The Banshee Goes Ballistic
THE BANSHEE GOES BALLISTIC
THE SCENE IS A DRY lake bed in the Southern California desert, with heat waves rising even in the early morning, a prelude to another sun-bleached day. I nod at Camron, idling beside me on his hotted-up Quadracer 500. We both peg the throttles and the drag race is on.
Through the first three gears, his Suzuki and my Banshee are tethered together. grunt versus zap, but then the Yamaha hits its stride and lays some motor on the big Quad. In top gear, the Banshee goes ballistic, 10 to 15 miles an hour faster than the Suzuki. I take a glance back at Camron and wiggle the handlebar, sending a roostertail of dirt his way.
The break-in runs are over. We're ready for The Hill.
Actually, w/hen we decided to return to the hill. I was convinced that the only thing that would get either machine over the crest was a strap-on Saturn V booster; but after recalling Wile E.
Coyote’s painful experiences with that method of propulsion. 1 decided that a call to Ken Boyko at Phase Five Racing w'as a better choice. Phase Five is a kind of clearing house for ATV
engine performance parts, a company that has contacts with various aftermarket manufacturers and can put together a package of engine modifications to suit your own particular needs. 1 told Boyko what we had in mind for the Banshee, but insisted that we didn't w^ant to end up with a four-wheeled toggle switch, that it had to be ridable in a wide variety of terrain.
First came cylinder modifications, in the form of porting, polishing and headmilling, performed by Weil der Dv na mies. À Mikuni carb kit from White Bros, (including a twistgrip throttle), two FMF reedcage assemblies and a K&N paper air filter made sure the enlarged ports could breathe properly. Cobra Engineering provided the exhaust pipes, silencers and spark arrestors.
To match all the power that the Phase Five components promised, a suspension upgrade was in order. So we contacted Gil Vaillancourt of Works Performance Products, who sent us an Ultracross rear shock with remote reservoir, a beautiful piece of work that looks like it belongs on display in a technical museum. He also included two new front shocks, also reservoir-equipped. I told Vaillancourt what the Banshee would be used for, and he chose spring rates and damping settings to suit, something Works Performance does for all its customers.
Phase Five chipped in with one more mod: a Durablue Pro Series 2 rear axle, stronger than stock and four inches wider. And like Killa Quadzilla, the Ballistic Banshee was shod with Mitchell spun-aluminum wheels and Padla Brat sand tires in preparation for our assault on the hill.
Together, the engine and suspension changes have transformed the Banshee— already awesomely fast in stock form—into something that literally screams through its six gears, and soaks up just about any kind of obstacle in terra firma's book of tricks. The price for all the mods is stratospheric; but the potent, TZ350-roadracer-like snarl that gets past the silencers, and the way the Yamaha yanks its front wheels into the air when all that power is summoned, are almost worth the price of admission by themselves.
There is a toll extracted for all this arm-stretching fun, however, and it comes in the form of a narrowed and peakier powerband. If you spend a lot of time riding on tight, rocky trails, the Ballistic Banshee feels more like a bust. You’d probably make better time on a good 250 four-stroke. Blast it though a fireroad sweeper, though, or power down a sandwash, or fire it at the face of a tall dune, and you’re rewarded with what has to be the most exciting ride in ATVing.
David Edwards
