I am a Bandit Believer!!!

[Jehu Bandit]

Day before yesterday (Saturday) was a very, very good day for me!

Two of my great pleasures in life are flying and riding motorcycles. Yesterday morning I took off in one of our flying club's airplanes (an Arrow if anyone is interested) for the 300 miles flight to where my new (leftover '04) Bandit waited.

Took off in what is typical summer near the shore marginal VFR and got our clearance in-the-air. VFR or VFR-on-top conditions for most of the flight, bit of an exciting descent through the clouds (lotta energy in water! ) and a greaser of a landing if i don't say so myself. Another club member flew the plane back home.

The dealership owner picked me up at the airport. He knew who I was because I was the only guy with a helmet and I knew who he was because he was wearing a SUZUKI jacket and seemed to be lookiing for someone with a helmet.

Been years since I have been on a UJM. Most of my miles have been on Harleys. I've been lurking here and other sites with useful information (many links from this great site) and learned much about this unsung hero of the Suzuki line-up.

Pulling out of the dealership, short shifting by UJM standards, I thought that the bike had an electric engine NOT an internal combustion engine!!! After about fifty miles of loading/unloading the engine I started going past 4500, but not past 5000. WOW, this thing has snot! It handles, stops, starts and does everything a motorcycle should do and does it well.

After about 100 miles or so I started going up to the recommended breakin max of 5500 rpm (alright maybe I hit 6000 once or twice on the short interstate segments) OMG - WOW- HS this is some bike!    

It was 335 miles of varied rpm, loading and unloading the engine - all the way home. The seat got a little hard near the end and the shifter seems finicky compared to the bump/clunk I've been used to for years but the acceleration, handling, acceleration, stopping ability, acceleration, looks, acceleration, sounds, acceleration and overall personality of this bike are awesome. I can't believe I did not do this sooner. Now I know what i have been missing.

I changed the oil as soon as I got home using Rotella T 15W-40 and a rip off $13.00 filter from the local rip-off Suzuki dealer (couldn't get a Wix or other standard, non-Suzuki, filter ANYWHERE without ordering it). Yesterday morning I re-adjusted the chain, took the labels off, waxed it (OK, my son waxed it) and gave everything a once over then took it for a ride before church. What a great bike.

Yesterday afternoon, a bunch of my Harley friends and I went for a ride. I took the Night Train - it was good, but now I have eyes for another.

BTW: I want to thank all of you here who steered me in this direction either wittingly or unknowingly through my reading of your posts of old!

[PeteSC]

  We're proud to say, we've made quite a few Harley riders 'see the light'!

 

  The bike is quiet with the stock exhaust.....most Bandits don't stay that way.

  When i picked up my '99 1200, new, after not having a bike for 20 some years, I rode it home 10 miles from the dealership,read the owners manual, checked over nuts and bolts, packed a spare set of clothes, and headed to a relatives house 200 miles away for an overnight trip.   I took back roads and took it easy, since the salesman had really tried to warn/scare me about the power.  I did open it up a couple of times.....   I bought the bike on a saturday, and was back at the dealer for the 600 mile service on Monday.

  I can't take much credit for the information here.  I just provide the 'sponge' to absorb it.....

[banditII]

Your not kidding either Jehu!!  The Bandit is a great and often overlooked bike.  I'm a new member of the group too.  I had a 2001 Bandit back then and traded it off like an idiot.  Over time I realized what a great bike I had so I just bought a 2005 Bandito.  It's the best all round bike I've ever owned and I've ridden quite a few bikes in recent years.  I was a return rider in 2000 having grown up on bikes.  A 1970 Honda Z50 mini trail was my first bike at age 7.  The motorcycle mags have forgotten about the bandit but I haven't.  It's old tech air / oil cooled and only five speeds.............but it flat works, and really - I prefer only having to deal with five gears anyway.  Plus, the Bandit looks sooooo much better than the FZ1 in my opinion.  And the Cow ZRX has very limited wind protection and a much higher mounted muffler which interferes with soft luggage.  I'm jazzed!!  I've got my Bandit back!!

Warren
2005 Suzuki 1200 Bandit
2003 Cow 9R

[B6mick]

 and Another convert among us, just goes to show that   Rock

[Jehu Bandit]

So far (about 500 miles) I have no interest in a jet kit, timing advance, airbox mods or anything else except maybe a muffler that lets me hear the engine a little more.

What's an inexpensive modestly more freeflowing muffler that I oculd bolt on and likely avoid re-jetting or other mods?

[banditII]

You might check Staintune exhausts which are tuneable, you can dial in how much noise you want.  Lot's of people use Dale Walker's "Holeshot Performance" exhausts.  I once put some cobra pipes on a 800 Marauder and the new pipes completely tore up the low end performance.  I put the stockers back on.  I'm leaving my bike completely stock.  You can get considerable more performance with the Holeshot kit's with exhaust, jet kit and free flow filters, and even more with the gixxer 1100 cams and ignition advance.  Gives the Bandit the real top end it had before it was re-turned for torque, but I'm leaving mine alone.  I've learned with my 9R sportbike ( which has that top end rush ) that I rarely get over 8K rpm on the street.  I still like to tach it up now and then mind you, but I've found that the Bandit is the most perfectly tuned bike for the street that I've ever had.  Go monkeying with the exhaust and such without re-jetting is a risk, however, someone out there may have had some good luck with a particular set up.  Holeshot also offers a street ( Less Noisy ) slip on which may provide the sound your looking for and may not tear up the low end. I've heard the holeshot pipes, they have a deep good sound to them, but their straight race pipes are too loud for me.  Good luck.

Warren

[oremike]

I like the Yosh TRS, good deep sound but not race can loud.  In fact I get a lot of complements on the sound. One thing is that more sound= less restriction. The Bandits are EPA mandated to run lean so a less restrictive muffler might lean the mix out more. You can adjust the mixture a bit if you drill out the EPA plugs over the mixture screws. I set mine at 3 3/4 turns out. If you're still not happy, fear not. Exelent jet kits are avalable form both Holeshot and Ivans Performance. I have the Ivans kit in my B12 and am very happy with the 20%gain in power as messured by my Butt-O-Meter
Mike M.

[gtbandit]

Here's a link to Holeshot's dyno charts: http://www.holeshot.com/. (Click on Dyno charts in the upper left hand corner.) With Dale's slip-on or full exhaust you don't loose a thing anywhere in the powerband. I would suspect this to be true of most exhaust for the 1200 Bandit. Good luck finding dyno charts from any of the other brands though. Those dyno numbers have been backed up by a handfull of customers who dynoed their own bikes. Also, you can add just a slip-on without hurting performance. But, rejetting will make a noticeable improvement in power delivery.

[amboman]

Congrats to Jehu Bandit for entering the fold of Bandit owners.  I to am a new convert from the cruiser style motorcycle to the awesome power of the Bandit.  I have bought a 2005 B12 naked version and am kicking myself for not buying one years ago when all of my mates did.  Now I'm not the one at the rear!!!!  

[chippi]

Found my own left over (03 with 05 starting to hit the floor). Traded in the cruiser for something I could have more performance in the twisties. The Bandit's ability to Go Twist and Stop is the reason I like to ride!!

Keep us posted on what can/setup you pick.

[banditoverde]

 

[Ampster]

jEHU nICE TO SEE YOU HERE! wELCOME TO OUR WORLD!

[Red01]

back Chris!  

[Silverstreak]

There's no place I'd rather be than coming out of a tight turn in second gear and hitting nine grand. I love that sound.