New 1250/650 Bandits

[ZenMan]

Hey, no offense taken! Bikes are very individual tastes. I'm not going to rain on anyone's parade, the '06 is a fine looking motorcycle, and the black engine looks great!  

I had a choice to buy a new '06 1200, or order the '07 1250 and wait. I chose the '07 mainly because of the fuel injection and the liquid cooled engine. I've had fuel injected bikes before and they tend to spoil ya... instant throttle response, super-smooth power, fuel efficiency, and they're so easy to tweak. Plus the liquid cooling helps reduce head temperatures, and cooler temps mean more HP's and longer engine life.

Personally, I like the big silver engine, it stands out... looks like a honkin' power-plant with wheels and handlebars attached! And I am seroiusly considering a full fairing anyway, whenever one becomes available.

Hey, what does it matter, '07, '06, '05, or the older classic Bandits... they are all great bikes and the only important thing is that YOU are happy with YOUR Bandit, right?  

[ZOOMER]

Zoomer-

Welcome to the site!  I have money down on a black 07 and I am pretty excited.  Don't believe much of what you read claiming to be fact about the 07's.  I've done a ton of searching on the net and haven't found one person who has ridden the new bike!  There is a dyno chart floating around from somewhere in Europe that says basically the 07's make pretty much the same power as the 06's, but this chart is a plain graph not very detailed, I would say its reliability is suspect at best. The facts are nobody outside of Suzuki has much for info. yet.  Which is REALLY FRUSTRATING for those of us dying for some facts!

Thanks for the welcome! Me too! I'm excited, frustrated, anxious and nervous all mixed up at once!
Mostly what I know about the bike is what's on the Suzuki website and what the dealer told me. I do know it has a catylitic converter in the muffler though, it says that right on the brochure. And taking it off is supposed to really boost the horsepower. But it probably voids the warranty so you need to keep the stock muffler to put back on if you have to take it in I think.
I bought mine for the same reasons it looks like Zenman did, because of the fuel injection. Nothing against carberetors guys! It's just I'm no whiz at tuning and stuff and the FI is easy. Just push the button and ZOOM! And everybody tells me how easy it is to plug a box in and program it for better performance and stuff.
I plan on making mine into a sport-tourer so I have a lot of accessories planned, like luggage and windshield and stuff. I still like to ZOOM around though!

[ZOOMER]

Well I finally sat on both the 650 & 1250 Bandits today, and must admit I was pleasantly impressed.

As the new B-12 is quite a bit porkier than the 2nd gen, Suzuki did a very good job covering this up. The new bike feels much more nimble than my 2nd gen B-12. (Of course the tank was empty)

I liked everything about it, except the $10,200.00 (Canadian) MSP.

Wow, nice pics Bazza! Your driving me crazy waiting for my new Bandit, I haven't even been in the same room as one yet!
I'm glad to hear you liked it, but I feel sorry for you Canadian guys about the price. I'm paying about $7800 for mine before taxes. Is everything more expensive up there? What is the taxes like? Here I'll probably pay another $400 for the tax and title.
What do you mean that it's "porkier"? You mean because it weighs a little more? Suzuki says the engine is narrower than the air/oil-cooled one but the radiator is bigger. The engine is a little heavier but it's down low so it shouldn't feel any heavier really. And I guess a lot of the weight is in the big muffler too, so it won't be very hard to "lighten it up"!
Anyway I'm going nuts waiting for my new bike! All my questions will be answered soon!

[JamieK]

Hey Zoomer...when I talked with the rep while standing next to the blue one in the pic he told me that they would be going for under $10K...my guess is that a person would be able to get one out the door for around $10K if they're a good talker. As for taxes we pay the 6%GST (goods and services tax) that is Canada wide, we don't have provincial sales tax. You also have to pay freight and PDI, which again a good talker can get out of...especially if they bring in cash I'm sure most of the people who buy an 07 will really like it as overall it is a well thought out machine for its purpose. The silver paint on the engine though amplifies the casting flaws,and because it is so bright it draws your eye to it to see those flaws. If it was a darker color it would hide those and the whole machine would look more refined because of that. I have the same complaint about the new BMW F800S, great looking bike but the bright silver paint made the engine look like a big plastic afterthought...yes the paint actually made that engine look like plastic to me.

Enjoy your 07...I'm looking forward to hearing some real world impressions of the new model.

[LensWork]

More pics of the '07 1250 can be found in this thread:


http://forums.banditalley.net/viewtopic.php?t=7338&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

[ZOOMER]

I'm sure most of the people who buy an 07 will really like it as overall it is a well thought out machine for its purpose. The silver paint on the engine though amplifies the casting flaws,and because it is so bright it draws your eye to it to see those flaws. If it was a darker color it would hide those and the whole machine would look more refined because of that. I have the same complaint about the new BMW F800S, great looking bike but the bright silver paint made the engine look like a big plastic afterthought...yes the paint actually made that engine look like plastic to me.

Enjoy your 07...I'm looking forward to hearing some real world impressions of the new model.

That's cool... I guess I'll have to see mine up close, but I like the silver engine in the picture!

If I don't like it, it would be pretty easy to pull the engine and take it down to the powder-coater and make it black!  

Don't worry, I'll be reporting my real world impressions as soon as I get a chance to get some!