400ex or banshee or 250r

[honda400-4-ever]

rite now i have a 400ex slightly modded and was wanting to bore it but saw how much it was and WOW two stroke are way cheaper than that to bore should i sell it and get a banshee or 250r??? i mostly ride firlds and trails

There's a couple different factors here.

1) Which do you ride more, trails or fields? In percentage.
2) Are the trails you ride fast-paced and smooth, slightly rough and medium paced, or rocky?
3) Are you a power freak or like smooth tractable easy to ride?


If you spend the majority of your time in fields and the trails are fast-to-medium paced, and you're a power freak, I would consider the banshee. They absolutely haul with a good set of pipes and pretty much unbeatable mod for mod. The stock front end sucks though, bad shocks and bad geometry. You learn to live with it after owning it for a while and I actually don't mind it, I like how it handles. But aftermarket front ends are a huge plus.

If you ride mostly in the trails with fields here and there, and the trails are medium to slightly rockier, I would go with the 250r. It still has more power then the 400ex and enough to put a smile on your face, and has the trailable suspension of the 400ex and decent bottom end. It just won't be quite as fast. 250r's are great bikes but parts are becoming more and more sparse.

If you ride trails almost all the time that are pretty dang rocky, stick with the 400ex. It may be a lot slower then the other two, but the engine and suspension is great in the rough stuff.

I love my banshee, and if it came down to selling either the 400ex or the banshee, the 400ex would have to go.

No one can tell you what you like and feel comfortable on. Try and find people with a banshee or 250r and take them for a ride. See how you like them.

[honda400-4-ever]

i mostly ride half and half with a little dunes i weekend or two a year

Originally posted by honda400-4-ever
i mostly ride half and half with a little dunes i weekend or two a year
Honestly, don't listen to the honda bandwagon. This site originated as a 400ex site and to this day is racist towards yamaha lol.

The banshee really is a GREAT bike, and reliable when they are tuned right. Two out of Three banshee's are tuned wrong and blow up and/or run like crap. That's why they get a bad name. People throw pipes on and just random jets. They require a little bit of patience and tuning, and when they are they run great, are fast as hell, and so much fun. Very addicting.

Just ride someones, im telling you.

The front suspension does leave some to be desired, but with YFZ a-arms (easy mod) and 400ex shocks, they handle pretty good.

[countryboy78]

I ride a 99 banshee along with a 99 400ex.The banshees power is just awesome.Everybody says the are unrelible my bike has never let me down or gettting towed back to the truck.If your bike is tuned the wright way it will never let you down.Like dmc said people are just banshee haters.Imo i would go with a banshee.If you like power this is the bike for you.

[greenskin77]

yep i agree i have 2 banshees 1 stock and the other is done up all vito, and a 250r
people that cut on banshee are the ones who dont take the time to read and learn how to work on them but i ride minehard all summer long and never never had to change a plug or have half the trouble that the 400 and 450s have and yes the front ends sucks but like they said you get use to it well i got plus 2 a arms and still needing the shocks. but they helped
250r so far not that impressed with it but i am still in process of jets . its fast way faster than the 400 and yes hanlding on the r is great i like it so far but i think i just got use to the banshee to much i luv tat powerband
400 ex forget it unless your a begginer its ok but front end is way way to light its good for tight woods but even then i can keep rite up with the banshee it takes a littil more work but iam use to to. the400 is great for wheelies lol. but dont blow it up cost way to much to build up .. ad isent worth 10 cents if got to sell it


this is my 2 cents worth .

[03400exrider]

yeah my 400 was fun until i had my motor rebuilt and the $1000 it took was not worth it at all. not to mention that everything started to go bad with it after the rebuild