Bandit 400 mods for fast road and track use - suggestions needed!

[AlanDog]

Hey, am I understanding this right? According to the post above, a Yamaha R6 2006 rear shock will fit a Bandit 400 without modifications?

[tomacGTi]

GSXR 600 rear shock with the horizontal, not kicked up reservoir bolts in. I think it's an 06-07 IIRC. Everything is documented in here somewhere, TurboFB did it IIRC.

By bolt-in I mean: you'll have to space out the dogbones and move the coolant reservoir (do not delete, you need the thing). If the bike was used for any length of time, I would also consider getting the fluid and gas refreshed. The stock fluid is passable at best and is DIY possible. You'll have to bring it in for a re-gas though unless you have access to a nitrogen tank.

If you're lucky and diligent, search for a race-prep take off and just run the thing and rebuild it later, it's what I did (and re-did).

Be warned though, as soon as you do this you will find out just how bad the stock forks are. It's like a gateway drug: start budgeting for springs, oil, seals and emulators now. Brakes are next...

-Randy

[AlanDog]

Thanks, I think I found the threads. Well, it feels like my front forks have some sort of upgrade as they seem pretty plush, but yeah the seals are going so I guess I'm gonna find out for sure. But now I'm looking at TurboFB's front end and drooling. Bolt on? Gateway drug, I know exactly what you're talking about. But come on, the rear shock is $45 on ebay, how much could I end up spending?   

I was really timid on the track monday because I'm just not confident in the bike's handling, for example, if I had to make a sudden adjustment. I know a big part of it is in my head, but I really don't know what the bike will do if pushed. I was thinking I could throw in the rear shock and pay $40 to get the suspension tuned on the track. But yeah, once you start playing that game, it's never quite right...

[Chris H]

Loads of the newer rear shocks fit so long as they have the fork style lower mount.
main problem is the res is in the way of the header tank so you need to move that.

Be careful which you go for as they can be different lenghts, B4 is short so go this route otherwise the rear goes too high and will make the bike feel VERY twitchy especially when tipping into a corner.