~Concerns with my first Banshee~

[Hellacious]

Hi all. I've rode 4 strokes my whole life and have never been around let alone rode any 2 strokes at all. I was looking to replace my 400ex with a 450r but I've always heard growing up about how badass banshees are and such so I decided to get one and save myself a little green too. Anyways, my first concern is this: When I go out to start the bike and its cold it will start right up everytime with 2-3 kicks choked but it smokes quite a bit. Once it gets started up good I'll unchoke it and let it idle 1-2 minutes and ride it and the smoking will clear up...Is this normal? Not sure if it makes a difference but the lady I bought it from said she always used a 40:1 mix so thats what I'm doing. I know if a fourstroke were to be smoking like that it wouldnt be a good sign so it worries me being new to it. I found this vid of a banshee cold start on youtube and mine smokes pretty much JUST LIKE his does.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__h8cmIf2a0&lc=qfIiuxLgQ17JRPTZDNKaTBK4B72ywc-QBnj5hw8GfFk&feature=inbox

I asked him and he said it was cool, but I've been reading alot of info here lately and everyone seems very knowledgeable so I wanted to ask here.

 

Another concern I had it the lady i got the bike from said it had just been bored .65 over with vertex pistons (which I've heard are junk) with only about 10 hours total ride time since the rebuild. .65 over seems like alot to me and I was wondering if this will cause any reliability issues?

 

Third and final issue at the moment is this. The bike starts up easy and runs strong, the first time I hit the pipe on it I was in love lol. But after watching alot of youtube vids of other folks bikes I noticed my throttle response doesnt seem quite as snappy as theres...I was wondering where you guys think I should start looking to correct this. I was at first thinking it was a carb tuning issue or maybe the jetting because when I first started riding it I noticed that unless you were in the powerband, it didnt really have much power at all, it actually kindof sucked compared to a 4 stroke...A buddy of mine told this was normal though. I know these are probably dumbass questions to you guys, but I dont have any experience with the bikes and I'm a little worried. Thanks for any help you can give!

Edited February 19, 2012 by Hellacious

[beez33]

The smoke is normal. You can bore them to .100 over so no big deal there. I would say most people like wiesco pistons on here. Yes it is a 2 stroke the power is in the power band. If your not in that you won't have that torquey power of a four stroke. You can do some Mods and porting to change that.

[guns4children]

First mod I would do is get an adjustable timing plate. Set it for +4 and maybe even get some new reeds. Another easy thing would be to clean you carbs ( one at a time!) Come back and let us know what jets are in there along with your other mods already on the bike.

[Hellacious]

Yeah, I'm going to get an adjustable timing plate. The reeds in the bike look brand new. When I first pulled the carbs apart I found it had 25 pilots and 200 mains, the mains had been drilled out. I trashed those and put some 310 mains in it and my 27.5 pilots should be here anyday though. I put up another thread since this one because it had started to look like it was running on the right (kickside) cylinder...carbs were synced and clean, air filter was clean, and reeds look new. Also tried switching the plug wires and the problem didnt move, so something is going on on my left side, just dont know what yet. I ordered a compression tester and it should be here soon. I'm hoping the compression test will be ok. The lady I bought the bike from said it only had about 10 hours on a complete rebuild, I hope she was telling the truth. Anyways, I have that to deal with now.

[rjdgriff]

What kind of pipes are on it?

[Hellacious]

FMF Fattys & PCIIs

[CruelSoul]

So how do you like it though other then when you are not on the band

Edited March 4, 2012 by CruelSoul

[rjdgriff]

As long as your spending money you might as well get your vforce 3 reeds and cool head put on it with that +4 timing... Makes it a little cheaper when your ready to go 4mil lol

[Hellacious]

I'm used to a 4stroke man so I really can't comment too much on whats it like before the band....to me, it's lacking.

 

 

LOL @rgd! Might as well man. If it turns out I need a new top end...That's exactly what I'm thinking I'm going to do. Go 4mil and sell the stock hotrods crank.