I'm going to be buying a Banshee in the near future. I'm trying to decide which route to go and hope you guys may be able to lend some advise.

I can get a '98 that has been maintained mechanically, but I would want to change the color of the plastic. My other option is getting a '00 model that is ready to ride and I wouldn't have to spend any money on.

The price difference is about $700-800.

Is it worth it to spend the extra and get a newer bike, or save the cash and do the few mods to the older one.

The '98 has 90 hours, is on it's original top end, and would need a bumper and some plastics (I hate the color). Other than that it seems fine, although it would be an out of state purchase sight unseen. That makes me a bit nervous, but I do trust him to be truthfull with the bikes condition.

Is two years newer, and less hours worth the extra money?
What criteria should I use to compare these quads?

Thanks!
Matt

 

Personaly I would go for the newer one. Less stuff to worry about and you can be sure if it dosent look like its been beat on you wont need to do any motor work any time soon. Ask this over at X-DB too Im sure you will get great insight over there as well!

 

Id go for the newer one as well.

RoostKing...

 

I'd go for the newer one. I wouldn't buy anything without riding it and being able to check it out. If you have a compression tester bring that and see if it needs a top end or not. Also, how does the seller know it has 90 hours? Good luck and have fun with whatever you get.

 

If you can swing the extra money then buy the newer one. The chances of the older one NEEDING more than just new plastic is pretty high.

 

Thanks for the advise guys. Last night I went and bought a 2000 Banshee that the guy had not used in months. It is almost brand new, and the colors I like (Blue). It is stock for now, but I have a set of Toomy T5s in my future [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] I spent the day riding it, what a blast! Much better than my '97 CR250 I used to have. Looks like I'm going to be sore as hell tomorrow... Oh well! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

Matt