Yamaha Banshee 2008

[LonesomeTriZ]

you know how many "wannabe" riders would hurt/kill them selves.

Good, thin out the herd some.

[84honda200s]

Good, thin out the herd some.

i kinda thought someone would say something like that. i agree with it 100%.

[scooterroo]

theres 2 banshees sitting on the showroom floor right now up at my local yamaha dealership, and sitting right next to them, are two blaster. both are 07 models, going for full price. the guy i talked to said the two strokes are done, four stroke is the wave they are riding now, but they can still sell off the remaining quantity of the banshee and blaster that yamaha has. he did say to me and i quote his words..."there is absolutely no reason for yamaha to replace the banshee or the blaster with the wide variety of raptors and the yfz450. they have the market covered from utility, to sport, to racing, he doubts we will ever see another bike like the banshee or the blaster again." now im not saying hes a know it all, or hes right about this, but pretty discouraging words coming from a yamaha man.

[RedRider_AK]

that would be a waste, the phazer is a slow ass pos,,, the banshee's here are just re-badged, some new LE red plastic, still the same thing from 92,

Yes, the Phazer isn't LIGHTNING FAST, but it's a 500cc FOUR-STROKE in a heavy (500+ lbs) sled chassis with a CVT tranny. Think of it in a light (~300) quad chassis, with a 6 speed manual? Ever hear of "power to weight" ratio?

And yeah, the Banshee there is just a re-badged copy of the '92 Banshee. EVERY BANSHEE except the j-arm ones they made in '87 are a re-badged copy of the previous one, they haven't changed a single thing on them in 20 freakin' years.

[MTS]

Yes, the Phazer isn't LIGHTNING FAST, but it's a 500cc FOUR-STROKE in a heavy (500+ lbs) sled chassis with a CVT tranny. Think of it in a light (~300) quad chassis, with a 6 speed manual? Ever hear of "power to weight" ratio?

And yeah, the Banshee there is just a re-badged copy of the '92 Banshee. EVERY BANSHEE except the j-arm ones they made in '87 are a re-badged copy of the previous one, they haven't changed a single thing on them in 20 freakin' years.

Dude, i work with the things day in and day out, dont preach me on power to weight, 90% of the phazers weight is in the motor itself, theres litertally nothing to the sled, it would still be way to heavy for a quad chassie, hell look at how heavy the banshee still is and its a 350 twin 2 stroke, not to mention, the EFI system on them Blow's goats, theres a reason they only ever put 1 twin in sport quad,

[NINJA]

they wont ever put a 80 plus hp engine in a quad and let the consumer buy it. you know how many "wannabe" riders would hurt/kill them selves.

ha hah hah! so true

[84honda200s]

Dude, i work with the things day in and day out, dont preach me on power to weight, 90% of the phazers weight is in the motor itself, theres litertally nothing to the sled, it would still be way to heavy for a quad chassie, hell look at how heavy the banshee still is and its a 350 twin 2 stroke, not to mention, the EFI system on them Blow's goats, theres a reason they only ever put 1 twin in sport quad,

agreed for the most part. ive owned about 8 or so sleds the track is probably one of if not the heaviest things on a sled. i only owned 1 yammie sled. it was a snappy little thing for only being a 250. but pretty much i cant comment on yammie sleds at all. i dont know about the phazer engines but the rotax engines and the invader engine i own now only weighed on avg. 70 pounds.


i do know a rotax wouldnt be to bad in a trike/quad. hell dale put one (i believe a 670 rotax) in his e.t. bike.

but as i said none of it even matters because they will never ever put a sled engine or a engine as powerful in a quad. but it doesnt mean we cant.

[dizasterzrfun69]

there was a write up about the "2008 banshee 500" in the april 07 dirtwheels. I have it right here but when i scan it its too big to post up.


Hey i figured it out, here ya go

[dizasterzrfun69]

[dizasterzrfun69]

[dizasterzrfun69]

[NINJA]

April issue is always a joke!

[NINJA]

Dude, i work with the things day in and day out, dont preach me on power to weight, 90% of the phazers weight is in the motor itself, theres litertally nothing to the sled, it would still be way to heavy for a quad chassie, hell look at how heavy the banshee still is and its a 350 twin 2 stroke, not to mention, the EFI system on them Blow's goats, theres a reason they only ever put 1 twin in sport quad,

OK OK, let me straighten something out here. First off, I respect the fact that you work at a dealer. I was a service manager for two years at a YAMAHA dealer and am a certified tech, so i'm giving you some credibility here on what you have to say. However, a snowmobiles crank and flywheel are much heavier to deal with the added strain and the added resistance of turning that huge track, so you can't go by the weight of the motor on this matter. Secondly, the banshees weight problem is actually from the chassis itself, not the motor. Thirdly, the banshee was never intended to be a lightweight racing quad, but a duner and hooligan machine instead. That being said, it is not improbable that yamaha could in fact put a 500 twin 4 stroke in a quad chassis to fill their soon to be missing niche. Who says it has to have 80 horse, they can always detune. Look at yamahas history, they love being controversial. Besides, the consent decree is dead and it's obvious with the machines that the companies are making now. If kawi can have the vforce and everyones 4by4s are having a displacement and power war right now, what's to stop yamaha from making a 4 wheeled bullet? And Banshees don't have fuel injection. Unless you were referring to the sled, in that case, my bad.

[firefirefire90]

April issue is always a joke!

Yeah haha like the 3 cylinder 750cc honda MONSTER from a few years back!

[Lantz Ltd]

agreed for the most part. ive owned about 8 or so sleds the track is probably one of if not the heaviest things on a sled. i only owned 1 yammie sled. it was a snappy little thing for only being a 250. but pretty much i cant comment on yammie sleds at all. i dont know about the phazer engines but the rotax engines and the invader engine i own now only weighed on avg. 70 pounds.


i do know a rotax wouldnt be to bad in a trike/quad. hell dale put one (i believe a 670 rotax) in his e.t. bike.

but as i said none of it even matters because they will never ever put a sled engine or a engine as powerful in a quad. but it doesnt mean we cant.

A rotax is going in the Can-Am DS450, 450X, and maybe newest renegade 800. And the Can-Am's go like greased snot.