This is an update of
an earlier blog entry. Since the original post I have been very busy
and added the following:
Arrows Header
Sargent Seat
Removed the
Centrestand
Grip Puppies
Radiator Side Covers
Renthal Ultra Low Bars
SW Motech Barbacks
I own a 2008 Suzuki
Bandit 1250S, which is a replacement for my beloved Suzuki SV1000S.
I have had the bike
for over two years now and have finally finished modifying it, so I
thought I would make some notes on my impressions, including the
various modifications I have made.
Initial Impressions
First and foremost the Bandit has a great “real world” engine which pulls like a train from almost nothing up to about 7000RPM where it runs out of puff. Out on the road this is exactly where you want the power and makes for a very fast bike indeed up to 160km/hr or so. After that of course full on sports bikes will leave it for dead, but by that time you are in license and quite possibly liberty losing territory.
For a big bike it is beautifully balanced, rides smoothly and its ability in the corners far exceeds my admittedly modest capabilities. It is a heavy old beast and although it’s a cliché to say it, and indeed a cliché to say it’s a cliché, that weight disappears as soon as you are on your way.
With the exception of the seat (see below) the comfort is pretty good with plenty of legroom and a nice upright riding position with just a gentle lean to the bars.
The screen gives a decent amount of protection and while you do get a fair amount of wind hitting you the airflow is non-turbulent meaning no buffeting. Riding for riding me is a visceral experience so being out there feeling the breeze is what it is all about. On this basis I reckon the screen is pretty good, though taller or more touring orientated riders will doubtless want something a little higher.
Other plus points in my opinion are the instrument layout and the rather big added bonus of the ABS brakes.
The two instrument dials have an old school analogue look which is indeed the case with rev counter but not so for the other one which houses a large digital speed display. This setup is a bit quirky and gets a bit of stick in some quarters, but I rather like the mix of old and new.
The front
brakes are pretty average, but by the same token perfectly acceptable. They are
a little lacking in feel and require a good squeeze, so no one finger breaking
here. The ABS when activated transmits only a slight pulsing through the front
lever and doesn’t cut in too early so as far as I am concerned works really well.
There rear
brake is also pretty average, but once again does the job.
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but even I admit the Bandit is not going win any prizes in this department, though it does have a certain no nonsense get on with it look, which I rather like.
On the debit side, as I have got more familiar with the bike various niggles, minor and major, have made themselves felt. These include the seat, headlights and in a small way the engine.
The seat straight out sucks and is definitely in the major niggle category. I don’t mind so much that I get the dreaded “numb bum” after riding for an hour or so as when touring I like to stop regularly anyway for coffee and picture stops. The main problem is that the slope of the seat keeps sliding me towards the tank, which is pretty uncomfortable and plays havoc with the old boys. The pillion seat also has an uncomfortable slope to it. It amazes me that Suzuki can spend millions on R&D developing the bike and yet come up with such a poor seat.
The headlight is also not best, either on low or high beam. They are not that bad, but they are just not that great compared to my previous bike, which had terrific lights.
As already mentioned the engine is very good. It is however not without a few faults namely some surging at low speed, slightly abrupt throttle response and the odd bit of vibration particularly around the 3000RPM mark.
Done - the final and definitive list (probably)
Leo Vince SBK Exhaust
Stage 1 and 2 conversions
Arrows Header
Mirror Extenders
Heated Grips
Scottoiler
Ventura Pack Rack
HID Headlight Conversion
Sargent Seat
Bar risers
Grip puppies
Speedohealer
Radiator Side Covers
Radiator Side Covers
Renthal Ultra Low Bars
SW Motech Barbacks
Exhaust
The Leo Vince exhaust was already fitted to the bike when I brought it. The only thing I have done is to remove the baffle, as it was way to quiet as it was. The engine now sounds just the way it should but is not offensively loud.
Stage 1 Conversion
To be honest the engine has more than enough power, but I am definitely of the “to much is never enough” school when it comes to these things. On top of which, from consulting various Bandit fan sites, it seemed that quite a bit more power could be achieved for relatively little outlay.
