Hey everyone. I been reading some threads on the raptor, seems like they arent so reliable?? Right now as most of you know im selling my 400EX to get a banshee, but someone keeps telling me to consider the raptor over the banshee. As you know, I ride in quarries, railroad tracks, tight woods, lots of hills and open area's around. Money really isnt too much of an issue to get one. But, what should i be getting? I really had my heart set on a banshee, but i want to make all the options open before I do anything. Hit me with your opinions. For the Raptor to be a four stroke, I'd expect it to be super reliable, whats going on? Also, as far as guts and oomph, how do these bikes compare with each other? I dont feel like paying all that money, and doing motor work to get it to my standard, so tell me what you think.

 

my raptor has had no problems whatsoever. the 02 raptors have changed a little but still have the same basic stuff. i ride mine in all conditions like you. remember reverse is very handy in the tight woods. ive rode my brothers banshee as much as my raptor and stock for stock the are very close, but i still love my raptor with elec. start, reverse, and 4 stroke for slow trail riding. all around the raptor suits me better. just my thoughts, but everyone has their own.

 

No problems with mine in the 11 months I've had it. Both the Raptor and the 'shee have the same stock, but the Raptor has incredible low end where the Banshee has to be wound up to see the same power. Have you ridden a Raptor yet? Compared to your 400EX the power is way better (as you would expect with the extra 262cc displacement) with reverse thrown in to boot. The first year's Raptor's apparently have problems (I don't know anybody with any), but what first year products don't? What about the "J-arms" on the first year Banshee? My point is, if you consider an '02 Raptor you should be past all the problems some people have had with the '01's.

 

My raptor is as reliable as my warrior was and You pretty much cant kill a warrior. I have only had the carb boots blow off once. I replaced the clamps and have had no problems since.

 

You need to ride a Banshee before making your decision. If you get a Raptor, get an 02.

 

prs311,
I agree with garyc660R, If you have not spent some seat time on the banshee then you may not know what to really expect. Its all going to depend on where you ride, and many of these bikes are vary close. You need to find out what exactly you want in an ATV first. Nobody really knows what your standard is except you. Reliability wise, there both about the same in my book as long as you avoid the first year Raptors. Power wise personally I think your going to be tearing into that engine on the Raptor and struggling to keep up with the same power characteristics that you will find on a simply piped, and jetted banshee. 2 strokes just make a whole lot more power a lot quicker. On the flip side though they take a little more advanced skill to operate and stay in the power band and a little more maintenace. I personaly like both 4 strokes and 2 strokes, but I enjoy the technical expertise and challenge it takes to ride a banshee (2 stroke). I belong more to the sport bike crowd and I hunger for a quick powerful hit. If this is your soul purpose in life as it is mine, then you wont be dissapointed with the banshee, however you may be with the Raptor. This doesn't mean Raptors are slower it just means they don't offer that same level of rush you get from the narrow powerband on a 2 stroke. Thats why I got rid of my 400ex and got a 250r in 99. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

PS. Another thing you may want to consider, is that most of the guys I ride with, ride pretty hard. We had a guy ride with us with a Raptor a few weeks ago. In order for him to hang with us moded 400ex's, 250r's, and banshee's he had to completely alter the chassis on the Raptor. Don't get me wrong, the Raptor is a strong bike, and powerful, however in tight stuff and real steep hills this guy had to invest quite a bit of money in order to drop the riding height of the Raptor, extend the a-arms +2, and the axle +2 just to be able to take the same corners at the same speeds as the rest of us. Most of us run stock length on a arms, swing arm, and axles for the woods. Just a thought though.

 

The Banshee has no bottom end torque, all you will be doing is slipping the clutch on tight trails. It is definitely not a good trail machine. Take it from me, I own one.

