Bandit, Crotch Rocket

[mademiriam]

I think you make a good point, the standard class is disappearing everywhere. I don't think of the Bandit as a crotch rocket.  Crotch rockets to me are the super sports.
I've always owned bikes that didn't really match any of the traditional pegs on the board.
The reality is that motorcycling is just exploding with new riders right now. And while there are always some that do it for the pleasure of two wheels, there are more and more that simple do it for image. Those guys either go for true crotch rocket, or the chromed up cruisers.  I know you've seen them, they need to get their tires changes because they are OLD, not worn out. They sit in the coffee shop parking lots in their full leather race suits all evening and then drive home for 10 min. Maybe pulling a wheelie alongside a family in a mini van.
I love the bandit exactly because it doesn't fit in a predetermined mold. Just think of this board, half of them are putting in GSXR cams while the other half (and sometimes the same person) is talking about hard luggage. To me that sounds perfect, I can't afford to keep all the bikes I want, so the Bandit has to be able to pull double and triple duty. With everyone being an average rider I have had no problem keeping up to R1 and GSXR1000 on my old 82 GPZ 550 mind you I was working the revs a little but they can only loose you on a straight. And yes when you pull in to the gas station to fuel up and the boys look back and a mere girl kept up with them on some ugly old bike...well that look is all worth it. The 550 wasn't much fun on the highway though, it was decent but not something I'd want to do for over 5 hours a day. Haven't taken the bandit on a long trip yet but I will, and with the help of  a few mods from this board it should be comfortable.  
Image is nothing, the ride is everything.
...this is a lot longer than I thought it would be

[Red01]

True- for the above..BUT  regular people classify bikes as Crotch Rockets or Cruisers or Tourers.

of those three- our mostly matches the CR.  My dad calls mine a crotch rocket...well more like- "he went off and bought a damn cratch rocket!"

Only when you get into the motorcycle community do people rally know the different classes of bikes.I know that down here in the south,  all the sportbikes and naked sport bikes and called a crotch rocket.  Any thing with a fairing(even half fairing) is considered a sportbike.  The Standard class of bike has largely disappeared from the USA- we just don't get them.

+1! And I think that's the idea behind what was originally posted.

OTOH, even WITHIN the m/c comminity, espcially in the cruiser crowd, the Bandit (S model) is looked on as a "crotch rocket."  I hear it from those types all the time. I was showing my bike to a HD riding co-worker and he immediately dismissed it that way. It wasn't until he actually sat on it that he realized it was sporty looking, but didn't make you feel like a monkey humping a football. Then I told him to take it for a ride and he came back with a big grin and an understanding of why we like our Bandits. He didn't sell his bagger for one, but did say if there was to be another bike in his garage, something like would fit the bill quite nicely.

Sportbikers tend to know that a Bandit is "sporting standard."
Maybe that's because the read a more well-rounded media, where cruisers tend to read the media dedicated to their niche?

[stormi]

Interestingly enough, I met a Bandit rider in town the other week, and he said he thought the 919 was a cruiser!?!?! when he first saw it.  A lot of non-MC people that I've run into will ask me if it's a crotch rocket. (To which I usually answer -sort of-, then explain why it's not technically, but why it has similarities - like the fireblade heritage in it's blood) I find a lot of MC people curious about the 919 here.  I get stopped a lot and asked about it.  The GM ( a former MX racer, who rides an RC51) at my local Honda dealer -finally- took one for a ride about a week ago, he can't stop raving about it.

Most people who stop me to talk to me about the Bandit say things like "what a pretty little bike"...  I'm talking little old grey haired ladies     Which is a lot of what I liked when I first saw her, and still do.  She's so not intimidating.  A real ice breaker for the MC community here.

[LowRyter]

ya 'know I was thinking about getting one of those.......that's cheaper than a opti-crap..and I've gotten two in the last 3 years.  

Also, have you done a the throttle body?  I am really not sure if it's the Opti or the butterflys are a little notchy.

I've never dyno'd mine.  It's a great drivin' car when it's clicking.  You can steer that solid back axle with the right foot.

I own a '94 Z-28 6 speed.  It used to spank 911s, but after 130k miles the optispark coughs a lot I am afraid to check- again)....It still steers & shifts better than a Boxster

The B12 has 57k miles

"Is that one of those Crotch Rockets?"

"Ahhh, yeah, more or less."

....shakes head

I respond with "About like how a Camaro is a sports car."
It's usually something they can understand.  

I put the MSD pro billet opti in mine...picked up 14 rwhp and 12 rwtq-  sure it is 450 bucks- but well worth it in my opinion....and yes, newer F-bodies were very much a sports car.  Though most still consider them a 'tweener:  somewhere between a sprorts and muscle car.


The Bandit a Crotch rocket....more so than any other type of bike....but still in a class of it's own.

[LowRyter]

if Webster's Dictionary had a picture under "motorcycle" it would be a Gen 1 Bandit S.  

That would have replaced the photo of a '65 Sportster or a '67 Triumph.

[LowRyter]

I always thought the dividing line from standard to crotch rocket was the handle bars vs clip-ons.

.....but that is really hard to explain.  Of course, I always thought my Camaro WAS a sportscar....dunno 'buot the B12.

