Will be getting a Bandit 400

[Costarica]

Hey guys

My name is Costi, age 24, and I'm currently in the process of getting my license for motorcycles and for a couple of weeks now I've been looking all over the place to see what bike would fit me best. After many many hours of online searching I finally decided on a Bandit 400 which I think it looks stunning for its age and price and sounds like a good starting bike too. Once I made my mind that I'd get a Bandit I started looking for info about it and that's how I got to your forum, which btw has a ton of good and useful info which will take me a long time to go through it all but it's worth it.
Reason why I went for a Bandit is because I have a weakness for naked bikes and because I'm total beginner I doubt I could handle very well a more powerful bike and also I'm rather short hehe, I'm only 5.3 feet tall. Speaking of, I'm curious if you guys know if a person as short as me would reach the ground with both feet because that's kind of important for me :)  
It will be a couple of months till I buy it and I'm the kind of guy who keeps for a very long time whatever I may buy, making it to fit my style, and right now I'm searching for info on the Bandit for some modifications because I want to be prepared to start modifying it as soon as I get it. I will be keeping this bike for many years to come and I was hoping you guys could help me with some suggestions for the modifications I have in mind. Here's a preliminary list of things which I think would make it look a bit more modern:

- matte black paint for the entire bike
- lower the seat height (to reach the ground with both feet; do you advise doing this ?)
- new handlebars, supersport style
- bar end mirrors (not sure about these, will they break easily if the bike falls on its side ?)
- more modern headlight and turn signals
- digital gear indicator or maybe entirely new digital dashboard (can it be done ? because I haven't seen any bandits like this)
- add a crash cage
- more sport-looking tail (is there a tail I could get straight from a more modern bike and slap it on?)


Sorry if some questions seem stupid but I haven't had much contact with motorcycles before so I do not know how hard or easily they can be modified.
Thanks for your time.

[rider123]

Your first mod should be power. Get a jet kit and aftermarket exhaust, all other mods should be secondary. Many posts on the Bandit 400 jetting. I'm sure someone here will pipe up and help you. I'm on the big(1200)Bandit so I can't help you too much. But a good general guideline is a K&N panel filter 1 or more like 2 sizes up on the mains, a needle and mixture screw adjustment and an aftermarket mid-pipe and end can will get you far.

[andrewsw]

Seat height might be an issue. Depends on leg length of course. My wife, who is 5'3" can't hold up my b4. But I do have the spring cranked all the way up, so that doesn't help.

Bar ends will break if you drop the bike. But so will a lot of other stuff. For cosmetics, nice bar ends can't be beat, in my opinion.

As far as the tail goes, you can get a lot of mileage out of just sawing off most of the fender. Just move the plate holder and light as far up under the taillight as you can get it and chop off the fender nicely right at the license plate. looks pretty good for no $ at all. Also, there exist solo seat cowls for the tail that look really sharp, in my opinion.

As far as "modernizing" it... well... that's taste. Since I prefer:

http://www.caferace.com/cafepix.html

I wouldn't go for modernizing ;)

A

[andrewsw]

This image:

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/3852/1000033d.jpg

from here, nice little cafe'd B4 with spoked wheels and other niceties:

http://www.400greybike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=11665

suggests that you can indeed replace the stock clocks, if that's your thing.

A

[Costarica]

Cheers guys, thanks for the replies.
The link about the digital dashboard really got my morale up  

About the aftermarket exhaust, I'm hoping that the bike I'll buy will have that already, if not, it will be among the first things to be added yes.
Damn it, can't wait to get the damn bike already hehe.

[rider123]

Good show, with any aftermarket exhaust, make sure you get the mid-pipe as well, otherwise it's a bit of a waste since these bikes to get past emissions are going to restrict the mid-pipe like crazy which is 60% of the restriction. It's worth it to do it, you'll see a lot more power, especially up top

[Squishy]

Good show, with any aftermarket exhaust, make sure you get the mid-pipe as well, otherwise it's a bit of a waste since these bikes to get past emissions are going to restrict the mid-pipe like crazy which is 60% of the restriction. It's worth it to do it, you'll see a lot more power, especially up top

??? Mid pipe? Care to eleborate?
I read a lot of the jetting topics and exhaust topics but nobody said anything about mid-pipes on a b400