44 ATV SPORT .

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1999
OUR YAMAHA BANSHEE WAS UNDERGOING A SERIOUS IDENTITY CRISIS. It had been
through anumber of aftermarket parts, someit liked, someit didnt. It also has acomplete
makeover recently, and it was feeling better becauseof it. But what it needed most wereengine
mods that worked, and it needed them fast. Or is that, it needed to go fast?Yeah, that last one.
Thats it.
Wedidnt want to do just another Bansheemodification article. And besides, our Yamahahas
somespecial needs. You see, its ported, big time.
Its first project was performed by quad-performancenewbieRossier Engineering of
Holeshot Banshee!
Duncan Racing Puts Together
A Fast Team Of Parts
By Glenn Hansen
Details
Who: Duncan Racing,
(619) 258-6306
What: Find our YamahaBanshee
Why:Turn this Bansheeinto a
holeshot stealing, corner
sliding, MXer.
How Much:$2,004
Holeshot Banshee!
Our Holeshot Banshee slides through
c orners and is ready to rip its way out
with blazing speed.
Wisconsin. Rossiers acetwo-strokespecialists (years building super fast
Sea-Doo raceboats) took our Bansheefor awhileand turned the
cylinder into Swiss cheese. Dont get mewrong, that was finebecause
they also madeit super fast (seeFebruary 1999 issue).
It gets difficult trying to match someones porting to someoneelses
pipes, carbs, and intakespecs. Wetook all theperformanceparts off of
that Rossier-modified Bansheeand returned them. It was afun ride, but
far too much top end for thesmall motocross tracks weridemost often.
Weneeded big low-end power. Wewanted aBansheethat ripped off the
starting lineand out of corners.
Wecalled Duncan Racings Loren Duncan, builder of themotocross
Banshees ridden by Open-class champ Travis Spader. Weknew Duncan
could tell us what weneeded. And if wesounded kindasorry and pathetic
(not hard to do), hed even build theparts in ahurry and rush themoff to us.
Performance Parts Team
Duncan wasnt so quick to simply send us parts. Hehad understandable
concern about thecylinder work that had been done. Hewasnt familiar
with Rossiers work, and normally liked to look at thecylinders and
verify theporting specs. Wedidnt havetimeto mail thecylinder to
California, so wegot theporting specs from Rossier and passed them on
to Duncan. With this info, hewas ready to prescribetheright medicine
for our rideneeds. All wehad to work with was apair of ported Banshee
cylinders, and aslightly modified airbox. Thestock head was milled to
raisecompression, though westill ran high-octanepump gas.
Duncan recommended Paul Turner midrangepipes with Duncan Fat
Boy silencers. On theintakeside, hesaid wecould usethestock airbox,
but would need anew K&N filter, and aPro Design intakeflange. From
there, theair would mix with thefuel in Keihin PJ34mmcarburetors. It
would enter thecylinders through theuniquePyramid reed valves and
reeds, with theadded benefit of aMaster Flow intakemanifold system.
Wealso added aMotion Pro twist throttle(easily themost
controversial product installed on this machineamong our test riders),
and new Tag Metal handlebars. Graphics and seat work was provided
by OneIndustries.
Finally, and avery important addition to this recreational MXer, are
theITP Holeshot tires and aluminum wheels. Wewent with the18-inch
rear holeshots, amust sizefor any MX track riding.
I know what yourethinking. How can weturn this Bansheeinto an
MX machineand still run thestock chassis and suspension?, you ask.
Well, wecant really, but wecan only do so much in oneproject. You
haveto giveus room for further modifications.
Read, Then Wrench
Thenext best thing to having Loren Duncan personally build your
engine(wedidnt) is to havehim writeyour instruction guide(wedid).
Of course, wedidnt read theinstructions right away, and weresuitably
embarrassed when wecalled Duncan wondering why our Banshee
wouldnt idlecorrectly. Heasked is wed followed theinstructions
exactly. Wesaid, No. And wewent right back to thetool box and the
installation project.
The installation is actually very easy, you simply need to make
sure that you follow the provided guidelines for carburetor setup.
Once we had the proper jets installed, and had set the mix and idle
screws to precisely the right spot, we got closer to a tuned Banshee.
Onevery important aspect of Bansheetuning, and thekey to getting
ours to idleproperly, is in synchronizingthosetwin carburetors. The
Keihins connected to theMotion Pro twist throttlemadethis alittleeasier
than stock. Its also easiest to do this with theairbox removed, but it can be
donewith thebox in place. If thecarbs arent openingand closingexactly
in synch, theenginewont run correctly. If yourereally good, you can hear
thecarbs open and closetogether (with theengineoff, of course).
To get theaftermarket carburetors to fit in thechassis, youll need to
slightly bend theclutch cableconnection to thecase. You need theextra
clearancefor theKeihins deeper float bowl.
Theonly other real modifying you need to do for this installation is
at theairbox. Therubber ducts that connect thebox to thenew carbs
need to becut down in length to fit. Nothing that asharp knifeor good
set of clippers cant handle.
