sredish

elkas are by far the shit. The only difference between rezzies and no rezzies is how much you abuse them. Everything on them is the same, except the amout of oil they hold and having a space for cooling (the reservoir). If you ride hard for hours, you'll need them. Chances are duners don't need them, because the shock is really getting worked hard. Desert racers, mx racers and flattrackers really benefit from them. If you go out on the weekends and trail ride, or go out a few days a week and beat around the mx track for fun, chances are you won't need the rezzies. If you race every weekend and spend the week on the track training, and your shocks are getting beat for hours on end or when they work it's grueling whoops or doubles and triples over and over for long periods of time, the shock oil can overheat without the reservoir and cause it to fade. 60% of people don't need the rezzies.

To some extent, you could say that's true. That's all you really need.

Good, hopefully you get it fixed pretty quick.

I was going to ask you what you do in the off-season? If you want to teachg full time in the winter and have an off season business, go for it, and it sounds like you already have. You'll be at that Level III in no time. With those certifications, I would imagine you could get a job anywhere teaching. Kissing Bridge looks pretty damn nice to me. Maybe me and the wife will make a trip out and you could show us around the mountain. I've never skied in the east. What do the passes cost? Sweeet, look at all the blacks and doubles, I may have a hard time getting the wife up there. I may have to leave her in the hotel. Skiing is by far my very favorite sport. If I could ski every day, I would. I'd come close to giving up my treasured banshee for a life in the powder. My favorite place in the world is up in the mountains, looking down on the world. My favorite skiing is the bumps, I guess I like the technical aspect, it's nice to hit some slalom too. Granted, I don't live in a snow state anymore, but I dream of the day of moving back. My business is getting bigger and bigger here, and it's foolish to get out now when it's going so good and move to where my business isn't established. I'll wait until I have some nice savings to move. It shows how you take for granted what you have, but it takes not having it to realize. Steamboats vert is 3,700 ft, and there are around 3,000 acres of skiing if I remember right, with the longest run being 3 miles. Later.

I sure hope my source is incorrect. A really good friend of mine is a yamaha tech, yamaha racer and banshee freak like the rest of us. He worked with the yamaha r&d some and has connections with the factory. He has been saying the '05 year for the last two years. I'm having trouble remembering, but I believe I read it somewhere also, like in one of the mags, maybe Dirtwheels. That's a lot of why they don't push the banshee in the mags much anymore, because it's on it's way out. The stupid mags only want to "market" the present quads, it's a money thing anymore. If yamaha wanted to press the mags and use politics to get the banshee in the mags, like they do with the yfz, then the banshee would be in the mags, but they don't push it. It's too bad we need face that the fact that the banshee will not be around forever. The clock is ticking in the amount of time left that the banshee will be offered from the factory. Even it it's not '05 and it does get pushed back for another year, say '06, it's still on it's way out. It has been slated that, in December '04, they will quit manufacturing, and they will sell of remaining inventory in the year of '05. Thing is, we all need to buy a new uncrated banshee and store it until that day comes. Then, they'll be like solid gold!! Later.

WHAT??? WHY???

Sweet, where do you Instruct?? I grew up in Steamboat, CO and always wanted to work on the mountain, instruction, or patrol. Thought that would be kick ass. When we were younger, we would take our quads (had a lt250r and bud had atc250r) in town and harass the local police, and when they were all after us, we'd go straight up the mountain and down another side to our house. We only got caught once, but it lead to minor in possesion, contributing to the delinquincy, and a few other good ones. Congrats to your success. Scott

do that and that will make a big difference in the idling and mid throttle response. If it doesn't idle well, your pilot is probably too lean. go up on the pilot till it will idle, then finish the main and then get back to the pilot. What floats, I've heard that the float bowls in the wrong carb can have idle problems as well. Good luck and let us know. Scott

First, make sure your needle is 3rd clip from the top/blunt end. That'll help your idle a bunch. Then, get a pilot in there so shee'll idle and then get your main set. Once your main is set, then concentrate on dialing in the pilot. Don't worry about getting the pilot perfect yet, you just want it to run so you do a main jet check.

Carb Parts.com might be able to help you.

blaster, gas gas have one, polaris still sell one, unless something's changed that I don't know anbout. but i've heard it straight from yammi that the '05 model year is it. In fact, they're going to quit building in December and sell out the inventory through next year and that's it folks.

he's out of town until tomorrow and he left earlier last week. I'm sure he'll get back to ya tomorrow.