Tuning the motor has happened in a series of stages with the end result being an engine that, while good to start with, is hugely improved.
The first step was to install an O2 sensor eliminator and block off the PAIR line.
The O2 sensor adjusts the mixture to run very lean in order to reduce exhaust emissions. It also makes the engine surge at low revs. Adding the eliminator fools the ECU effectively making the engine run richer and results in noticeably less surging. It doesn’t cure the problem, but is a pretty cost effective upgrade.
Removing the baffle in the exhaust resulted in lots of popping and backfiring on the overrun. This was cured completely by placing a rubber bung in the hose that runs from the airbox to the PAIR system.
The next step was a Dale Walker Holeshot Stage 1 tune. I purchased a TFI tuning box and K&N filter from Dale. When the unit arrived I called him and received the settings for the TFI.
The Holeshot website (http://www.holeshot.com) is an absolute wonder if you are in any way interested in tuning or customising your Bandit. Dale has made a career out of tuning Bandits and his products are superbly developed.
The Stage 1 conversion consisted of drilling a 2” hole in the airbox and installing the K&N and the TFI box.
I could have gone the power commander route but chose to use a TFI box instead. There are a couple of reasons for this:
1. The TFI unit piggybacks onto the existing injection system and alters the timing of the injectors to add more fuel. The power commander is more sophisticated and alters the fuel mapping meaning that it can add less fuel as well as more. If every last bhp is important then the commander is the way to go. For me it isn’t, and I like the fact that the TFI box leaves the stock injection settings well alone
2. The power commander is also a fair bit more expensive and then there is the considerable cost of Dyno runs to factor in as well.
I secured the TFI unit under the battery strap. On the left is the scottoiler reservoir - this is a really tight fit and about the only place I could figure out to put it.
So how does she run after the Stage 1 tune? The engine feels a little more powerful across the rev-range and also has a nice induction roar courtesy of the hole in the airbox. The biggest change is that the engine runs more smoothly with the irritating vibration at 3000RPM completely gone. This was an unexpected and very pleasant surprise and in my opinion is the biggest benefit of the conversion.
By now the engine was much improved and I could easily have stopped there. But there was still a small amount of surging and some abrupt throttle response. Most riders would consider the bike to be perfectly OK, but I am pretty anal about these things, so on I went.
The best Bandit site I have come across is one called My 1250 Bandit (http://kewwibike.blogspot.co.nz/) and it is an absolute mine of information. The guy that that writes it could have literally been anywhere in the world, but amazingly turned out to be about 10km from where I live here in NZ!
I met up with him and found him to be really friendly and helpful. He was also kind enough to balance the Bandits throttle bodies as well as adjust the bikes TPS sensor for me. These results of these two changes gave a small but worthwhile improvement to the running of the engine.
Stage 2 Conversion
Having come this far I decided to carry out the Dale Walker Stage 2 conversion.
The Stage 2 conversion consisted of completely removing the top of the airbox leaving just the bottom part which holds the K&N filter in place, removing the secondary butterflies and reprogramming the TFI box with the Stage 2 settings.
Modifying the airbox was easy enough but I didn’t fancy taking out the secondary butterflies, which looked quite involved. In the end I chickened out and got a local garage to do it for me.
The Stage 2 conversion has been the real revelation. The engine makes far more power and now pulls hard well past 8000RPM. The throttle response is also sharper with the engine producing very little vibration anywhere in the rev range.
Arrows Header
Again, I could easily have left things at that, but I decided to go the “Full Monty” and install a new header.
I would have loved to have gone for a Holeshot header, which would look just as good in an art gallery as on the Bandit. Their headers are sold in one piece, which makes them prohibitively expensive to post. Dale offered to ship them in two pieces with the idea being that they could be welded back together over here, but to be honest I didn’t really fancy the hassle. Sorry Dale.
In the end I sourced a very reasonably priced Arrows header from EM LINEAMOTO in Italy, which as an added bonus escaped being “pinged” by the dreaded customs.