 

Hey guys thanks for the responses so far! Well let me help ya out. I got the 400EX, and I am looking for a lot more pull and power. NOW, I've ridden about 3 different banshee's, but the problem is i got 3 way different responses, and their motors were completely stock. None of them are around anymore, so I cant ask them about it. I'm assuming my friends 96 would be the best comparable to a newer one. AS far as the 92' i drove, when you'd be cruising, it would start lowering in rpm, and i wasnt even doing anything, and the power would cut off tremendously, you'd have to keep juicing it just to keep it going. IN other words, while driving down the road, if you didnt keep honking it, the bike would simply want to quit. My buddies 96 at first was way different because it needed a top end when he got it. It would barely move from the start, but once it hit midrange, the bike sat down and kicked in and took off. I loved that, but hated the low end, cuz it was virtually not there. After his rebuild, it did have more low end. Im used to 4 strokes, so it was very weird to have to rev it up for the banshee to pull out. The other one was a 94 i believe, and it didnt have a real powerband, so i dont know what to say about this bike, it was just normal throughout no matter what you did. not a ton of power, but still very fast.

As for me on what I like. Well now you know that i want a low more grunt than a 400EX. When I rode my buddies banshee around for an hour(by the way my thumb was tired!! hope i can fix that without a twist) and then i got back on my 400EX, it felt like i wasnt going anywhere. I was getting used to that high revving machine. A few things I didnt like about the banshee. First, the shifter. The shifting isnt nearly as good as on my honda, but I'd put one of those billet titanium shifters on it, and see what would become of that. Next, my buddy had the cheapest works shocks you could get, but they were much better than stock! I really didnt mind the fast shifting, I could get into that, but I didnt like that one banshee where it kept dropping off in power, can anyone tell me more about this? When I get a bike, I do NOT want to have to up the mods on it right now. If I bought a raptor, I'd have to put a pipe on it and that'd shoot me way up higher in price than a banshee with any set of pipes, plus new tires and enough money for two top ends or more. The trick to it is, I NEVER did a rebuild. Now, I have theory knowledge on all this, but i never hands on did a rebuild, so that makes me wonder, because i certainly dont wanna rebuild everytime i turn around, otherwise I wont get it. The ergonomics of the Raptor looks a bit weird, like the bike was pushed together. I like very fast throttle responses. IF i posted this a few years ago, I'd say differently, but now i can tell you that I ride pretty fast, pretty much the whole time. Now and then I like to just cruise. If im up Marienville on the state trails, I just like a fast paced cruise. How will the banshee fair with that? Must I stay on the pipe at all times? Im just trying to give you all the important info i can so you can maybe guide me in the direction I should be going. I like hillclimbs, but nothing to where I'd risk something tremendous. Im from hillsville, and if you ridden there, you get the idea! I climb most any "quality" hill, with a nice grade. Occasionally, we'll ride in some tight woods, but even then we're cruising as fast as possible. Like I said before, its a lot of open area here to ride, like railroad tracks, and limestone roads, so im going to be going faster than the average driver but not to the point where im going to be maxing out the bike or anything, i dont push 'em to the limit ever. What do you think so far?

Say if I got the banshee. One day I decide to take a light cruise down some places, would it foul up on me? Would it be practical to do this with the banshee? or would i get that feeling of the power dropping constantly? How often does it look like im going to rebuild the bike? Say at least two hours of riding per week.

Now the raptor, If i got that. Down the road, very shortly, I know a pipe would be on there, jet kit, and probably different tires too. How would I fair with riding with everyone else that has banshee's, 250R's, dirt bikes, and modded out blasters? The price alone makes me cringe compared to the banshee, but lets just not worry about that right now too much.

What do ya think?

 

The Banshee is a very diverse machine, you have to set it up for the type of riding you do. As far as bottom end not being there, i have no problem pulling out the bottom but mine is set up for woods. The banshee has been out alot longer than the raptor and has not had tranny problems. As far as the J arms and air filter, not every machines perfect. The Banshee is reliable if you do proper maintence.

 

I know a pipe would be on there, jet kit, and probably different tires too

The jet kit for certain (Yamaha even offers one now in their GYT-R lineup), the pipe's not necessary right off the bat, and the Raptor's stock radial tires are WAY better than the Banshee's (or Warrior's for that matter). The Raptor with a jet kit and a ProDesign/K&N (or foam) air filter setup will easily equal the stock Banshee as far as power goes.