[stormi]

Clip-ons and bars can be changed so easily that it wouldn't make sense for it to be the only deciding factor.  Another difference is also the rpm of the motor, and it's "tuning", for instance, the "crotch rockets" tend to rev to what,.. 15+ K rpm? (I don't think I've ever looked),

Then the Bandits, and the Hornets, while still using the engines of the Gixxer and the CBR (Fireblade), are typically detuned engines.  They make less HP, and less torque, BUT, they tend to make it lower.  The engines are not as high strung, making them more pleasant and manageable to ride. Then of course there's the seating position.  More upright, and feet more underneath you, than up and back.  A nice easily controllable position.  (An excellent position for learning to ride a bike too.)

They also tend toward slightly more naked looks, concentrating on more "Tank and Engine" styling.

As for the Camaro/Firebird/Mustang being a sportscar, in the traditional sense, IMNSHO, I don't think it is.  It's a pony car, not firmly in the high price, high performance, no back seat category that the corvette, Porsche or the exotics live in.  More like a reasonable facsimile for the "rest of us".   That's not to say that they can't be played with and made to run as fast as the "true" sports cars, in fact, I think that was part of the appeal of them.   People expect(ed) to buy them and mod the hell out of them.  

Now before you jump on me for that, I learned to drive on a Camaro, bought (and still own) a firebird as my first car, and own a new Mustang.  Long before I belonged to, or ran this forum, I was a regular on the Fbody ( Firebird and Camaros) forums, and this was a regular point of "discussion" on there.

[LowRyter]

WOW !!!!!!

You must be a popular gal!

Clip-ons and bars can be changed so easily that it wouldn't make sense for it to be the only deciding factor.  Another difference is also the rpm of the motor, and it's "tuning", for instance, the "crotch rockets" tend to rev to what,.. 15+ K rpm? (I don't think I've ever looked),

Then the Bandits, and the Hornets, while still using the engines of the Gixxer and the CBR (Fireblade), are typically detuned engines.  They make less HP, and less torque, BUT, they tend to make it lower.  The engines are not as high strung, making them more pleasant and manageable to ride. Then of course there's the seating position.  More upright, and feet more underneath you, than up and back.  A nice easily controllable position.  (An excellent position for learning to ride a bike too.)

They also tend toward slightly more naked looks, concentrating on more "Tank and Engine" styling.

As for the Camaro/Firebird/Mustang being a sportscar, in the traditional sense, IMNSHO, I don't think it is.  It's a pony car, not firmly in the high price, high performance, no back seat category that the corvette, Porsche or the exotics live in.  More like a reasonable facsimile for the "rest of us".   That's not to say that they can't be played with and made to run as fast as the "true" sports cars, in fact, I think that was part of the appeal of them.   People expect(ed) to buy them and mod the hell out of them.  

Now before you jump on me for that, I learned to drive on a Camaro, bought (and still own) a firebird as my first car, and own a new Mustang.  Long before I belonged to, or ran this forum, I was a regular on the Fbody ( Firebird and Camaros) forums, and this was a regular point of "discussion" on there.

[stormi]

Huh?

[dgm0967]

Does it really matter? I think the Bandit is a nice middle of the road bike. However , chromed V-twins have their appeal and scary fast bikes have theirs. Either way, it's more fun on 2 wheels.  

[stormi]

Where it matters is when the ins companies lump you in with all the GSXR600 and CBR 600 squids, and charge you accordingly.  

[smooth operator]

I tell them, not really, its listed as a standard motorcycle,but it can be anything you want it to be. Its trully a do-it-all motorcycle. It can be tailored to fit the bill for tour duty,comute duty, horse play duty,track duty. Wichever you most enjoy.    Dan

[ZenMan]

Where it matters is when the ins companies lump you in with all the GSXR600 and CBR 600 squids, and charge you accordingly.  

That was one of the main selling points for me... insurance.  

A good rider on a Bandit can keep up with, or even beat, an average rider on a "crotch-rocket", and still pay only a fraction of insurance for what the squid pays on his Gixxer.

And as it's been said here, flexability is key. You can't easily take a Gixxer and make it into an excellent sport-touring machine without a lot of expensive mods.

The Bandit lends itself to so many directions of modification... streetfighter, track bike, drag racer, touring, etc. without any radical alterations to the basic machine... i.e. frame, engine, front end... just a few tweaks here and there is all that's needed.

Love my Bandit!  

[banditone1250s]

Although I do ride a Bandit I am the least mechanically inclined person that you would meet. I hear a lot about "tuning and/or de-tuning" a bike and to be honest, I don't have a clue what that means in specific. If it is not too much to ask, would someone mind explaining to me what all this means as far as what you can do to improve the Bandit. And oh yeah, what would be the difference in tuning one with carburators and one with fuel injection? Would it help the bikes performance? Horse Power/ Torque... What are some of the things that you can do to improve the Bandits performance? Weight/H.P.... I would like my Bandit to be the best performimg Bandit out there but there is no way that  can get it there on my own...Banditone1250s...

[skyrider]

The Official Quebec Sportsbike Checklist.

Muffler directed toward the rear and upward;

...as opposed to it pointing forward?  Man, if Oregon politicians get wind of this, we're screwed.  They'll come up with something like, "Any two-wheeled, motorized vehicle that that has two wheels and a motor will be assesed a tax...all other two wheeled, motorized vehicles are exempt."