Does anybody know the exact hp.? This guy doesn't but he does love the bike. Likes the six speed on the 650 and laments only a five speed on the 1200. Weird because I think the six gears are too close together and I'm always shifting up to the non-exixtent 7th!
Jim
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MOTORCYCLES — SUZUKI BANDIT 1200
Suzuki Bandit 1200
TED LATURNUS
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
E-mail
Sometimes, when you're in the market for a bike, you want something that will just do the job. Something that will provide riding kicks, reliability, comfort and versatility all at the same time with no fanfare, and a reasonable price tag.
Something that may not be the most visually exciting motorcycle out there, but will acquit itself well in most situations.
Off-road bikes are for, well, off-road, and dual-purpose machines tend to be aimed at long-distance globetrotters. Cruisers and tourers, on the other hand, can be too slow and clumsy for some riders, while sport bikes are often too extreme.
Which is where a bike like the Suzuki Bandit comes in. Not ostentatious, bullet-tough, capable and, best of all, affordable.
This is the kind of bike you use for commuting to work every day or cranking through your favourite piece of crooked highway, throttle open and head down.
It'll get you there on time and can also blow out the cobwebs if you're feeling frisky. Officially, it's classed as a "standard" motorcycle, but as far as I'm concerned, it's a sport bike without the bodywork and attitude. Especially the 1200 version, which, with a dry weight of just 220 kilograms, has all kinds of performance at its disposal.
Suzuki is reluctant to publish the performance specs of its bikes, but 1200's smaller brother — the 650 — is good for 76 horsepower, so the bigger Bandit must be delivering at least 100 hp, give or take. I've heard everything from 95 hp to 127 hp, so I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle. Either way, this bike hustles. It redlines at 11,500 rpm and has a rifle-bolt-precise, five-speed transmission.
Power is provided by a 1,157-cc four-cylinder that has twin overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder, and is oil- and air-cooled.
Interestingly, it features Mikuni carburetors, and you need to use the choke for cold starts. Most other bikes in this market segment have fuel injection, but all things considered, carbs work just as well — maybe even better.
Final drive is chain and the Bandit 1200 has a pair of four-piston disc brakes up front and a single piston disc in the back. More than enough — at least for most of us, and you can also order ABS with the SA version.
Front forks are nice and beefy — 43 mm — with a single adjustable shock in the back.
It's no surprise that stunt riders love the Bandit, both because of its balance and braking ability. I like it for those reasons as well, and also because it has one of the most accessible seat heights in this category: 785 mm, and for those a little long in the leg, you can also adjust the saddle, up to 805 mm.
Either way, you're getting a motorcycle with excellent road manners. I have ridden both versions of this bike, and would be hard-pressed to choose one over the other. Obviously, the 1200 is faster, but then it also costs $2,000 more.
Curiously, the smaller of the two has a six-speed gearbox, while the 1200 makes do with five speeds. If I have to complain about something, this would be it; more than once, while on the highway, I found myself reaching for a sixth gear that just wasn't there.
I could also whine about the buzziness of the Bandit's engine. At any engine speed over, oh, 4,500 rpm, you can feel a harsh vision-blurring vibration that starts somewhere around your tail-bone and runs right up your spine. Once you get rolling and accelerate through the gears, it becomes a little less obvious, but it never really goes away.
On short, around-town runs, that wasn't much of a problem, but I wouldn't want to live with it all day. Speaking of which, Suzuki has given the Bandit 1200 a new gas tank for 2006, and it holds 20 litres.
I also couldn't help comparing the Bandit 1200 with Suzuki's other jack-of-all-trades, the V-Strom 1000. Both of these bikes go about their business efficiently and unobtrusively, but the Bandit has a little more snap and revviness, even though it weighs slightly more.
The four-banger in this bike has a racing heritage and it is very responsive and even-tempered. And for what it's worth, the Bandit has a much lower seat height than the V-Strom.
It also has a reasonably comfy riding position — as does the V-Strom, incidentally — which I welcomed.
Upright seating, proper instrumentation (rev-counter, speedo, dual trip-meters, fuel gauge, clock), and a small, but reasonably effective, windscreen and frame-mounted fairing combine to give a civilized riding experience — more accommodating than most so-called sport bikes I've ridden over the years.
In fact, although the Bandit 1200 isn't officially a sport bike, it thinks it is and, for 99.9 per cent of the people who ride it, that's more than enough.
Prices start at $10,699, with the ABS version going out the door for $11,199 before taxes.
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Topic: Neat road test of the 1200 (Read 2483 times)