The new header weighs about 4kg and is much, much lighter than the OEM one. This is in part due to the omission of the catalyst but mostly due to it being single skinned rather than double skinned like the original. At this stage the centrestand was also taken off, saving another couple of kgs.
The Arrows header. Not as sexy as the Holeshot one, but not bad all the same.
I haven’t weighed anything, but by replacing the exhaust, the header and removing the centrestand, I reckon that the bike has shed in the region of 15kg.
So what’s it like? For a start the bike is quite a bit noisier but the now deeper exhaust note sounds great both at idle and out on the road, which is just fine by me. In fact the combination of induction and exhaust noise is quite intoxicating and adds hugely to the bikes character. Performance wise I couldn’t feel much difference in the bottom end or mid range but the top end is a different story with the engine pulling very strongly from 7000RPM up to and over 9000RPM.
The above work has been all about making the bike faster and more importantly giving it more character, but an unexpected benefit is that, to me at least, it has improved the handling as well. The weight reduction is very noticeable in every day riding and in particular makes the bike feel more flick-able and agile in the twisties.
There are a couple of downsides resulting from all of the above engine modifications. I would estimate that the fuel consumption has gone up by about 10% and there is still some surging around the 2500RPM mark. The increase in fuel consumption is not unexpected and is a fair price to pay for a much improved riding experience. The surging is certainly not as bad as it used to be and is only ever an issue in town under under small throttle loadings and is I suspect something I am just going to have to live with.
There are a couple of downsides resulting from all of the above engine modifications. I would estimate that the fuel consumption has gone up by about 10% and there is still some surging around the 2500RPM mark. The increase in fuel consumption is not unexpected and is a fair price to pay for a much improved riding experience. The surging is certainly not as bad as it used to be and is only ever an issue in town under under small throttle loadings and is I suspect something I am just going to have to live with.
Mirrors
The stock mirrors on most bikes are rubbish and the Bandit is no exception. I brought some cheap mirror extenders on ebay, which have made the world of difference. To be honest, the extenders are a bit too cheap and nasty but they do the job.
Heated Grips
Once you have had heated grips there is no going back to the bad old world of cold fingers and chilblains, so installing a set of them was top of the to do list.
I have used Oxford heated grips on my last couple of bikes and been happy with them, so this was the make I installed this time around.
I am terribly absent minded and am guaranteed to leave the grips on at some point and drain the battery. I therefore powered them using a relay, which was activated via the number plate light circuit. I am no electrician but this proved pretty straight forward.
Removing the original grips can be a bit of a challenge as they are often glued tight. In this instance I decided to cut them off which took all of a few seconds and saved a whole lot of mucking around.
The rest of the installation was easy enough, though I did spend a fair bit of time routing the cabling and the control unit, as there is very little spare space under the Bandits seat.
I did make one stupid mistake, which causes me no end of grief. When taking off the bar end weights (to install the grips) I completely unscrewed the securing bolts resulting in the associated nuts falling into the depths of the handle bar. It was an absolute bugger to get the nuts out again.
My tip of the day is, if you do need to remove the bar end weights, is to loosen the bolt only and pull the whole assembly out. You have been warned!
Scottoiler
Again, I can’t recommend these highly enough. Scottoilers are relatively cheap to buy and easy enough to install and put an end to the messy business of oiling the chain, not to mention greatly extending its life; my SV had done 35K when I sold it and was still on its original chain.
Ventura Pack Rack
Without some kind of luggage carrying capacity the bike would be little more than a toy.
Going the full topbox and panniers route was an option but I think they spoil the lines of most bikes (and are bloody expensive) and in any case I like to travel very light when I am off touring.
I have therefore installed a ventura pack rack. The system consists of two permanently mounted L-brackets and a detachable rack. I also have a ventura pack which slips straight onto the rack and is further secured with two quick connect clips.
The L-brackets mounted straight onto the pillion grab handle securing points, so the whole installation took all of 5 minutes. A brilliant system and highly recommended.
