Well I got a letter from Suzuki thanking me for buying the bike and asking for my feedback.(Oh Oh!!
) Well I filled out there standard schtick survey and sent this letter which may be interesting to the forum members or people looking to buy this bike new. I doubt they will take any suggestions I've given but if enough people complain theymay have to change it. Also it sounds in the letter that I complained that I was going to get rid of the bike, if the dealer didn't fix it. Which I wasn't, but other people have but it's already sent off so who cares. I exagerated some of the number of jetting fixes too to try and get them to send the info back to whomever is in charge of carb jet descisions. Who knows maybe the 2006 model will be changed? Be interesting to find out.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I recently have bought a 2005 Bandit 1200 and wish to provide you with some feedback on this bike and the experience I have had with the bike in the 918 Kms I have on it so far.
Fit, Finish and ergonomics (9 out of 10):
The fit and finish on this bike is excellent. Like all Suzuki’s you have seem to have gone the extra mile with the paint job(Black). The paint is deep with specks of purple metallic paint and the clear coat is nice and thick. The engine paint is also very thick and tasteful with the charcoal grey colour you’ve selected for the 2005 year model. The only thing I would change is that the clear coat does seem a little too easy to lightly scratch. I realize that a black bike is going to show up minor scratch marks easier but if it was a little harder it would be better. It is easy to buff out the small swirls and what not with scratch X and some elbow grease so it’s not too much of a problem. The ergonomics on this bike are spot on with a nice wide comfy seat that gives you lots of room to move. The bars also seem well tailored to the style of the bike (Sport standard) but if they were a little farther back it would put less pressure on your arms. Also the seat is almost a little too high however I realize you can’t please everyone and I still think its still good for your average North American rider. I realize for the 2006 model the seat height is adjustable so this problem is cured. Just a suggestion but if you put a slight padded lip on the front of the seat near the tank it would add some extra comfort as a lot of times you are pushed up against the tank during braking and whatnot (maybe cured on 2006 model?)
Controls and electrics (9 out of 10):
Controls are all excellent all the buttons look and feel solid and appear to be well sealed from the elements. The fuel petcock is also well designed with a large easy to grab knob and the remote idle adjustment screw is a welcome godsend with knob on the side of the bike. No digging for the idle adjustment!!. I would have it preferred to be a metal knob just in case it ever gets bumped. The most enjoyable thing I think you have done with this bike is put on the well thought out “PASS” high beam flicker and the Hazard lights. I can’t say enough how much it’s improved my safety. THIS SHOULD BE STANDARD ON ALL NEW MOTORCYCLES. Excellent job!!!!! I’ve used it countless times against cars with bad lane changes or I’m not sure if they can see me. Great going!!!!. The only reason I didn’t give a 10 out of 10 is that the Head lamps to me seem a little weak. They give off a good broad beam of light but they could use some brighter or whiter bulbs. I realize that you have fixed this for the 2006 model. You’ve come along way from the wonky electrics of your 80’s GS series.
Engine (10 out of 10)
What else can be said? Coming from a 1mm over bored Air and Oil cooled GSXR1100, this thing is built for power! This bike has an extremely reliable power plant. I’ve owned an ’84 GS750EF before this that has close to 90,000Kms. With only a top end rebuild(former owners fault) and a slightly leaky oil line replaced. (and a bunch of stators, but that’s electrics). I’d say replacing a slightly leaky oil line(still drivable with slight leak) in over 20+ years and who knows what kind of maintenance from former owners says something about the extreme reliability of these engines. One member at Maximum-Suzuki who was a former motorcycle courier in Britain has over 300,000 MILES on the original engine!! He’s just replaced the clutches every 80-100 thousand Kms or so and has done a couple of top end rebuilds. I challenge anybody to name one bike with that kind of mileage on an original engine. Maintenance is about as easy as you can get. Just change the oil and filter when required and do a carb sync every year. No radiators to flush, no water pumps to break. This engine is almost legendary for it’s reliability and upgradeability. A simple re-jet and slip on gives you an instant 15-20 hp average over stock without any further modifications. Which bring me to the carburetion, which is horrid out of the factory!!! See below
Carburetion and drivability (6 out of 10):
Disappointing off idle stumble!!!!!
