used 1200s question

[adrian jones]

I have owned various suzukis, currently looking to trade a 805 marauder for a 1200s Bandit. Have had "ZERO" trouble from the Marauder. Anything I should "watch" or look for in the Bandit??? It looks good and was adult owned, but has a BUNCH (32,000) miles.

Please advise.

[land_shark]

- See if the previous owner added a jet kit and/or 2" hole mod to the airbox.
- Are the pilot screw caps drilled out?
- needles shimmed?
- Look for leaky fork seals.
- Check for little balls of rubber under the rear fender = burn-outs!
- at 32k miles, the chain and sprockets should have been replaced at least once.

Those first three points are some of the 'more likely' mods done by bandit owners.  They aren't necessarily bad things.  The last three are probably pretty general for any used bike.  The bike is pretty bullet-proof, and if it was indeed adult owned, I doubt there will be any major, or hidden issues.  Hope this helps a little  

Jason

[2005B12S]

On any bike with that many miles, I would require a compression check.

[Wooddog]

What year is it ?  You may have heard about some of the 2001 and 2002 Bandits having problems with Oil Burning, I have a 2002 and it never has used any oil but some of the other guys have had some problems.  Nothing that cant be fixed. Other than that the Bandit is a very Dependable, low maintenance Motorcycle.  I have heard of bandits with 100,000 plus miles with no trouble.

[chevsuz12]

I have a 99 b12 with 27,400 miles.  And everything works great, still original fork seals (no leaks)  does not burn oil, still has original rear sprocket (still looks new), although the front has been replaced with a smaller one, and the chain was replaced around 20,000 miles.  

This bike still has arm snapping power!  My bike is getting old, but truthfully there is not another bike out there that I would replace it with!

Good luck.

[Red01]

Biggest thing to watch for coming from a Marauder is the throttle. The B12 resonds with a helluva lot more vigor when twisted. If you're not careful, it can lead to license problems. Following closely behind that is the brakes, they'll bleed off that speed real quick, too.

OH!   You mean mechanical problems? Other than the occasional oil burner in the 2001-2002 models (and by 32K the PO would certainly know if this one was affected and if it was, should have been fixed), nothing you wouldn't look for in any used machine. 32K is nothing for these bikes. Mine's >40K and still doin' great. Lots have seen 100K and some even 200-300K. Ones that don't make 100K are either neglected or wrecked.

[rider123]

I agree with red these bikes are very hard to kill 32,000 is nothing. Hell on my 1984 GS750EF(same design but 750) I have 87,000 kms with no problems. I did a top end rebuild at 80,000 kms and she was good as new! Still gets great power and all pistons and rings were well within spec when taken apart. In fact, when I opened up the top end it looked almost new after god knows how many owners and what maintenance. It's really hard to go wrong on these bikes. THe only bad thing about them is the stock jetting which mine was horrid from the factory but the dealer drilled out the plugs and I fixed that myself. At 32K it's probably already fixed on the bike your going to buy so don't worry.

There is one major problem with these bikes though. If you're wife won't be coming on your rides she's not going to see very often!!! Also it seems you will be buying gas alot and not seeing friends if they don't ride either. Get them to buy one as well! Also Red did mention the dreaded "open throttle, big grin" problem that's on these bikes. Coming from a Marauder, the Bandit will make you feel like your on after burners!

[fritobandito]

I totally agree about the throttle thing. I came from an '85 Honda Shadow 1100 and there is such a huge difference with the Bandit it's unreal. Definitely get a bug cleaner for your teeth.