Tightening up the Bandit

[Cincykz]

Howdy,

I'm sure this has been discussed ad nauseum on the boards, but I figure a little new life or new opinions could be good.

Only got a few hundred miles on my new 02 1200s last season before the snow. 

I've used a few fork braces on different bikes in the past with mixed results. Curious where people land on them on this particular bike. I'm a fairly fast road rider, but not obscenely so. (I spooned on a set of Shinko Ravens over the winter, so 'fast' in the sport touring sense, not elbow dragging).  My one ride was on full soft fork and shock settings, I have since dialed in some preload (middle in the front, 5/7 rear, and 3/4 damping on the shock). 

Also looking to address the soft brakes. Pads still have some meat to them, guessing probably still the 2002 OEM with 20k miles. Looking to go to braided lines, and thinking I'll keep the 3 line setup for cleanliness, and to avoid rubs and rattles. I doubt the bike will ever see a strict track that prohibits a high break. Anyone stick with the three line setup? Difficult to bleed? Opinions?

Thanks in Advance

[Cincykz]

Not sure if anyone sees this besides me, but figured I'd update. Did the galfer 3 line setup, and happy with it. Feel is good, I ended up bleeding them twice. I think some HH pads are in my future though.

On the Shinko Ravens, they are a bit slow to warm up and lack the feel of a supersport tire. However, I only have about 1/16" of chicken strip on them, and they will wheelie and stoppie a bandit at factory inflation.

I had the front slide a few inches on me once, but I attribute a lot of that to rider error; I wasn't carrying enough throttle for my lean angle, overloading the front. I was able to throttle up and catch it no problem.  I would say a sportech or s20 would have allowed this maneuver with no slip, but they are a sportier class of tire, and the main cause was poor throttle application (not enough) and a little sandy grit in the road.  If these tires last long enough, I may go with them again.  They're certainly not the garbage that some people report them to be, at least in the first couple thousand miles. I will update if I have an issue.

[Ranger]

Not sure if anyone sees this besides me, but figured I'd update.

I saw it 
From what I can gather, most if not all riders from here that still have a Bandit has migrated to Facebook; it's a private group.