way ; ) Everyone and thier brother makes upgrades and I can see I am gonna become very familiar with my new machine taking off factory parts putting on new parts to make it better...ENJOY!

 

I've got a simple, quick, inexpensive fix for the kickstarter rattle.

Simply get a rubber band (thicker the better), and double it up several times. Slip it down onto the kickstarter right where the pivot point is. This will keep it from rattling.

 

To properly fix the kick start rattle replace the O ring. Cascade sells the complete kit which is the screw, spring, and O ring.

 

I got a 2000 banshee a few months ago. It is a awsome machine but it has a few weak spots. I replaced the air filter set up, added pro curcuit pipes, razars rears, holeshot fronts, shock wears, headlight covers, renthals and I had to replace the F ing swing arm . I was goofing around and sorta came off a jump wrong. I ended up with a very bent swing arm. But other than that it is a great machine, very fast reliable and fun. Everyone I know is a honda fan and they all have 250r's. I rode them all and they suck! They are all poorly maintained though. So that goes to show that no matter what machine you have, if you care for it it will last. When I ride I ride hard and long , but when I am done I spend lot's of time maintaining my machine

Oh and by the way welcome to the WILD SIDE

 

I see that you dropped a countershaft tooth to 13 unless its an older bike. After I did the standard mods the stock 14 didn't seem to ultilize the power good. I went with the 15 and now I'm eating everone up, even hangs with the extended swing arm types. I have yet to try it out at the dunes but whats your take.

 

I went to the 13 for quickler acceleration, sacrificing a bit of top speed. Seems to beat most "similar moded" banshees I race. Usually dont do the top end racing though, not sure what would happen.

RoostKing...

 

Banshees are great bikes!!! No doubt about it. Frames can be weak, stock shocks suck, but whose don't??? Kick starter rattle can ve annoying, but it's not a big deal.

The after market performance parts for these quads are everywhere for everything. I had bearings going out in my crank recently, and I was really bummed as to what a crank rebuild was going to cost. Found out wiseco even makes an after market crank for our bike. $399 for a new crank, new hot rods, and all new bearings. How sweet it is, no more rebuilds, which generally suck and the bearings never last.

I modified my stock intake to fix that problem. I don't run an air box lid, so I cut the white stock frame of the air cleaner holder so I could mount up a K&N to it. Then I drilled 2 bolt holes at the top of the air cleaner holder into the front of the stock box, and bolted it together. No leaks, no money spent besides a new K&N, and it works well.

All in all they are great quads.. and can be built to run like all hells broke loose.. just check my sig file

Brad