Bandit 1200s rebuild help

I see what happened, I only looked at the air shipping option. You're correct. $5 per tire. My Pilot 2s should be in on Friday afternoon, hopefully they get delivered when I'm home so I don't have to go pick them up.

Have a crazy busy week/weekend starting today. Then Monday plan on jacking up the bike and getting the wheels off. Will look at the sprockets then as well. I'll check the chain and lube it well if it can be saved. Hopefully it doesn't snow soon so I can leave the Jeep out of the garage and continue working on the bike.

I often ride my 2002 BMNWR1150RS on gravel and dirt roads, just ot get to where I am going nothing difficult. The best tire I have used is Shinko Ravens. They have deeper tread, and wider grooves. The center groove on the front might wander more on pavement grooves, but if you get on gravel or even easy wet dirt, it steers better. And they are cheap. Stick well on pavement and rain, and last a long time. Just remember, they have very slick mold release, it takes over 100 miles to scrub one in.

I love them, on my third set and the 4th is in the garage. I have touched foot pegs, once on a damp day even, road was dry but just after a rain there were some damp spots. I have been in what we call Frog drownwers, no issue. They are great.


Rod

Was able to get into the garage today to work on the B12. The tires will get done soon, but wanted clean up the front end a bit. Started taking off the fairing on the dropped right side, man it was bad, didn't even take pictures of it. The inside of the right side had so much plastic glue and putty that it went straight into the bin.

Got the rest off so I could take a look at the fairing frame. It confirmed what I suspected, the inner frame was pretty well bent up. It came off surprisingly easy. There were some tabs broken but not as many as I expected. The large front mount was bent to the right, while the right side mirror mount was bent down and in. The amount of work it would take to straighten out would be better spent cleaning up the bike and the headlight.

Does anyone need some extra front end parts for cheap?







Here is an old Kawasaki headlight that I had laying around. It doesn't have a bucket and the factory gauges would be mounted above it. I think there would be room to mount a touring screen if I felt I needed one. The final pic is the bike as it sits right now. Yes those are wires showing on the front.

I could use some rubber bits........

Mikenj I PM'd you.

I also forgot to mention that I tried starting the bike to help me move it around the garage and it wouldn't start. Just backfired twice. I'm not terribly worried about that, should I be? It's been super cold lately even though I had a heater on while working on it.

Put the battery on a tender and stabil in the gas tank, then drain the float bowls, if you're not going to run it til spring.

They sold the bandit with a headlight in other markets, you might be able to get the stock parts still.

I think you were in the cheap bikes thread too, right?

That bike is a great 10 footer, but does look a bit rough up close. Regardless, it's a Bandit and as such is bulletproof. I have no idea what would cause you to sell it next spring, but I'm biased.

It's comfortable and has serious balls, so for me it's a great touring bike.

There are many naked conversions and the maximum suzuki forum will guide you well. For me, it looks great being naked, but the wind beats the crap out of me above 80 for any stretch. Er, km/hr

I'm going with PR3s next because I live where it rains a lot and I don't put my bike away. Battery tender?

Oh, does it smoke? If so then read up. Mine is too old to smoke. It just hauls a**.

I too am working on polishing an early Gen2 bandit

1) Do it! I got mine in August from another inmate and just got around to changing the oil for the first time. Dark but no metal shavings at all, and 33,000 miles to boot!

2) Lots of good street options out there.

3) Mine has dual-sport bars with hand guards on it, nice upright riding position and less windchill on the hands in winter.

4) I like the stock ones.

6) A 'Busa rear shock raises the rear slightly (1" I think) and is better from what I hear.

7) If you go nekkid, any cheap windshield will work.

8) The stock seat is actually pretty good, the Lady friend loves it.


You're gonna love this thing after you sort the carbs and fire it up in the spring. I have a windshield, 45L Givi boxes, and Givi rack with top box for commuting. The bike accelerates the same whether it is naked or loaded with luggage and riding 2-up. Gobs of low and mid-range torque that keeps you smiling the whole way to work!

I got lucky and scored a nekkid version, love the retro look. The parts are out there to convert it and it is not very hard.

Best of luck to ya and don't give up on it before you get a chance to flog it hard around the neighborhood! Just don't keep track of your MPG :eek1

-Jake

I've got a tender that I'll use after I run the stabil through the tank.

I'll most likely go with a Aztec8 headlight set up, or something similar. I was looking at the wiring diagrams and even if it was a naked Bandit headlight, there would still probably be some rewiring done.

The naked conversion is the way to go for me. It's too ratty of a bike to consider putting so much effort into rebuilding the front fairing. I never would have picked out a 1200 for myself I'm really going to shy away from the high, high speeds.

The wheels are coming off tonight so I can get the PR2s mounted tomorrow. Rain? It only rains enough in South Dakota to grow brown grass. You don't like battery tenders?

