Andrew Seel's Banshee

Creature Feature

What is it: a leaning three-wheeled maxi scooter - two wheels up front - with an injected 250 engine. The first of several models we'll see on the road.

First impressions: big reserves of grip up front, but otherwise more or less like a normal maxi.

Andrew Seel is in the envious position as the owner of Austraco in being able to pick and choose the aftermarket components he likes best, and many of them just happen to be in his warehouse.

The Banshee you see here was 'purchased cheap' from an auction house in Dallas, Texas. Andrew says it was in poor shape ( "it was a piece of shit actually, but what the hell, I wanted a Banshee"), and since he'd decided to keep the old tart, he thought he might as well go the whole hog and send it to Duncan Racing to see if they could do something with it.

"When it got there they said it was pretty bad", says Andrew. "It needed a top-end rebuild, bearings all around, the clutch was seized, the list just went on and on.

"In the end I asked them to fix it and do as many mods as possible for $US3000, so it came back to me with a fresh top-end, a heavy duty clutch, lightened flywheel, a sticker kit and DR's bolt-on two-stroke kit."

To that Andrew added a Paul Turner head and "a whole bunch of bling". Then he got it back to Australia and kept on spending. The man just couldn't stop modding it. The Banshee got new A-arms, shocks, all Austraco's AC parts, ITP tyres and rims, a G-Force axle, chrome lights and a whole lot more.

Is he satisfied now? Not quite.

"I still can't help myself", he says. "The next stage will be a stroker motor. I'll strip the bike down and powder-coat the chassis, and on the wa back I'll bolt up an aftermarket swingarm".

Is there even a slightly convincing excuse for spending all this money? "Yeah, there is", says Andrew. "I ride a lot with mates who have done similar motor work and geared their Banshees up a lot. They're pulling huge speeds on those things so I need all the power I can get!"