HID Headlight Conversion
The Bandit has separate H7 bulbs for high and low beam, neither of which put out enough light for my liking both in terms of being seen and seeing where I am going.
Something had to be done and that something was a HID conversion.
I managed to source a dual light/ballast 6000K HID kit on ebay (sold by a company called Factory Kiss) for the miserly sum of AU$44. Despite the low price they appear to be very well made, although came with no instructions.
The
installation was pretty straight forward as it was all plug and play. I have
converted the high and low beams with both units now much, much brighter than before.
Also installed at the same time were a couple of white LED park lights to match
the white light produced by the 6000K HID bulbs.
The low beam
works brilliantly, if you excuse the pun, but I am less sure about the high
beam. The HID bulbs take a few seconds to reach maximum brightness, which makes
them less well suited in this role. Still, it never hurts to be visible.
NOTE: The law
has changed here in NZ with HID bulbs not allowed unless they were standard
fitment by the manufacturer (they aren’t for the Bandit). Fortunately, I have
managed to find a local garage who turn a blind eye come WOF time.
Before.
After - talk about sharks with laser beams!
The Seat Saga
Having done a bit of research on the Internet it seemed that either a Holeshot Corbin or Sargent seat was the way to go. Trouble is that these options were really expensive and my credit card was already on life support by this stage.
The stock seat is terrible though, so the compromise was to get hold of a Suzuki Gel Seat, which was much cheaper than the other options.
The seat duly arrived and was fitted onto the existing seat pan.
The initial impression was that it is much heavier, better made and has less of a slope than the stock seat so felt more comfortable. The slope though reduced was still there to a degree. I am reliably informed that the pillion seat is much better than the original.
After a number of long rides my opinion was somewhat less favorable. As with the standard seat I was still getting a sore bum after an hour and found I was constantly shifting my body position and never really managed to get comfortable. Much of this was due to the perceived slope of the seat.
The next step was to adjust the seat onto the higher of its two positions. The adjustment procedure is ludicrously complicated and certainly not Suzuki’s finest hour. Once I figured out what was going on it was painless enough though.
Raising the seat height made a surprising amount of difference, both good and bad. I now had more legroom but also a fair bit more weight on my wrists and a greater stretch to the ground. On longer runs the above modification was pretty effective as more weight on my wrists meant proportionally less weight on my butt and a perceived reduction in the seat slope and was overall a marked improvement.
I very nearly left things at that but the increased weight on my wrists was a pain in town and not what I really wanted from the true sports-tourer I want the Bandit to be.
I could not in all honesty recommend the gel seat. It is certainly better than the standard one, but IMHO not enough of an improvement to warrant the expense.
Around this time I was getting a lot of overtime at work and was consequently relatively flush with cash so decided to go for it and order a Sargent seat.
The Sargent seat comes as a complete unit (with a nice little storage box in its base) and fits onto the bike just fine. It is lighter and firmer than both the stock and the gel seats and seems well made. The slope towards the tank has gone with the seat positioning me an inch or so further back from the bars.
The new seat has had a good workout by way of a couple of long weekends away on the bike. I can now sit in the saddle for about 2hours without too much discomfort, which is a record for me. Other than that, I didn’t really give the saddle a second thought and just got on with riding, which is just as it should be.
The Sargent seat.
Bar Risers
One consequence of fitting the Sargent was that I now had a longer stretch to the bars and added weight on my wrists. I sourced some 1/2” bar risers from ebay. These fitted on easily and did not require any changes to the brake lines. Half an inch might not sound like much (so they say) but while still not perfect made a reasonable difference.
The Bar Risers.
Grip Puppies
I find the angle of the Bandits bars a little odd and on occasion this has caused some cramp in my wrists. I mentioned this to the guy that purchased my gel seat off me and he suggested that I give the above puppies a try.
They are basically foam tubes that fit over the bikes existing grips. To cut to the chase, they have reduced the amount of vibration felt through the bars and got rid of most of the cramp, so come recommended.
