You can handle a banshee. Anyone who says you can't, tell them once you buy one you'll race them . Shit, there are 100 pound chicks that ride in our group who have bigger motored banshee's than half the guys we ride with.
Alot of mods you do to the banshee can affect its performance gains in different ways. For instance, different pipes run better at different rpms and come on sooner or later. For trail riding and an all around great pipe, I love pro circuits... they have nice low end, and pull hard all the way to the top. But everyone has there own opinion on parts and what is better to run.
Like said above, riding trails won't blow your bike up. But you can melt your motor down and or blow your bike up if its not properly running. Jetting is a huge part of any atv IMO, don't let it freak you out. Honestly these bikes are pretty easy to tune, just instead of jetting one carb you'll have two to tune. Keep reading and taking in all the information you can on this site. I bought my first banshee spring of 09, and have learned about everything i know from here. If you need any parts or motor work from small to big....hit up one of the site sponsors on here. Great guys, and they are THE banshee experts.
-Zach