i believe rraptorr13 is right. It kind of sucks though, because i am gettin ready to be a proud owner of a banshee, which is a nice 2 stroke. And to see the 4strokes take over is nice in a way...but kind of sad, because i also believe eventually us 2strokes will be gone. Oh well, i will love it till it dies! =] Either way, ATVing has got to be the funnest thing in the world =]

 

You have to take what Dirtwheels says with a grain of salt.I'm not saying they lie all the time, I trust them somewhat, but in certain situations like this they do and will lie.They aren't going to say the 14 year old Banshee is better than these new quads even if it is, the Banshee was better in some of the tests, but they didn't want to say that, I mean a 400EX better at desert racing!? There were a fair amount of discrepencies in that "shootout" but nothing I didn't know would happen ahead of time.

 

I can't believe they would actually say the 400EX is a better desert racer than the banshee. The 400EX uses the same frame as the 250R, and most racers will till you the the banshee frame is better for wide open high speed terrain.

I know it wouldn't look good to have an older design frame show up the new boys, but the 400EX is still using an late 80's frame with an early 80's motor. Wonder why Dirtwheels never mentions that nothings outdated on the EX?

 

didnt they do a shoot out a while ago with 400EX DS and Raptor?

 

yeah they did. i used to have the issue. i still might.

 

They did do that shootout awhile back and again they gave the Raptor the upper hand. But you do have to admit the newer machines are slowly but surely taking out the old machines. I understand where you Banshee owners are coming from. I own a Warrior and magazines don't even pay attention to it anymore. Just the usual test rides on the new year model. I agree that there is no way a 400EX beat a Banshee in the Banshee's own territory, THE SAND. Come on Dirtwheels everyone knows that a Banshee kicks a** in the sand. But on the brighter side I am glad they give the Raptor the win over the 400EX and all the others.

 

Personally, I think Dirt Wheels is playing a game with their "shootouts"...and have been since the 400EX came out...

The shootouts of late are primarily aimed at one thing: getting all the manufacturers to step up to the plate and build more and more sport/hi-perf quads. By comparing a (stock) 400EX to a Raptor, all they are doing is telling Honda to get off their a$$, and build something with the sack to keep up with a Raptor...Until then, Yama & Bombardier are the big-bore 4-stroke kings.

A worthwhile shootout would have the 400EX up against a Warrior and other similarly displaced 4-strokers. But we all know who'd win that shootout, and the results may not get Honda to build a 600+cc class 4-stroke quad.

Not that playing this "game" is such a bad idea...it seems to be slowly working (look how many new hi-perf machines have come out, and rumors of new ones).

Just keep this in mind when you read the shootouts--the intended readers of the magazines' shootouts include the decision-makers at Honda, Yamaha, Suzi, Kawi, etc......

My $.02

 

That's true, 2 strokes are very nice, but due to polution, the manufacturers will eventually stop making 2 strokes all together.

IronBear