oldturtle

I own an 01 XR650R with Baja Designs dual sport kit. I run it in dual sport rides in Cal and Ore plus I take it to Baja about once a year. With the Honda power up kit the bike makes all the power I could ever use. I run an IMS 3.4 gal tank on most rides and a 7.0 gal IMS tank when a 100 to 250 mile range is needed. The bike is extremely stable in high speed desert rides. My opinion is that this is the second most reliable dual sport bike of all time. It is second only to the XR400R because of chance of breaking a radiator or hose otherwise it would be number one. If I needed a dirt bike for lots of enduro type single track I would look elsewhere because the bike is large and heavy. This bike will also run fine on any kind of poor Mexican gas you may be forced to use in a pinch. Lots of guys are going for a new KTM 450 or 525 electric start or even a new tech Honda or Yam 450 electric start but just don't try and run less than 92 oct.

Adrenaline Motor Sports 7640 Sunrise Blvd. Citrus Heights, Ca 916-729-RIDE The only thing I ever got there was my extended swing arm. They will extend up to 6'' for $150. They also had longer chain in stock plus lots of Banshee parts and acces. Swing arm fab was great but never had any motor work done.

Do these have preload adjustment or either compression or rebound damping adjustment? I dont understand what you mean by lowering the ride height without reducing available travel. This sounds like the zero preload shocks that just lets the bike sag more which reduces available compression travel.

Another option in Sacramento area is Adrenaline Motor Sports. These guys are actually a Polaris dealer but have a passion for and full knowledge of the Banshee. They also have a dyno and are located just off Highway 80 in Roseville.

You can get the stock swingarm modified anywhere from -2 to +6 from lots of places for around $150. All the mods are between the shock mount and the axle carrier. The Honda style circular axle carrier is easier to adjust the chain but I dont think it is worth all the extra bread. The modified stock SW can have an adjustment range of over 2 inches by extending length of slot for lower adjustment bolt. You also dont have to replace SA bearings and seals or get new carrier bearings and seals like you will need with the Honda type.

Remember that a 350cc 2 stroke with good pipe and filter will make more peak power than all but highly modified 450/500 4-strokes. The 4 strokes are much easier to ride because they start pulling at much lower RPMs with less tendancy to bog. I love riding my Shee in the wide open dunes but would not be my first choice as an only quad to own for tight trails.

Here is some good news. http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctime...10483173.htm?1c

I have Patriot Hot Trail Spec Porting, Patriot full head mods with squish and dome for pump premium, and FMF Gnarlys and TC2s. Then while waiting for top end to be returned, I bought Trinity racing single 35 mm carb set-up. Dan's advice was that the single 35 with his top end work would be OK but he said the twin stockers would be better. With the single 35 the pull down low before the power band hit is stronger than stock, the hit occurs sooner than stock, it seems as though the power signs off sooner than with stock top end and carbs. Other tuners including Adrenaline Powersports have advised that the twin stockers would also pull harder and longer than the single 35. So I think my next experiment will be to go back to twin stock carbs and maybe then to try the FMF Fattys. Patriot Racings Dan really knows 2 strokes. He does a lot of Banshee and 250R work plus 2-stroke sleds. He does his own work, no apprentices in training there.

The Trinity 2-1 system can be run with stock air box. They will sell you an adaptor that connects front of air box to the single carb. With Graydon system you must run without stock air box or else figure out some special way to mount air box and coolant overflow. The Trinity carb to air box adaptor is a real POS. It did not fit well and will result in very difficult future carb and air box removal. I like the single 35mm performance. For applications where air box is not to be used either Trinity or Graydon will work fine. If you want to keep stock air box then I think twin 28's are better way to go.

My porting job from Patriot Racing is their Trail Spec Porting. This is primarily a blue-printing and polishing job to correct factory flaws with only minor porting changes. I also have their full head deck and squish mod which balances the two combustion chambers to have equal dome shapes correcting another factory potential defect and increasing compression to equiv of 21cc domes. These mild modifications have little effect on fuel milage. On the other hand if you go for top end dune porting and run wide open your milage will suffer more for sure.

If you get the Precision Concepts stock rear shock rebuild and re spring for $350 then $200 of the cost is a one time only charge to modify the shock to make it rebuildable. When you need it serviced in the future from PC the rebuild will be much less because you won't need modification and spring. I had Precision Concepts revalve and respring my Honda XR650R for weight of 7 gal tank and mega luggage for serious dual sporting and they know their stuff plus they are in San Diego.

Thanks for info. I'll try and check out when I pass thru next spring. Being small isn't all bad because it is easier to learn the area.

Saw an article in some truck rag about Coral Pink Dunes and was wondering what some of you might think about them.

A Banshee won the quad class in something like 1987 +/- . There is big Yamaha poster of winning Shee in shop in Marysville, Ca.

Finally got around to extending length of chain adjust slot. I drilled 3/8" holes just forward of existing slots and filed out the remaining debris. I now have about 1-1/2 in total adjustment and can run two different lengths of chain whichever I want. I installed shorter chain which moved axle about 1-1/4 in forward. This will be better for my mild power level. Thanks again for the help.