I really like the game, but once i maxed out my equipment and my charateristics, the fun has dropped considerably. I love the game, but now there's not so much to work for. It's more fun beating the snot of my friends.

well, there really isn't a definite number of hours. depends on the conditions, how much dust, how much mud, and so on. Inspect it after every ride. If it looks like it could use it go for it. I clean mine at least once a week, if I'm not riding much. If I'm riding a lot, I've been known to clean it after every ride sometimes, just depends on the conditions. I keep two, one for use while the other is drying. I need a spare also. The 450r that won the baja crossed the finish line with the same filter it started with, untouched. So, it also depends on the quality of the filter and oiling. If you oil good, but don't get much dirt on it, then worry. If the dirt isn't going on the filter, it's going someplace, and that someplace is the motor, chances are it's not oiled good enough, or there's a break in the seal somewhere. Just go ride and don't worry about it. When you get done with the day, look at it, if you think it needs it, clean it, if not, have a beer.

there are a few reasons for this. 1) dealerships are pushing people to buy 4 strokes knowing that one of these days 2 strokes will more than likely be offthe showroom floors. 2) people are ignorant. if they really think there is more maintenance in a 2 stroke than a 4 stroke they are wrong. have any fo these people priced a complete topend rebuild for a 4 stroke? its rediculous. you can rebuild a banshee topend for practically nothing. 3) no one wants their buddy to buy a banshee and spank their ass on the trails, at the hill or on the dragstrips. You know it's a very bad time when the end of the Banshee is near, as in the '05 model year, which starts this fall. The banshee is relatively unchanged for so many years, yet it is still more powerful than the quads you can buy today. The only thing holding the stock banshee back is the still unchanged suspension. The reason it's going out??? Government politics in accordance with the "awful pollution" of a two stroke. I was reading in one of my atv mags (i get them all confused, can't remember which is which) where they interviewed guys from each mfg. There were several that wouldn't rule out a future two stroke quad, but I will believe it when I see it, even though I'd love it. Evil, I'm right there with you on the "big ride", just let me know when and where and you can count me in.

Cool. Let us know how it goes.

Yes, you'll find most people run without the airbox lid, and a lot without the airbox altogether. Just make sure your K&N is clean, well oiled and has a good prefilter on it, and you'll be fine. No worries mate.

honestly, sprockets are one of those things that differ in opinion. some like low gearing and some like high gearing. You have to find out what you and your shee like. I buy only the cheapest steel sprockets, usually JT from Magic Racing, or Primary Drive from RMATV. $15 per rear and $7 per front. Get several front and several rear and play around till you find whats right for you. I run a 15 front all the time, and fine tune the rear. Currently its the stock 41. I have 39, 40 and 42 rear sprockets. When I go to the dunes, I'll gear it down a touch. The best way to know is trial and error. Scott

