|
By: Chris Hodkinson and TBN Racing Banshee SST Pipes
 Has there ever been a perfect pipe for the Banshee? One
that gives a power boost throughout the whole power
band? You can find pipes that give a performance gain
for the rider who wants more mid to top or bottom to mid
but in either case the other end of the power band
noticeably suffers. Donny Elmer at FMF
Racing set out to build the ultimate pipe for the
Banshees. One that still created the great top end power
of their “Fatty” pipes that the Duners crave but
still has decent power down low for trail riding.
With the help of Dave Simon from Simon Sound Tech ,
they built their newest creation called the “SST”.
At a glance, the SST’s look like the Fatty’s until
you get back to the stinger section just past the
reverse cone. Here is where the secret lies in the SST’s.
Instead of having the stinger tubes the same diameter
all the way from the reverse cone to the silencer. FMF
has put a tapered section in that leads to about a 1”
length that is smaller in diameter then tapers back out
to the larger diameter pipe. The purpose of this section
is to create a fast moving high-pressure “return wave”
to reflect the unburnt fuel charge back into the
cylinder.
Installation
 With
the help of Moto Joe
Racer, we secured a set of pipes for our Banshee.
The installation of the pipes requires a spring puller
plus a 12mm wrench. If you do not own a spring puller, a
set of vice grips will work. They use the stock pipe
hangers and bolt on with ease. Also included in the kit
are main and pilot jets for a stock motor. Access to the
spark plugs and the fuel petcock is excellent.
Do They Work
Once installed, we fired up the test
Banshee. These are the quietest aftermarket pipes we
have ever heard. After some test runs to warm up the
motor and check out jetting we were ready to go. Just
playing around these pipes felt stronger then any
in-frame Banshee pipe we’ve tested. But seat of the
pants riding is deceiving. If you read enough about a
certain product and how it is suppose to perform, your
judgment could be clouded into thinking it really works
when it doesn't. You need something to compare it to
both before and after your
mods. Something that has not changed and still stays
consistent. For this we rolled out our other Banshee.
This Banshee has not changed since we started our pipe
testing except for cleaning the air filter and gassing
it up. OK, now back to the original question, Do they
work? In one simple word “Yes”. Our SST piped
Banshee flat out ran away from the other Banshee. No
other Banshee pipes that we have tested shot the quad
out of the hole as quick, as far, or was as fast on top
as the SST’s. One of our test riders even used a word
that you do not normally hear when talking about the
Banshee when he stated that “the SST’s added more
torque and it needed taller gearing”. There is not an
area in the power band that the SST’s do not excel at.
They pull strong all the way up through the powerband.
The name SST might as well stand for Super Sonic
Turbo the way they perform. Donny and the staff
at FMF have succeeded in creating the ultimate overall
Banshee pipe.
 For
those of you that want to squeak a little more
performance out of the SST’s, FMF has even released a
new “shorty” silencer. With the advantage of gaining
more power there is also a disadvantage of more noise.
With the growing restrictions on noise pollution, we
would advise you to check your riding areas to see what
the decibel requirements are before ordering one.
We would like to thank Moto
Joe Racer for providing out test pipes. If you ever
need any bolt on performance parts, we highly recommend
them. They not only deal with the simple bolt on's like
pipes, they also offer shocks and chassis components.
Next time you need something give them a call, as their
prices are reasonable with outstanding service. Tell
them the “Source” sent ya! For more information on Moto
Joe Racer, check out their website.
Moto
Joe Racer
4680 LosAngeles Ave.
STE1
Simi Valley CA
93063
Phone: 805.520.3850
|
