Bandit 1200s rebuild help

[brockmub]

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?

[30Bones]

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

[brockmub]

Originally Posted by 30Bones

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.

[mikenj]

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

[brockmub]

Originally Posted by mikenj

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!!!

[brockmub]

Another Pic

[brockmub]

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?

[Trialsguy]

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'.

[MrBob]

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.

[brockmub]

Originally Posted by Trialsguy

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'.

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.

[brockmub]

Originally Posted by MrBob

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.

I'm pretty sure you're right about the HeliBars, I never expected to see something like that on a bike that had been so neglected. Now that I have them adjusted for my fit, I love them! Between those and my grips, I have no buzzing like Bandits are known to do. Still wanting to sort out a lot of little things before I cleanup and repaint them.

I won't be spending a ton of money on the bike, the next thing will probably be carb and cam inspection to make sure it's running smooth. I also don't think that I'll be touring to Newfoundland on it. Even though it's a blast to drive without the fairing, I can't get above 55 for a whole day of riding. That wears me out! Maybe I can find a touring windshield some where over the winter.

[brockmub]

Started thinking about the brackets for my gauges. Would it be completely unadvisable to mount brackets to the bottom of the bolts that hold the risers? I'm thinking of using 1.5" wide aluminum that is 1/8" think. I would cut two of them out of the stuff to look something like this rough sketch (I'm no artist).



The bracket would almost be completely hidden, it would have some rubber padding from the bottom of the risers and also from the bottom of the gauges. I'd also cut and shape the brackets with my Dremmel cutting tool since I don't have a bandsaw. The gauges would mount right above the headlight but not touch them. Would probably have to put a bit of kink in the brackets to bring them up a bit.

[MrBob]

Originally Posted by brockmub

I'm pretty sure you're right about the HeliBars,

I won't be spending a ton of money on the bike, the next thing will probably be carb and cam inspection

Without a doubt, they're HeliBars. Wish I could get some for my Concours. I recall how excellent their customer service was when I bought the bars for my B-12S.
I should have mentioned that I first noted the cam scoring at about 25,000 miles, in spite of a meticulous break-in and first oil change at 500 miles but, YMMV.
I tended to go through sprockets and chains fairly frequently but that may have been because it was so much fun to whack that throttle.

[brockmub]

Finally found a set of levers that fit my bike. A bit smaller and actually the same size as the broken levers. Still trying to wrap up the wiring and the gauge set up.

[mikenj]

Looking good! I haven't been able to play with mine lately but did finally get the reg. and plate today! Those levers look nice.