Well I am looking to buy a banshee. I've always had polaris but I now want something a bit quicker and sportier. I am looking to buy a 97 banshee that is stock except that it has been ported to a 380.
1. How much different will a 380 be compared to a 350?

2. How much should I spend on this particular quad? It's in good conditon from what I hear.

3. Is it less reliable now that it has been ported and tampered with? What risks would I be looking at?

4. What do you think would be faster, new banshee with procircuit pipes or this 97 380 banshee?

Thanks for any info you give. By helping me your just helping someone become another member of the yamaha family.

 

Well to start.... Welcome aboard..yamaha or not...every rider is part of a special group of people. I think you may be confused on the porting thing. Porting should not make the bike a 380...It would have had to be bored to accomplish that. porting "in a nut shell" basically smooths the flow of air on the exhaust or intake ports.
As always...An engine that has been tampered with should be watched more closely than a stocker.
I would not know what to tell you for a price....If mint, I would expect to pay in the high 3's for it.
I'm not sure if the CC's alone are going to be enough to see a huge difference over stock...But it depends on what else was done to achieve the 380 status (rods/stroke, carbs? pipes? etc. ) Sometimes the bigger bored engines are actually slower in the acceleration department, but faster on top end. But then again...it all depends on what the current owner has done.

 

sparkster,

I too was in the same boat as you a while ago. I got sick of the heavyness of the Polaris, and needed something that I could jump without snapping it in half.

Personally, I think the Polaris is a much better trail quad unless you are flying through a rough uneven trail at high speeds. However, I will re-evaluate my opinion this weekend since I just put on 22" tires on the Banshee (it had the stock 20" 's).

Don't get me wrong though...for what I like to do the Banshee is the better quad for me. Regardless if the design is a bit outdated or not, I picked it up pretty cheap (less than 1/2 the price of a Raptor), and it does most things very well.

When I was looking for Banshee's I was trying to shy away from anything that had more than just pipes on it. Maybe the thing is rock solid, but you never know unless you knew the whole story on the thing. So basically what I am saying is if I were you I would look for something that was either stock, or had just bolt ons on it.

You may buy that quad and it will run forever, or you may buy a stock one and have in blow the engine the next day. That's what is hard about buying used.

Either way, good luck and enjoy your new toy.

-Josh

 

Ya, sorry I meant bored not ported. Thanks for the info. I do agree with you that polaris is a great quad for trails and I will continue to keep my 2 scramblers but I want something a bit faster, someting a can jump with and also a great sand machine. I may keep looking for different banshees. I hate the fear of buying something used.

 

I dont know, seems funny that someone would bore out a banshee, before adding pipes. If I were you, Id get one that was basically unmolested, or possibly one that has pipes only. Id keep looking, the banshee is a great machine and you will definetly get alot more than just "a bit" more performance out of the banshee!!!

RoostKing...