SWDoodle

What's crazy and is that now that I'm looking around for a bike, there are a ton of nice modded bikes out there for cheap. Kind of makes me want to reconsider going with a stocker. I'd really love to get an RZR, but for the price those things are going for I can buy four banshees.

Yeah at this point I know it runs good, but don't know the previous history as he just got it. Guy before could have been worse than him on stuff! Think you are right, although there is a ton of 250R stuff out there, there is many times more Banshee parts. Plus I have worked on my old one some and I'm not very mechanical at all. I rebuilt the top end once and I'll I had was a Clymers and a friend I called every once in a while. Put it back together and it ran fine. It really is a tough call. I've almost made my mind on the Banhsee, but I still think I'll look at the 250R and see how low he might go. I know it would be best to be patient, but I'd really like to get something before March as that's when duning starts up around here.

Thanks for the reply. Only thing that does scare me a little with the Banshee is that shortly after my bud got the bikes we took them out for a spin. I rode the Banshee first and he rode the 450. Everything seemed to run fine. It fired right up on the first kick with a little choke. The right front tire wobbled some at full speed but after I shut it down I saw the front rim was bent on the bead pretty good. So I'm assuming that was causing the wobble, either that or a bearing. But he rode the Banshee after me and he rides hard I mean pushes everything to the max. He got to doing some crazy doughnuts and powersliding around and when he got back made the comment that it popped out of second gear. I don't know if it was once or several times. Could it just be he was pushing it to the limit and it popped out or do you think there could be some shift fork/tranny issues? No way to tell without looking at the insides of course. I know with my old one every once in a while I'd miss a gear shifting or something, but I don't remember it popping out of gear. Lucky thing is I guess he knows how to tear stuff down and work on it. Probably won't have to worry about it, but it will always be in the back of my mind.

Well the title says it all. I used to have a really nice 99 Banshee that I sold seven years ago to buy a Grizz, and although I love the Grizzly, I really wished I would have kept the Banshee. My good bud just bought a couple used bikes a YFZ450 and 2005 Banshee. The 05 is blue with T-6's and nerfs, but other than that it's a stocker. It's not perfect, but it's clean. Has full set of ITP sand stars on nice rims to with it that have hardly been used. He want's $2500 for everything. Not a smoking deal by any means, but he's a good friend of mine that helps me out a lot and I kind of prefer a stock bike anyways so I have a better feeling it has been molested. Other deal I found out there is a 1986 Honda TRX250R that is about 80 miles away. It's really super slick considering it's an 86 and is all stock except a pipe. No sand tires just some wore out dirt tires. He's asking $1900 but I'm sure he'd take less if I offered him some cash. He had a bunch of extra crap with it like old plastic, gears, gaskets sets, etc. that I could care less about. I'm "thinking" I can get him to $16-1700 but I'd have to make a big investment in both sand and dirt tires. So I'll end up about the same at the end. I know that I will get biased opinions since this is a banshee site, but I just want some feedback. Things I keep reading about the advantage of the R is that there is one of everything and they handle nice. I've only ever riden on 250R and it's was completely decked out, so no comparison to a stocker. I live in a very rural area and there just isn't the supply of bikes like bigger cities have. I'm 2.5 hours from a town of 100,000. I know there are some great deals on craigslist but I can't be driving all over the place to go look at stuff. I'd rather pay a little extra for this 05 and not have the headaches of negociating with someone. I have talked myself in and out of the 250R five times, but keep coming back to two things. First it's an 86 for gods sake and second there is nothing like the sound of a Banshee at WOT shredding a dune. That's all I'll be using this bike for other than riding around the farm. There are quite a few four strokes around but I prefer the 2-stroke. Just want to see what you think since this comparison has probably been made a million times. Included a pic of the 250R