562cc MONSTER BANSHEE

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TOO MUCH IS BARELY ENOUGH

Bruce Owen at C&O Racing in Redondo Beach, CA, knows there are few production quads that can match the thrill and shrill of Yamaha’s twin-cylinder, two-stroke howler: the 350cc Banshee. Of course, though, his personal machine has to be one up on the stocker. It begs the question when is…”Too Much, Barely Enough?”

In this case, Bruce has one-upped it all the way to a whopping 562cc Monster Banshee hill rac­er! He claims his Sano-looking Ban­shee eats even bigger-bore Banshees for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at Glamis’ infamous Oldsmobile Hill.

“I’m running an 8mm stroker kit with 76mm pistons, and rods out of an RD400, “ says Owen. “The heads are cut and milled. I’m running 205 pounds of engine compression with lightened flywheels. We use twin 39mm Keihin PWK carbs and 114-octane VP racing fuel. I’ve beaten al­co­hol-, nitrous- and turbo-powered Ban­shees and Hondas up the hill at Glamis. I haven’t been beaten yet at Oldsmobile.”

POWER TO THE GROUND

TOO MUCH IS BARELY ENOUGH

At more than six feet tall and 230 pounds, Bruce is able to get a good hook-up off the line on his 562cc Ban­shee. Help­ing get the power to the ground is a 7.5-inch-over-length chro­moly swingarm with super-light Skat-Trak 9 paddle sand tires on the back end. A unique clutchless over-ride system al­lows him to bang it through the gears without using the clutch.

“With my 22-inch superlight and drilled out and lightened Chromoly subframe you need to finesse it off the line to get a good start,“ says Bruce. “We do our own porting mods to get the motor to crank even harder. This is one rocketship quad!”

Q&A WITH BRUCE

DW: What’s it like to ride the 562 Banshee?
Bruce: You had better hang on! The front end wants to come up real fast. I use the rear brake to keep it down and control the machine off the start.

DW: How is it once it hits the pipe?
Bruce: It comes alive and cranks out close to 90 horses once the fires are lit and it’s hooking up on race gas. With alcohol we can get close to 105 horsepower. It’s a real adrenaline rush to ride.

DW: What are your future plans for the 562?
A: I’m already working on a 660 Ban­shee. My company [C&O Racing] will specialize in making these big-bore monster machines for anyone who cares to try their hand at hill competition.

TOO MUCH IS BARELY ENOUGH

562cc BANSHEE
Rider  |  Bruce Owen
Builder  | C&O Racing

Quad

• Model ’93 Yamaha Banshee
• Weight  |  311 lb.
• Frame  |  Stock ’93 modified with chromoly

Engine

• Displacement  |  562cc
• Bore & Stroke  |  76mm X 62mm
• Compression  |  205 lb.
• Porting  |  C&O Racing
• Head  |  Cut & milled by C&O
• Pistons  |  Wiseco 76mm
• Rod  |  RD400
• Ignition/timing  |  Stock/advanced 8°
• Flywheel  |  Lightend by C&O
• Spark plugs  |  NGKB8
• Reed cage/reeds  |  Yamaha 350
• Carburetors  |  Twin Keihin 39 PWK’s
• Pipes  |  Custom C&O Racing pipes
• Filter  |  K&N

Drive system

• Clutch/transmission  |  Clutchless override system/6-speed
• Chain  |  QR 520
• Gearing  |  f/r 15/44

Front end

• A-arms  |  Stock
• Spindles & steering  |  Stock
• Shock  |  Stock

Rearend

• Swingarm | C&O Racing
• length | 7.5” over stock
• weight |  14.5 lb.
• Axle | Stock
• Shock | Marvin Shaw

Tires

• Front | Skat-Trak Smoothies 20×10-18
• Rear | Skat-Trak Super light 9-paddle 22×10-8
• Tire | PSI f/r 4.5 psi/4–5 psi
• Wheels | f/r Douglas Blue Label
• Hubs Stock

Miscellaneous

• Handlebars | Renthal aluminum
• Throttle | Stock thumb
• Brake | lever Stock
• Seat | Custom color and embroidery by Cascade
• Paint | Custom orders through C&O Racing only

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