Considering trading for a 450. Right choice?

[bad_shee05]

hey all. I have an oportunity to trade my well build 98 banshee for an almost all stock 04 yfz. My quad absolutely fly's and is really smooth but falls kinda short on reliability and ease of riding. I love it but im gettin to the point that all i do is just trail ride and play race and my banshee hates to putt around. So my question is, is it a good idea for me to do this or not? I dont know alot about the 450's but iv heard great things. This one has a full pipe and a set of tires but other than that bone stock and doesnt even look like the fenders have any scratches. I know im going to be looking for more power so what are some good engine mods to get the most out of it? How well does it respond to like a big bore or porting and what compression can you run and still run pump gas? Thanks alot!

[griffin32]

the 04 was the first year and reliability may be an issue there if you put very many performance parts on it

[bad_shee05]

I had heard that but what is the weak points on those? Id like to maybe go big bore, port head, cams, and bigger carb so with that setup should i maybe get a better crank or what?

[Ride1Rob]

The year of the bike doesn't determine if the bike is going to crap out because of modding it. If you get an 09 and modify it up to a national race motor it's going to need alot of maintnance and is prone to crap out at any time. I have a 04 and my tranny has just starting giving me issues. 5yrs after riding and beating the crap out of it. Other than that it's been comon stuff. Piston, rings, etc... I've replaced my crank twice but that wasn't due to failure. I try to do a complete motor rebuild at least every two years just to be safe.

[SRH]

there about equal in value if yours is worked, it just comes to preference 04 didnt have issues, they just changed the oiling system down the road to make it more reliable, if your going to be doing a big bore, you have the 07 oil pump put in and the oil mod done by bcs for like 60 bucks then its the same

[yamahaman623]

no doubt about that the 4stroke 450 do better in trails. the 04 did have some slight problems but if you are going to rebuild it then it will be better off unless it is super modded. and yes i would go with a 12.5:1 piston cams and head work.

[JoePA]

Not to get into detail about your shee but what carbs are you running? My neighbor has an 06 shee that has the long rod crank..think +4, trinity ported, and a bunch of other stuff that if I get into it I'll take up the whole page. Anyway hes has pretty much all the mods you can do to it other than nitrous. He can run that quad for trail riding pretty mcuh all day, claimb any hil you can think of..trust me it will eat a 450 and tears up the MX track.

I'm not a banshee guy but after a few laps around the track it was awesome. The 450 vibrates your balls off and his shee is super smooth. Only problem is he can go through the gas if he's on it alot but other than that it's not much of an upgrade...just different.

[csr250r]

I sold my old well built 265r and bought a stock yfz. I like the powerband better. I would consider that trade. As for the 04 problems you should do the oil mod or buy that upgrade so you get more oil on the wrist pin of the piston.

[1socal450]

Originally posted by JoePA
Not to get into detail about your shee but what carbs are you running? My neighbor has an 06 shee that has the long rod crank..think +4, trinity ported, and a bunch of other stuff that if I get into it I'll take up the whole page. Anyway hes has pretty much all the mods you can do to it other than nitrous. He can run that quad for trail riding pretty mcuh all day, claimb any hil you can think of..trust me it will eat a 450 and tears up the MX track.

I'm not a banshee guy but after a few laps around the track it was awesome. The 450 vibrates your balls off and his shee is super smooth. Only problem is he can go through the gas if he's on it alot but other than that it's not much of an upgrade...just different. JoePa,Im a Penn State fan from So. Cal. but those comments are just silly,Banshees are garbage on a track! That old chassis and suspension design handles like crap and the powerband is hard to handle on a track.Banshees are not good trail quads either! I owned one for several years,I should know.I even widened it with long travel suspension.Unbalanced weight and jumps bad!They belong in the sand(really only for dragging,the yfz is better overall handling and funner in the sand) So bad_shee05,do yourself a favor and trade,they dont rattle,they do respond to mods and my 04 did not have one problem.I recently sold it to buy my new 09 YFZR,good luck!!!!