Every other aspect of this installation was simple, and clearly
laid out in Duncans instructions. The pipes and mufflers fit
perfectly, and that doesnt always happen with aftermarket
components. All the mounting hardware and brackets matched like
they came from the factory. The boost bottle and the reeds were
also easy to install, even twice since I mounted them incorrectly
before reading the instructions.
No chassis or suspension mods, yet, but we did feel the need to
get rid of the stock tires and wheels. Its not that the stockers are that
bad, theyre just not durable or solid enough to stand up to MX
we c hose the unfinished pipes, though most people pre-
fer the c hrome version.
The Master Flow intake manifold and Pyramid reed valves
really boost throttle response.
ATV SPORT . NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1999 45
track riding. And there is so much better equipment available
from the aftermarket.
WechoseITPs smallest Holeshot tires on theITP aluminum
wheels. Wewent with the18-inch rear tires and the19-inch fronts.
And what adifferencerubber can make.
Wecould havechanged sprocket sizes to makethemost of our
enginepower and tirechoices, but wedidnt. Wefound themachineto
haveplenty of MX ridingoomph. And wecan easily changeback to the
stock tires for woods riding, without haveto worry about sprocket sizes.
Theother improvements wemadeto this Bansheewe
highlighted in our last issue. Thequad was looking tired, so we
stripped it clean of its old stickers and graphics. Weshined up the
plastic with Plastic Renew, and weinstalled anew graphics kit and
seat cover from OneIndustries. Thestickers and seat cover are
holding up very well to all of our riding timeabuse.
The Real Test
Whilewecan tell you how much weenjoy thesemods (and we
will), and how our Bansheereally burns up an MX track (and it
does), well let thenumbers speak for themselves first.
Weused our Stalker Acceleration Testing System radar gun and
softwareto measurethemachines newfound power. Compared to
thestock Banshee(though this Bansheehasnt been stock for several
months), this Duncan-prepped rideis arocket.
Check out these numbers (gleaned from our new Stalker
radar gun and software system). In stock form a Banshee still
feels very quick posting a 0 to 30 MPH time of about 3.6
seconds. Top speed for a stocker is about 72 MPH. Our Duncan
prepped Banshee didnt gain anything on top, but we were
looking for low- and mid-range boosts, and we went to smaller
rear tires.
Pro rac er Daryl Rath
whooped it up on the
Holeshot Banshee.
Pro rac er Daryl Rath
whooped it up on the
Holeshot Banshee.
The0 to 30 MPHtimes on our Duncan
Bansheeaveraged 2.13 seconds. Themachine
got to 60 in 5.85 seconds. Shedidnt havea
lot moreafter that. But on amotocross track,
youll seldom, if ever, find astraight run that
lasts six seconds.
Wheres all that low-end coming from?
Theintakemods certainly havealot to do
with it. Theuniquely-shaped Pyramid reed
valves with reeds angling up theoutsideof
thecage givethis machinemuch-
improved throttleresponse.
These extra reeds allow the fuel-air
mix to enter the cylinder much more
quickly at the first twist of the throttle, yet
they also keep the mix flowing powerfully
at high RPM.
Duncan builds the intake with a larger
opening to the boost bottle mounted above
to take more advantage of that component.
The bottle alone is certainly not a big power
producer, Duncan admits. But the engine
needs some sort of equalizer he says, and
his design seems to work well. Its the
combination of the reeds, the reed cage and
Sources:
Duncan Racing (619) 258-6306
Motion Pro (650) 329-0427
ITP (909) 923-7753
Tag Metals (619) 531-1170
OneIndustries (619) 239-1160
PC Racing (909) 698-4962
The filter and intake kit work well
with the pipes.
The Banshees exterior was assisted
by One Industries and Tag Metals.
boost bottle that helps
give this Banshee such
strong low-end power.
Just a split-second
later, you can feel the
Paul Turner midrange
pipes get into their
rhythm, and the middle
of the power curve is
seriously strong.
While we definitely
enjoy our new radar gun,
we were eager to stow it
and the laptop and the
camera back in their
proper cases and ride.
It will certainly be fun to make this machine a little wider,
and to give it new suspension. But for the weekend rider and
novice racer, it really doesnt need it. The smaller Holeshot tires
lower the Banshee enough to give it a racier feel. But the biggest
bonus of these treads is felt going through corners. These 18-
inchers slide through corners seriously fast, all the time letting
you control the straight-line traction. You can stop the skid
where you want, then twist the throttle and power your way
out. Just be ready to move your weight forward, or the engine
power will have you on your back. I
Peak Speed 0-30 MPH 0-60 MPH
Trial MPH sec sec
Duncan Racing 59.8 2.13 5.85
Prices:
Paul Turner Pipes
and Fat Boy Silencer $459
Pyramid Reeds $199
Boost bottle& manifold $229
Carb kit (w/throttle) $379
Air Filter & Flange $69
Outerwears $14
OneIndustries Graphics $139
Tag Metal Bars $80
ITPtires and Wheels $436
Total $2,004