Posting this great article regarding jetting as a refresher and to help newcomers. What is Jetting Carburetor jetting can be easily understood if we understand the basic principles of carburetor and engine operation. A carburetor mixes fuel with air before it goes into the engine. When the mixture is correct the engine runs well. The bottom line is a carburetor must be adjusted to deliver fuel and air to the engine at a precise ratio. This precise ratio can be affected by a number of outside and inside influences. If you are aware of these influences you can re-jet your carburetor to compensate for the changes. I'm going to show you some examples of how you can change your jetting for better performance and in some cases increase engine life. As with any engine work be sure you have good tools the correct parts and a good manual before you get your hands dirty! Altitude Compensation For our first example let's say we find a new riding area WAY up in the mountains. Our jetting is dialed in for our usual riding area which ranges from sea level to 1500 feet. Our NEW riding area starts at 4000 feet and goes up from there. Going to a higher elevation will require will require a jetting change but which way? Like our fuel density, air density can also change. Higher elevations have less air density then lower ones. At high elevations our engines are getting less air, so they need less fuel to maintain the proper air/fuel ratio. Generally you would go down one main jet size for every 1750 to 2000 feet of elevation you go up (info for Mikuni carbs). If you normally run a 160 main jet at sea level you would drop down to a 140 at 4000 feet. Something else goes down as you go up in elevation is horsepower. You can figure on losing about 3% or your power for every 1000 feet you go up. At 4000 feet your power will be down about 12%-even though you rejetted! For our second example, let's say we are still at our new 4000-feet elevation riding area and a storm comes in. We head back to camp and ride it out overnight. The next day there's a foot of snow on the ground the skies are clear and it's COLD! Aside from getting the campfire going and making some coffee you should be thinking about jetting again! Cold air is dense air and dense air requires bigger jets. If the 140 jet ran good the day before you will need a bigger jet to run properly today. If the temperature is 50 degrees colder than it was the day before you can actually go back to your sea level jetting, a 160 main jet! If you don't rejet you can kiss your assets goodbye when you rebuild the seized engine. Air temperature makes that much difference! Our final example will deal with something often overlooked. We are still up in the hills enjoying our NEW riding area when we notice the old fuel supply getting shorter. No biggie; there's a little store/gas station just down the road. A short trip a few bucks change hands and we are ready to go again. Out on the trail the bikes are running funny, sometimes "pinging" and running HOT. What happened?! When we changed jets to compensate for altitude and temperature we were still using SEA LEVEL gasoline. Gasoline sold at higher elevations have a different blend of additives to compensate for the altitude. Generally high elevation gasoline is less dense to compensate for less available air going into the engine and to aid starting. The lighter specific gravity of the high elevation fuel actually "leaned out" our mixture! One to two sizes bigger main jet will get us back into the hunt. If you ride in vastly different areas try to bring enough or your normal fuel along to last the entire ride. It will save you hassles and gray hair in the long run! Pilots, Needles & Mains So far we have only talked about main jet changes to compensate for altitude, temperature and fuel density. As most of you know there is a pile of jets in a carburetor. While main jets are the most critical for ensuring full power operation and engine longevity, the other jets are equally as important for a good running engine. Let's run through them quickly. Pilot Jets: Pilot jets control the low-speed and idle mixtures. Many times an adjustable jet is used in conjunction with the pilot jet. The adjustable jet allows a precise setting of the idle mixture. If the adjustable jet is located to the rear of the carburetor and usually on one side it is a AIR adjustment. It controls the amount of air that mixes with the fuel coming from the pilot jet. If the adjustable jet is to the front of the carburetor, on the side or bottom, it controls the amount of air/fuel mixture going into the engine. In either case if adjusting the mixture screw won't improve the low-end running speed it's time for a different pilot jet. Slide: Throttle valves (the slide) control the off idle, to one-quarter open, mixture. Some aftermarket carbs have replacement slides available with different "cutaways". Changing the cutaway changes the mixture. More cutaway is lean, less cutaway is rich. Some carbs do not have different slides available, so you have to compensate by changing the mixture on the idle circuit or needle circuit. Partial throttle hesitation or rough running can be caused by the slide cutaway. Needle Jets: Needle jets control the amount of fuel going by the needle and into the engine at low to mid throttle. There are 2 types of needle jets used in a carburetor. One is a primary type that has a very precise hole hole drilled through the middle of it, along it's length. The size of the hole relative to the size of the needle determines how much fuel goes into the engine. The other type of needle jet is constructed essentially the same except for a bunch of holes drilled into the side of the jet. These holes allow air to mix with the fuel before it's metered into the engine. Either type of needle jet works well in most cases but there is power to be gained on high performance four-strokes by going to the needle with the holes in the side. These are called "bleed" type needle jets and produce more midrange power in a four-stroke. In any engine going to a leaner (smaller) needle jet is the easiest way to rejet the midrange running when going to higher elevations. Changing the needle jet leans out the mixture evenly at all the midrange throttle settings moving the needle clip doesn't. Needle: Jet needles more commonly know as the "needle" control the fuel mixture throughout the midrange. The shape or taper of the needle dictates how much fuel goes into the engine at a given throttle opening. The needle must work in conjunction with the fueling requirements of the engine relative to slide position. If you have an engine with a strong hit in the midrange the needle will probable have a noticeable reduction in size the the slide is half open. Remember it takes fuel to make power and when the engine makes power it needs fuel NOW! If it doesn't get the right amount of fuel it pings or misses. You many have cleared up a little midrange pinging by moving the needle up a notch but at the same time you may have over richened some other areas. If the problem isn't too bad you won't even notice the rich condition. If the machine stutters before it comes on the power that part of the needle's taper is too small and the only way to cure it is to get a needle with a different taper. Finding the right needle can be difficult so hopefully moving the clip will do the job. Main Jet: Finally the good old main jet comes into play at three-quarters open to full throttle conditions. Most of you already know a bigger main jet has a bigger hole so it lets more gas into the engine! Pretty simple! As simple as it is the minuet is absolutely CRITICAL to high-speed engine operation. Not only does it meter the gas into the engine, it can aid in cooling the engine as well. A properly sized main jet will let the engine make good power for a long time. One size smaller main jet may make greater power for awhile. A slightly rich mixture burns cooler than a lean one so be sure the main jet is big enough! One final note on jets. All of them and the carburetion functions then perform tend to overlap into some other jet's territory. If you mess with one jet, you may have to mess with a few of the others. My best advice is to not change more than one jet at a time. Slowly work out the correct jetting and keep notes on what you are doing. If you get totally fouled up at least you can go back to where you started. Sign, Symptoms & Causes How would you know if there was something wrong with your jetting? If you listen, your engine will tell you! All you need is an interpreter. Since I speak and understand several different engine dialects, I will give you a hand. Let's start with lean conditions because they can cause the most damage. In a lean condition the engine will surge and sometimes ping under acceleration. The engine will also be "cold-blooded" (hard to start and keep running) but will run better when hot. The spark plug will look bone white or burned in extreme cases. The engine may spit back or sneeze through the carburetor once in awhile too.. If the engine is running rich the throttle response will be fuzzy and not too quick. The engine will burble, miss and blow black smoke. It will start easy but will run funny when fully warmed up. The plug will be dark, wet or fouled (possible all three!). Ok so what do you do first to cure the problem? The very first thing is to check and adjust the float level. If it's off one way or another it can throw the jetting off too. Set the float to the specs and retest the running. The next item is to determine a rich or lean condition. Let's say the engine gets hot and doesn't pull well. This is a lean condition so the engine wants more fuel. Stick in at least a two size bigger main jet and try it again. If it's better but still not right go even bigger on the jet. and try it again. Bear in mind that drastic or sudden changes in jetting usually mean an air leak has developed somewhere in the engine. Find it and FIX IT! When the engine burbles on the top end come down one jet size at a time until it winds all the way down. Don't drop and more sizes! If the engine seems sluggish and lumpy or want to load up on the bottom end the mixture is TOO RICH. Adjusting the low speed mixture screw helps a little but doesn't cure the problem completely. What you need now is a new pilot jet. Go one size smaller and try the adjustment again. When the engine runs smooth with the adjustment screw about one and a half turns out from the seat you have it! Final Thought There's a lot more to jetting than just stuffing jets in holes and hoping the problem goes away. If you can understand what your engine is trying to tell you when it runs funny you will have a better chance or correcting the problem than someone who doesn't have a clue. When you rejet, go slowly and carefully until the problem is solved. As a final thought let me remind you that jetting is a lot like life, if you have a choice it's always better to be a little rich! Now go to Reading Spark Plugs to finish off your jetting. Credits: Article info from December '96 issue of Dirt Wheels, and editing by 4Strokes.com.