This is the most serious problem with the bike and has caused some people to actually RETURN THE BIKE and get something else. The pilot jets are way too lean!!! There is a horrid off idle stumble and hesitation from the pilot jets being artificially small to get by the EPA standard in the United States. Being in Canada where motorcycles are exempt from emissions standards(like “drive clean”), at least in Ontario, one also wonders why there are American EPA plugs on Canadian bikes!! This is a serious problem. The bike is jetted for either A. A tropical rainforest with 30+ Celsius heat and %90+ humidity or B. Mount Everest. If you don’t live in either location your jetting will be terribly off. If you go to the
www.banditalley.com forums the entire “maintenance/troubleshooting” forum is literally filled with such topics as “Lean stumble on new bandit”, “New bike too lean”, “Drivability problems on 200X bandit” and “New bike hesitates off idle”.
It was so bad for me that I actually had to take the bike back at 591 km for the 1000 km service so that the dealer could drill the EPA plugs to get some sort of semblance of drivability on the bike. They still made it too lean and I had to fix it. As of now, my mixture screws are set at 3.5 turns out(wow) and it almost has cleared it up, it’s STILL a little lean but the temps are cold so it should be fine in the spring hopefully and I’ll tweak it when it’s warm out. After the warranty has run out I plan to put a slip-on and re-jet it anyway to fix the bike. However the bike should at least drive normally and not be broken STRAIGHT FROM THE FACTORY. I find it Ironic my GS750EF, which is jetted properly, could pull harder from idle than a bike with over 350CC more displacement!! I was at a point whereby if the dealer didn’t fix the mixture screws under warranty I was going to cancel the credit card payment on the bike and dump it at the dealer and buy a Kawasaki Z750S, which to me is not as a good of a bike, but at least it runs from the factory well. The sad thing is once the bike is on the Main Jets it runs beautifully!!! What happened? I have a few suggestions that may help you out so you can please the EPA in the States and more importantly customers(who actually give you money, not the EPA)
For Canadian Bikes:
A. We get the Euro model or at least the European Carbs with the mixture screws PRE DRILLED. We live in Canada, Not in the Amazon Jungle or TIBET. Tt’s cold here. So it’s a no brainer why we’d need to adjust the mixture screws ourselves.
B. Pilots should be increase in size a minimum of one size (17.5) but more like 2 sizes (20) so that the mixture screws can actually be turned out to normal (1.5-2.5 out) levels, and clean up the off idle carburetion. This is a common fix for many of the bikes that forum members are fixing. Some dealers do this in the States to try and help the customers they are serving. Most people that have had the pilots replaced are extremely happy and impressed with the improvements to the drivability and ironically, some members report gas mileage goes UP slightly as you don’t have to give it so much throttle when running correctly and more efficiently(take that EPA!) If you have to turn out the mixture screws 3.5 turns and it’s still a little lean, THE JETS ARE TOO SMALL!! Please fix. Some people have it turned out as much as 4-4.5 turns to make the bike run ok.
C. Make the mixture plugs a dealer-installed item. It only makes sense that a bike is only going to be run correctly when jetted for the main location where it’s being driven! This may defeat the whole purpose of these silly plugs but if it gets around the EPA so be it!
D. If you must keep these silly plugs, at least make the drill guide holes in them large enough so a self tapping screw can be inserted and the plugs can be taken out by the owner without having to remove the carbs. If you can’t fix the jetting at least let us fix it without having to take the carbs off!! If they were 1 or 2 mm larger you could still say they are “tamper proof” and we could pull out the plug ourselves. Or, make the plugs easier to come out so you can insert something like a dentists pick and pull them out easily. We won’t tell if you don’t!
All in all I’m completely satisfied with my purchase and look forward to owning this bike for many years. I’m semi-technically competent so I can get past the jetting problems and look at the bike as a whole. It has to be one of the best deals in motorcycling today. I’m only telling you about the jetting problems because you are losing customers over it. When people are returning the bike and threatening dealers with “Fix it or I’m dumping it” you have serious problems. I hope these are worked out for the new 2006 models and that you send a bulletin to dealers to please check the customers jetting before delivery in case they need a tweak or two. Either that, or send a set of 20 size pilots with every bike and if they need them the dealer can install them before the bike goes out the door! Some people on the
www.banditalley.com forums work at dealerships and it’s a common complaint. One dealership actually pre-installs a popular, name-brand jet kit before he even sells his bikes because he was sick of complaints and returns. Thank you for your time to read this letter and keep the rubber side down!!!
P.S. My bike didn’t come with an owners manual and it’s been a month or so without any word from the dealer. Could you guys send me a 2005 Bandit 1200 owners manual?
Topic: My Suzuki Feedback letter (Read 4459 times)