What dual sport bars do you have on it? The bars I have on it now should be able to be adjusted to the posittion I want them, that's of course one of the next things to get sorted out. In case they don't workout, it would be nice to know what you're using. I'd love to see a picture of your set up, it sounds like how I'd set my bike up for touring.

I'm keeping the bike and not going to sell it. I've sold two bikes that I regretted later, my original B6 and an XS650 chopper (see pic) that I had put a lot of time into. If I need something different for touring or better mpg, then I'll pick up a Strom or cruiser.

Start an ebay parts search, replace only what is needed and you should get your $$ back if you choose to sell. Sadly these great bikes have a terrible resale value and good shape runners can be had for 2500-3000 bucks. Just don't want to see you jumping over a dollar to pick up a dime.

I was able to get the wheels off last night. They will go in tonight to get replaced. Not sure what the PO was thinking when he drove the bike with tires like these.





Here's the rear sprocket that I'll replace. I should probably do the chain and front sprocket at the same time.



Is there anything else I should be looking at replacing while the wheels are out?

Replace sprockets and chain IMO. Look into wheel bearins, cheap insurance.

Growing up on the farm, I know what good and bad bearings look like. These bearings looked really good as if they had just been replaced. Weird. This is the same bike that I pulled a walnut out of a little nook by the rear shock.

Dealer put on the new tires very quickly while I waited and figured what else is needed in general maintenance. In and out of there in 10 minutes. They had a chain but no sprockets on hand. If they had to order them, I thought I'd ask the forum for some advice on which ones to get. Regular steel replacement up to Renthal Racing... Go up a tooth or down a tooth?

My initial thought is keep it stock steel with regular tooth numbers (45 in the rear IRCC) but some may have a good reason to order something different. This is a cheap bike after all, just under $1200 into the whole thing with new tires.

I'll also order the Aztec8 7" Headlight this weekend.

Your giving that bike much needed love. She is going to be sweet when your done! Did you install the headlight yet?

Replaced the spark plugs and mocked up the headlight, no wiring is done yet. Need a bracket for the gauges also but I'm not sure how I'm going to do that yet. The bars need adjustment and the levers will be replaced with cheap black replacements.

Did take it out for a little bit of a ride even though it was 30 degrees out. It is so much better now than it was before, can't wait until Spring!!!

Another Pic

Weather has been gorgeous and had some time to get some mock-up work done. Some of my friends have been "mocking" me because I've temporarily installed a lot of things instead of saying I'm getting things done. However, I argue that something is temporary unless it's been installed for over a year and hasn't been moved. Right now the lights and bars are in that state while I get some test runs in.

Here is the Aztec8 headlight and blinker, I'm pretty impressed by the light they give off. However the connectors that are provided with the kit are not very sturdy. The plan will be to reconnect and reroute the wires over the winter making sure to shrink tube the connectors to try and keep them from corroding.



Next was the wonky bars. This should have been one of the first things I did with the bike. I pried out the little caps that cover the allen heads, don't really want to put them back, they look so cheap and buggered up. Gave the bars a little rotation here, slight bump there, and one more nudge to get them to what feels like a comfortable position. However, you may notice that the bars are not parallel with the steering head. I could just leave it because it's not that far off but it looks a little funny. I loosened the riser nuts below the head and tried to readjust them. It helped though I think it might need new lower rubber cushions.



The new position of the bars makes it feel like riding an older standard bike or almost a dual sport bike, a bit more up right. Not perfect but better. Hand-guards might be a nice addition. The Heli-bars at full extension are probably more rise than the BikeMaster Daytonas I was considering. They don't give me much room for a mirror may have to do a bar end.



Remember how I'm in a mock up stage? Started checking to make sure that the steering could go from complete left to complete right and found the brackets for the head light will hit the frame of the bike, they will need to be lowered as well as some of the wiring will need to be rerouted so that they don't get pinched and worn. Is there anything that I'm forgetting as I'm working on the lights and bars?

I've never owned a Bandit, but are the bars slightly off in the alignment with the top triple clamp because one of the bar clamps is reversed? In the one picture I notice that there is a small indentation 'dot' at the top on the left clamp, but at the bottom of the right one. Do Bandits have a slight off- set from center in the clamps that allow you to position the bars fore/aft a bit for comfort? If so, could be one is 'fore' position, and one is 'aft'.

Your handlebars are Heli Bars and sell new for close to 400.00. If you don't want them, clean em up and they will sell in no time. When I bought my 2004 B-12 it was the first mod I made and a taller windshield the second.
They are remarkable bikes with bulletproof engines. Before you spend a lot of money on farkles I'd encourage you to get a good look at the cams and inspect for scoring or flaking. They were a known weak spot. Otherwise, these bikes are reliable and will run forever.
I traveled from St. Paul, MN to the tip of Newfoundland on mine and it never missed a beat.

Thanks for the tip, never noticed the dot before I took the up close pics and posted them. I switched them around so they were both up and it helped a bit.