Yaxy

A buddy of mine has a frined who wants to get rid of a RZ350 motor. Let's assume it is the liquid cooled version and runs sweet, How much is it worth, is it worth it and would it just bolt into a banshee chasis? Chris

I am looking into the upcoming year and tryign to decide what shocks to get for the new Shee. I have done several searches and readings and it will either be Elka or Ohlins. I mostly trail ride at high speeds but hit a motocross track once in a while so having full adjustable front and rear shocks is a must. I have a 89 with ohlins front and rear with LSR +1+1 arms and the machine is great at low and high speeds in soaking up washouts and any square edge I may slam into. I am interested in trying the Elka's because everyone seems to speek highly of them. I want to spend my $1100 in confidence and I am confident in the ohlin set up but just curious if anyone has tried both. Assume that both shocks are set up for my weight and riding style. Thanks! Chris

This is another option. Years ago I used to run regular B8ES plugs never had a problem, For some odd reason I switched to BR8ES and every ride fouled plugs. Now with my Dyna ignition that I am now runnng I have to use BR8ES and since the Dyna never have spark plug problems. Run 28 FS carbs 20 pilot 270 main 800-1200 FT above sea level 60-90 degrees NY weather Chris

Tat, I just checked the Axis web site and for the STOCK yamaha chasis it does not mention a listing for comp and rebound shocks. Maybe a differnt banshee chasis would accept fully adj shocks Chris

Carlos, I have a older banshee that in 1998 I put a complete set of off the shelf Ohlins on the front and back, The fronts were preload only and the rear is fully adjustable. Even though they are off the shelf today they are till working great. The fronts are good very forgiving and woudl be even better if they had full compression and rebound adjustment. The rear is incredible, it soaks up the whoops incredebly and am very happy with the way the bike performs. With that said, a few months ago I started shopping for suspension for my future banshee. I looked at Ohlins, Elka and Axis. Since Axis fronts do not have full adjustment (for the banshee) I weeded them out. To me who trail rides, fire road riding, dune rides and occasionally MX I wanted FULL adjustable shocks that are easy to tune. The Elkas I like becasue they have 3 things, The SSD (Self Sag), 5/8 in shafts and variuos spring combos. I know the Fulll adjustable Ohlins are about $1100 for fronts and I think around $650 for the rear. Elka's I think are a bit more for the rear but cheaper in front. Now I would not pay that, negotiate or go elsewhere is the best. When I bought my ohlins I saved about $400.00. I have nothing but great things to say about ohlins and will more likely be on my next shee. As most of the guys here mentioned buy a shock that is set up for you, I would also throw fully adjustable on that since you do not MX. To me those are the most important things. Chris

Two stroke technology is not dead, just not in the interest of all manufacturers. Take Yamaha snowmobiles for example. A year or so ago they took the motor out of the R1 motorcyle and put it into a snowmobile with about 145 hp. Nice but guess what even though it is a 4-stroke it did not meet 2006 emissions. Now take Bombardier (maker of Ski-doo snowmobiles) they have a new 2-stroke technology out called (SDI) that meets emissions until 2010. So while Yamaha spends time with 4-stroke technology other manufacturers are putting R&D into there 2-strokes. But I am afraid the 450 is the banshee replacement. Chris

Ya Mo I heard the same thing. A few years back I heard that there were factory motocross teams other than Yamaha that used Yamalube on there bikes. Cool. Chris

I have used Yamalube even before it went to the 2R for about 10 years. 25,000 miles later, dunes, trails, fast seasonal roads, original crank, .40 over, minimal wear if any after 2 years between rebuilds, no engine failures. enough said. I will never use anything else... Chris

I have no experience with Noss products in general but I have with Pro-design. For starters my shee has almost every part that prodesign assigns there name to and through my dealing with them the last 7 years they are very customer service oriented and are more than willing to go out of there way to help with any calls that I sent there way. They have quality parts and back up the parts they sell. As far as the heads you do have to replace your head studs which can be a pain, but I have no isseus with mine. But the 10% discount sounds nice Chris

I met a guy last year who had the hydraulic clutch on his shee, Personally I feel it is no different then putting on a new cable. My recomendation. buy a new cable every year for $10.00 that is what I do. I have purchaased 15 cables and still have spent alot less then the hydraulic unit. Chris

While doing a bit more analyzing I noticed that I did not have the stock needles in that came with the carbs. Years ago before I put my cool head on I had to use a different taper needle to allow more fuel down low, (5DP7) Per my Mikuni manual the carbs come with 5DP39. I put these back in and seems to be better. Thanks for all your help, I just have to figure out why it is not idling right at this time. I'll tell ya, all these years and still learning!!! Chris

