It's time for me to get a new machine, a strap broke when I was hauling my EX and it's pretty much scrap iron. I spent six years on a banshee and enjoyed alot of success racing mx and flat track ice and dirt. Most of the guys I race against have banshees w/cool heads and pipes. My modified EX would do really well on shorter tracks, but any tracks that were big and required alot of top end speed would kill me. Any of you who have had some head to head experience with the raptor versus banshee or ex, please give me your feed back. Please list your mods if you have any. No bashing please!

Thanks
DDOG

 

Hey my Raptor only has a white bros pipe and its plenty fast!! I beat a banshee in a drag that had FMF pipes, Cool head, Boost bottle, and other stuff and i beat him several times. It was a 2000 also. I am not bashing just telling you the facts. I then rode the banshee and loved the motor but sorry the raptor is faster. PLus it won't require as much maintence.

Raptor 2001 Blue
WHite bros e series pipe
Yamaha shock covers

 

Joeyd,
I was wondering about your pipe? What kind of results did you get? Did the pipe sacrifice any of the powerband when you set it up? Since you pretty much have to set the power for bottom, mid, or top. Or did the rest of your powerband stay consistent? I only ask cause im trying to decide on the E-series or GYT-R carbon fiber? Know anyone who has the Carbon fiber yet? Thanks for your time!

 

ddog400ex,
Prior to having some jetting issues with the installation of my FMF Power Core pipe on my Raptor. A good buddy of mine has a has a 00'Banshee. We have raced several times and they are dead even. There were no mods on either quad. I have raced other guys on stock Banshee's and have beaten them. My quess is they don't know how to ride as well my buddy. Hope this helps.

 

I love my Raptor, but it is not near fast enough. After all the hype it got from all the magazines i thought that this quad could not be contained. How wrong i was, It turned out to be a 400ex with the power increace that you would expext from an adtional 260cc's. They claimed that it would smoke Banshees and DS 650s like it was no thing, but the truth is that it will do neither. I have a 99 Banshee with just Toomy t-5 pipes and silencers and it beats the hell out of my Raptor, maybe not on a tight motorcross track, but it sure does beat it in a drag race and top end. I am tired of all this hype about how bad a new bike is and then it just turn out to be another tame-*** 4- stroke. What i want is a quad to come out that will really scare me the first time i get on it, one that has enough power from the factory and does not require all this questionable jetting. Only quad ever to have ***** like this was the 500 Quadzilla. I want a Really big 2-stroke or a 60+ hp 4-stroke in a frame that weighs less than 450lbs. I know that i took this too far but in response to your question, id get another Banshee because if you are worried about the Raptor not being fast enough, because trust me, it's not.

 

I am still making adjustments to my bike but from what can see so far is that it increased the mid even more but i lost some top end. I have to do some rejetting and i am running 13 discs. I love the way you can tune the bike with the eseries pipe. It makes a big difference. Most other pipes arn't adjustable at all.

 

All this trouble with people trying to jet-in their Raptors is starting to worry me. I was seriously thinking about getting one this summer or next fall. But now I don't know. There is too many mixed opinions about the Raptor.
If it's speed you're looking for I'd say get the Banshee. Thre's a reason it's still the No.1 selling sport quad. Besides everybody already knows the flaws and there are immediate fixes for it without question.
Note: I'm not bashing the Raptor. I respect everyone's choice of quads. I just think it might take some time to earn the reputation and understanding of the Banshee.

 

Well my friend from the way things look..as far as 2 strokes are concerned they are't many 2 stroke atvs left. The industry has gone into the new millenimum using clean enviormentally safer 4 strokes. I agree with you about the quadzilla and how powerful it was from the factory. and to be honset with you i was going to build myself a quadzilla from the ground up..i love 2 strokes...untill i saw the raptor. well it went like this. It went from building a quadzilla..to buying a new banshee..then i rode a banshee and decided that i liked the way she screams but she dosn't handle very well..so that led me to the 400ex. then i saw a drag race betweeen the banshee and the 400ex and i was like forget the 400ex back to the banshee. Then all of a sudden the Raptor came out. Now i own one and i do love it.

BUT if Honda ever made a TRX500r 2 stroke i would buy one in a heartbeat

Raptor 2001 blue
white bros e series pipe
yamaha shock covers

 

No2StrokeBs,
I agree with everything you have said. I made the biggest mistake of my life when I sold my 89' Quadzilla 500, so I could get the new "big bad 4 stroke Raptor". By know means is it any where near as fast as my Zilla was. I was so dissapointed I even called the guy I sold it to and asked if he would consider selling it back to me. Unfortunately, I am not rich. Otherwise I would have kept the Zilla. No, the guy loves the Zilla and won't sell it. I am considering buying another Zilla, modding it out the way my old one was and selling my "big bad Roptor". I'll be honest, I am very dissapointed with the Raptor. It will cost me 5(k) or better to even get it close to a 500 Zilla.
Look forward to the day, when they make quads as bad a** as they used to!

 

The Raptor didn't have the power I expected it to have.

It's a torquey engine, but doesn't seem to build RPMs fast & doesn't feel very throttle responsive when compared to my EX. I really dislike the feel of the CV carbs too.

It feels like there's potential there if you figure out the right combo, but in stock form I don't feel it lives up to the hype.

Also, another problem I noticed is that the chassis won't react well to additional HP without some fairly serious mods.

Banshee = cheap + go fast (if that's what you're looking for)

Besides, you may not be able to buy a new Banshee for much longer with the way the industry's headed. If that's what you want, now might be as good a time as any.

Personally out of the 3, the 400EX has the most advantages for me.

BTW what did you do with your scrap EX (assuming it's a 400EX)?