I brought them from a kiwi company called Rain-Off.
This one is supposed to show the Grip Puppies, which you can see if you look close enough.
Speedohealer
These are as easy as you like to fit. Just disconnect the speed sensor plugs (access by removing the left hand seat panel) and plug in the two matching speedohealer plugs. The speedohealer control unit is pretty small so despite the lack of space fitted easily under the Bandits seat. This took all of 10 minutes.
To calibrate the speedohealer I bolted a GPS unit onto the handlebars and compared its displayed speed with that on the Bandits speedo. Turns out the Bandit was over-reading by 7%. The correction factor was then programmed into the control unit.
The above has resulted in a super accurate speedometer and by way of an added bonus an odometer that accumulates mileage more slowly. I also installed the supplied top speed switch which if selected shows you how bad you have been.
Speedohealer installed below seat. Note also the fused relay used for the heated grips.
Radiator Side Covers
There was nothing wrong with the existing alloy side covers, but I thought they looked a bit cheap and nasty. No surprises there then – this is a Suzuki after all! I managed to get hold of some of the classier looking black plastic ones from the updated Bandit (the one with the black engine casings). I don’t like the look of the black engine at all but think the new radiator side covers contrast nicely with the silver finish on my Bandit.
Very sexy!
Renthal Bars and Barbacks
The final two modifications, honest.
Even with the bar risers I was still suffering from some wrist ache when riding in town, which I put down to the odd angle of the stock bars rather than any height issues. To my eyes the bars also looked a bit dated.
Renthal Ultra Lows have a good reputation and are reputed to have a flatter angle and seemed to be just the ticket, so out came the credit card and a couple of weeks later on went the new bars (coupled with the 1/2" risers).
Installation was straight forward enough, though there were a few issues. The Bandits brake and clutch instrument assemblies are located by plastic lugs which fit into pre-drilled holes in the stock bars. I didn't fancy drilling holes in my nice new Renthals so filed down the lugs leaving just a millimetre or so left and bolted the assembles straight onto the new bars, which seemed to work just fine. The new bars are a little lower but also significantly wider than the originals meaning that the front brake line, while perfectly acceptable, is at about the maximum extent of its travel.
The internal width of the new bars is 13mm which is narrower than the stock ones meaning that new bar end weights were required. I sourced some new ones of ebay but didn't really like them as they were too small and too lightweight to be of any use and are really only there for cosmetic reasons.
The Renthals transmit slightly more vibration than the stock bars so I decided to adapt the locating mechanism from the 13mm weights to take the standard bar end weights. This turned out to be very easy as all I had to do was source some slightly longer bolts (making sure they were secured with thread lock). The end result is that the Bandit looks better with the larger weights and there is less vibration.
The new bars look dead sexy in black and aesthetically are a big improvement. The extra width also makes it easier to throw the Bandit around the bends. I did indeed find the bar angle a little flatter, but comfort wise it still wasn't quite there, as I now felt I was stretching a little too much. To be honest, I probably should have gone for the Low rather than Ultra Low Renthals, which in terms of height are closer to the stock items.
The Renthal bars with the stock bar end weights.
The next and final purchase was some barbacks which I sourced from SW Motech. These move the bars up 1" and back 1" and are pricey but beautifully made. As intimated above, the front brake line needed to be extended.
A closer look at the barbacks.
The combination of the Renthals and the barbacks has really nailed it and for the first time since I have had the Bandit I am truly happy with the riding position, which now has a nice gentle lean to the bars with very little weight on my wrists.
The final two modifications, honest.
Even with the bar risers I was still suffering from some wrist ache when riding in town, which I put down to the odd angle of the stock bars rather than any height issues. To my eyes the bars also looked a bit dated.
Renthal Ultra Lows have a good reputation and are reputed to have a flatter angle and seemed to be just the ticket, so out came the credit card and a couple of weeks later on went the new bars (coupled with the 1/2" risers).
