I have a banshee, but I ride my dad's rap once in a while and its really the only bike I've ever ridden that actually made me want to get off and go do something else. I love my shee and I just dont understand why so many people like raptors better. The powerband starts off too slow, its very torquey, ill give it that, but sometimes that much torque takes the fun out of riding. I want to have to work to get up a dune, and with my shee, i always make it, but its not because i just rev the crap out of it and go, i have to do some clutch work and shifting work and move around on the bike for better traction and things like that, then on the raptor i can run it in practically any gear and the torque just pulls it right through.

I suppose it might just be the easy to ride appeal to newer riders that want a big displacement bike but i would literally not take one if it was given to me. (well, maybe if i could sell it and use the money for hop-ups for the shee. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]) It is fast on top end, but theres never been a race between me and my dad that I havent won easily. We've even switched bikes and the shee still won.

Also, the rap seems to heat up really fast when idling, somehow moreso than the shee. The rap has had a number of weird problems too. At idle, if you rev it up a bit, it stays at a much higher rpm than idle, even when you let off, and it is horrible for shifting into neutral, sometimes its practically impossible. So, why so many people saying their rap it the best bike they've ever had? The rap is also really tall and skinny so i dont feel comfortable making high-speed turns. I love the low seat height of my shee, ive never two-wheeled it, unless it was on purpose, and thats not easy either.

A lot of people say that rappys are wheelie-machines, but i actually can almost never get it up without a lot of clutch work and theres a limited number of gears its even possible in, while the shee does great wheelies without any clutch work at all, just give it some gas and its up. I will admit that the shee is harder to balance when it is up, but for getting there, its a lot harder on a rap, at least for me. I will admit that between the two, rappys do have a meaner look, but if they switched the plastic a lot of people would get a shee instead of a rap. I dont mean any offense to raptor owners, I'm just curious about people's thoughts on the subject.

 

Not trying to be an *** [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] , but Ive rode Banshees and Raptors. Im a bigger guy so the Raptor fit me better. As for the weird problems, I dont have them. My neutral is very easy to shift into, and maybe a leak in the intake manifold when you rev it up and takes a bit to get it down? I can wheelie in 4th gear, BUT i have to pop the clutch. The other gears I just stand up press on the front to load the shocks gas and pull up, comes up every time. It is a bit tall for cornering, but if you replace the wheels and/or lowering kit, it will turn the corners just fine. I had a 03' blaster which i sold, and an older banshee back in the day, and i just prefer 4 strokes over 2 strokers. The banshee is a hell of a machine and keep riding hard!

 

that not idling down thing is either an air leak like he said, or its lean on the bottom end, both would also account for it getting hot.

 

Raptors are just a very good overall quad. They don't do any one single thing the best but they do everything well. It's narrow for tight trails, it's got power for dunes, it has lots of potential power, electric start and reverse, wheelies easy, handles ok as long as you ride it well. A good rider can do ok on an MX track with it and average riders don't tire out or have to work hard to have fun on the trails.

 

raptors are for people that cant handle banshees [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] j/p

greenhead pretty much summed it up, i prefer my banshee over my friends raptor anyday. The funny part is he wants my shee too. Banshees deffinitly take more skill to ride though.

 

This is gonna be one of those things where its a battle for "ohh i already have it so i will talk it up" The reason i LVOE my raptor.. is because i can use it for just about anything it is "the" best overall quad out there ill admit if i just went to the dunes and went screaming up the dunes i would prob buy a banshee. (even though the zilla is faster) id get the zilla but it has to many issues my buddy has one and its always broken my other buddy has a 2004 banshee which he bought after i got my raptor. with the work i have done now and everything im into my bike about 7k hes into his about 7k too because the bike was so much more brand new and he put pipes on it and what not.. but i can drag snd mtn utah just as fast as he can when we race the outcome depends on the start and usually ill get a better start cause hes a beginner.. and on flat ground i can easilly pull him cause i get better traction.. I love my quad because of its versitility(did i butch that) if i just wanted all out speed i would get a shee i lvoe the way they feel but for the varied things i use my raptor for i LOVE It!

 

I would have to agree that rap's are for ppl who cant ride shees, lol, j/k. Its kinda funny how whenever my dad says whenever he wants a real adrenaline rush he just rides my shee. I'm glad that they made raptors, it lets a lot of people who are less experienced still enjoy the atv experience and they're less dangerous for an inexperienced rider to ride than banshees, imo.

I've ridden enough quads to develop a good platform for judgment and i CAN ride the rap fast through trails and things like that, but i have never been able to ride it with any depth of "rider and machine becoming one." I always feel like im riding the rap, not that its an extention of my body and its all controlled as such, like i can with my shee. Banshees have a certain feeling of stability that i dont get on raptors, i can throw out the rear end in a corner to what seems like an insane angle and it never feels like its going to come up on one side, i can go up steep hills and not feel like im going to flip, it always feels glued to the ground, when i need it to but its ready to fly when i want to, too.

Theres always a dependance on the bike and trust that it can do anything i ask it to with the shee, but its always been rider skill making the bike do things it doesnt feel like it wants to with the rap. There are a number of things I like about the rap and would like to have on my shee, like for instance the headlight switch, i like that, and... well thats all i can think of right now.

 

Damn.. i didnt realize that these banshee riders were such gods! lol Whats funny to me is I hear ya bitch and moan about how the rappys are unstable and dont corner well and roll a lot and people get hurt.. but havent heard those for the shee riders.. or lets say anyone that rides a shee .. that would prove that the shee would be a better beginner rider.. You shee riders want a real adrenaline rush ride a quadzilla

 

I have to agree that shee's arent as good for varying terrain as rappys, certain trails are too bumpy for my shee or its just too slow and the motor doesnt like it, but for the kind of riding i do most, the shee is a perfect fit. If i could afford it, just like everybody would say, i would have a lot of quads for different kinds of riding. A griz for mudding, a rhino for taking a friend, a yfz for mx, a shee for screaming the dunes, a rap for fast trails and maybe a blaster for stunts or a bruin for less demanding trails than the griz likes.

But, of course, i cant afford all that, so i had to pick a bike for what i do most, and thats dunes. I still ride it around in the trails on my property, and i will admit that i actually had more fun doing those trails on my recon and my blaster, but they werent nearly the duners that my shee is. I can definately see a use for raps because not everybody wants to sacrifice certain riding styles because their bike doesnt like it just so they can have a killer duner.

As for the drags, traction made a huge difference, we dragged out on the flats at SL a few times, both stock, and i won, but not like i did with the paddles on. For the first 30 feet i couldnt get any grip, which really slowed me down. After we got our paddles on a couple weeks later, i killed him every time, the haulers just dug right in and i flew off the line. Some of the higher speed wheelspin that i didnt even notice was gone, and i could be going 45 or so and just open it up and just about bring the front end up.

(Btw, any shee owner about to buy paddles, if your dealer recommends an 8 paddle hauler, go with 9, my shee is stock and i got 9's and i never lug on any dune, i actually think that with a minor power increase i could easily handle 10's, so 8's just dont cut it.)

Also, thanks for the advice about fixing the rap, Jakal and LGH.

 

Pinhead, (lol, no offense, its your name) if i ever find a zilla, i would love to ride it, and notice i never said shee's are the fastest bikes in the world, i just said they're faster than rap's.