Sorry for double post. Slow ass internet connection at home. Maybe a moderator will delete this. Thanks, Scott

The Toomey 2 into 1 is a great product. The Pro Design ProFlow isn't bad either. I'd choose one of those. I think the Toomey allows a little more air / more power.

do you recommend the All Balls set which they are currently out of stock, or the Tusk set????? I would imagine the Tusk set would be sufficient. I've heard nothing but good things abou their stuff.

Oh, forgot about your vforce question. new reeds on the stock cage won't do too much, the vforce will help quite a bit. also, you need to rejet with vforce reeds, so if you want them, nows the time, or face another jetting session. Read this article "How to Jet". It's a great article on the basics. Trust me, we all need something to refer to now and then.

First, I'd most definitely change the needle to 3rd from the top/blunt end. The needle will help everything from 1/8th to 3/4 throttle. Second, I'd get it to idle so you can run it, however you need to do that for right now. Third, I'd get it good and warmed up and run it in 4th or 5th gear wide-open-throttle and kill it dead, for a plug check. Get your main jet running right, and then worry about your pilot. Bogging doesn't always mean rich either, it will bog in some lean situations, so it's best to check the plug so you know why its bogging. Don't even worry about the funny idle or how the pilots doing right now, only worry about the full throttle response, period. Work on the main and get it right. If it does bog and die on the wot run, check the plug before you start it back up to see why it died, your plugs are a direct communication link to your bike. Also, 3/4s of the time, a lean condition feels like its running good until "boom", so you can't go by feel. Fourth, after the main is set and it's running right at full throttle, dial in the pilot. Adjust the pilot so that it starts good and idles good, runs good farting around and has good low end throttle response. The pilot is almost a throttle response thing on these machines. Now, you should be running balls to the walls, sound easy? Unless your at a higher elevation, I believe your a little lean on the main, but I could be wrong. Once you get it to idle, I'd consider throwing a 180 back in it and see how that does. You might end up around 178. You do have all the necessary jets correct? I have a 175 through a 230 main, and a 48 through 60 pilot0 and i use the hell out of them to dial my machine in. Please read the "reading spark plugs" article I posted above, that will really really help in reading plugs. It will help you interpret what's going on so you know how to reply. I don't care how much or little you know, that page has something to help everyone. Play around and let us know. Scott

That's exactly what I was going to say, damn near word for word. RMATV is the place to be.