Banchetta; I pick the right pilots similar to what you do. I chug the bike in 1st or 2nd to the point to where it almost want to stall, open up throttle all the way if it goes blahhhhhh I turn in the air screws all the way. If still goes blahhh then I know I have the wrong pilot. When I ran the 15 pilot the bike ran sweet and pretty clean but after a year on a fresh motor I lost a bit on bottom, thus went to a 20 pilot and it was fine. Chris

sredish; Thanks for the reply; I think I am going to a 15 pilot and putting the needle clip in the middle slot. This way I will reduce the amount of fuel at idle because my plugs are soaked at a 20 pilot and the needle postion should compensate for any low end loss. The 15 pilot should help reduce the richness to 1/2 open throttle. I will see how this works. IF not I will go back to a 20 pilot and needle clip in 2nd position and live with it till the point where I decide to try a different needle. I also took a look at the site that you suggested. I have the same chart in a Mikuni manual that I have. Thanks for the recommendatio anyway! Chris

I am trying to figure out how to lean out my pilot/needle circuit and still have the bike run properly. My shee has FMF pipes, V-Force reeds, Cool head (21 cc domes) 28 FS Mik and MX port. I run Yamalube 2R, 40 to 1 with 93 Octane at 800 ft. Current jetting is as follows Pilot - 20 (Rich, plugs wet), run 15 sometimes and bike runs beautiful Needle - 5DP39 2nd from leanest position (Plugs a little dark but starting to clear up) Main - 280 probably a bit rich I ran this set up for about 5 or so years and bike runs great at temps from 40 to 90 degrees, NY weather. The only issue I am tying to solve is to reduce the amount of smoke (lean her out) coming out my silencers from idle to 1/2 throttle. I leaned out the needle one more position and it made a great improvement but bike won't idle right. It starts fine but when Idling you can tell it is starving for fuel. Even though throttle response is adequate it is not as crisp as it is with needle clip in 2nd from lean position all other things being equal. Can anyone recommend a Mikuni needle that would lean out my pilot circuit through half throttle yet still have crisp throttle response? I know this is an open question but if anyone knows where i can find some form of needle chart that would be a good place for me to start. I consider myself pretty good at jetting since I have owned it for 14 years so please provide intelligent responses. Carb sync is fine,(cables and idles), new plugs, clean carbs etc... Thanks for your help Chris

Formula; This is the third clutch in 15 years and have always followed the manual/your process and never had a problem until this year. I don't see any noticable wear on any of the parts but am replacing them anyway. The adjustement screw is not staying tight in the adjuster so I am just going to lock tight it in and I should not have any problem from there, but I swear I remember that the screw is supposed to float but now as it floats my adjustment is off. Does anyone else hear loctite the adjustment screw??? Chris

Try Adirondack cycle in Boonville NY. Tim might have something. Chris

Put the smallest size pilot jet that allows you the best throttle response. If to rich you may follow plugs and it will smoke like hell, too lean and you will have crappy throttle response and it probably won't idle correctly. Chris

The purpose of the tie rap is to compress the clutch lever to the point where the arrow on the clutch arm matches the mark on the crankcase. After this point when you turn in the adjuster screw till you feel some resistance there should be no play between the adjustign screw, ball, rod and clutch arm. Well that is what I thought. The issue is not the the lock nut it is that the adjusting screw is coming loose. The adjusting screw is working its way out away from the ball thus when I compress the lever there is no or less resistance than what I initially set it at. The only thing that I thought that I could do now is to locktight the screw so it is less likely to work itself out. Chris

Any Advise?? Chris

Nope the dam thing didn't work. See post RD 2 Chris

Thanks Nater, My screw wasn't snug enough and was turning. Took a tie rap put it around the handlebar and clutch handle until the alighnment marks lined up and shugged the screw and tighteneed the lock nut, should be fene from here at least it was this mornign when i went riding. chris

Thanks Nater I will go pull the cover off and try your method. It is just strange how after 5 hours of use no issues and then this happens. Heck maybe the nut came loose?? Chris

tbd. The power lines you are refering to is on Eatonville Rd in Brantingham. The power lines and all other traill up that way that are not marked for ATV use are illegal and the DEC and State forest guys were giving out tickets like crazy last year. I am not sure what will happen this year but I will find out in a couple of weeks when I geet up there. Unfortunately most of the nice side trials are illegal just the right aways are legite. man that stinks Chris

This time of year Tug hill is muddy no doubt, not much sand on the hill. To the east of the hill will be nice this time of year, much more sand and less mud. Crogan and Brantingham are the spots to be and I have seen more quads going south than snowmobiles lately, which I thought was very strange for this time of year, but hey tha is good for us. Chris

banshdog, the size of the pilot will not affect idle speed, it control how much fuel that is going into the motor startiin at the pilot circuit and working its way through the needle positon as the slide opens up. If pilot is to large your bike will burn rich and smoke like crazy and probablay follow plugs while idling. Adjust your idle screws to adjust the idle speed. Chris