Installation was straight forward enough, though there were a few issues. The Bandits brake and clutch instrument assemblies are located by plastic lugs which fit into pre-drilled holes in the stock bars. I didn't fancy drilling holes in my nice new Renthals so filed down the lugs leaving just a millimetre or so left and bolted the assembles straight onto the new bars, which seemed to work just fine. The new bars are a little lower but also significantly wider than the originals meaning that the front brake line, while perfectly acceptable, is at about the maximum extent of its travel.
The internal width of the new bars is 13mm which is narrower than the stock ones meaning that new bar end weights were required. I sourced some new ones of ebay but didn't really like them as they were too small and too lightweight to be of any use and are really only there for cosmetic reasons.
The Renthals transmit slightly more vibration than the stock bars so I decided to adapt the locating mechanism from the 13mm weights to take the standard bar end weights. This turned out to be very easy as all I had to do was source some slightly longer bolts (making sure they were secured with thread lock). The end result is that the Bandit looks better with the larger weights and there is less vibration.
The new bars look dead sexy in black and aesthetically are a big improvement. The extra width also makes it easier to throw the Bandit around the bends. I did indeed find the bar angle a little flatter, but comfort wise it still wasn't quite there, as I now felt I was stretching a little too much. To be honest, I probably should have gone for the Low rather than Ultra Low Renthals, which in terms of height are closer to the stock items.
The next and final purchase was some barbacks which I sourced from SW Motech. These move the bars up 1" and back 1" and are pricey but beautifully made. As intimated above, the front brake line needed to be extended.
The combination of the Renthals and the barbacks has really nailed it and for the first time since I have had the Bandit I am truly happy with the riding position, which now has a nice gentle lean to the bars with very little weight on my wrists.
Even with the bar risers I was still suffering from some wrist ache when riding in town, which I put down to the odd angle of the stock bars rather than any height issues. To my eyes the bars also looked a bit dated.
Renthal Ultra Lows have a good reputation and are reputed to have a flatter angle and seemed to be just the ticket, so out came the credit card and a couple of weeks later on went the new bars (coupled with the 1/2" risers).
Installation was straight forward enough, though there were a few issues. The Bandits brake and clutch instrument assemblies are located by plastic lugs which fit into pre-drilled holes in the stock bars. I didn't fancy drilling holes in my nice new Renthals so filed down the lugs leaving just a millimetre or so left and bolted the assembles straight onto the new bars, which seemed to work just fine. The new bars are a little lower but also significantly wider than the originals meaning that the front brake line, while perfectly acceptable, is at about the maximum extent of its travel.
The internal width of the new bars is 13mm which is narrower than the stock ones meaning that new bar end weights were required. I sourced some new ones of ebay but didn't really like them as they were too small and too lightweight to be of any use and are really only there for cosmetic reasons.
The Renthals transmit slightly more vibration than the stock bars so I decided to adapt the locating mechanism from the 13mm weights to take the standard bar end weights. This turned out to be very easy as all I had to do was source some slightly longer bolts (making sure they were secured with thread lock). The end result is that the Bandit looks better with the larger weights and there is less vibration.
The new bars look dead sexy in black and aesthetically are a big improvement. The extra width also makes it easier to throw the Bandit around the bends. I did indeed find the bar angle a little flatter, but comfort wise it still wasn't quite there, as I now felt I was stretching a little too much. To be honest, I probably should have gone for the Low rather than Ultra Low Renthals, which in terms of height are closer to the stock items.
The Renthal bars with the stock bar end weights.
The next and final purchase was some barbacks which I sourced from SW Motech. These move the bars up 1" and back 1" and are pricey but beautifully made. As intimated above, the front brake line needed to be extended.
A closer look at the barbacks.
The combination of the Renthals and the barbacks has really nailed it and for the first time since I have had the Bandit I am truly happy with the riding position, which now has a nice gentle lean to the bars with very little weight on my wrists.
The Future
The Bandit is a relatively cheap bike to buy and has a large following worldwide meaning lots of custom parts and fan forums all of which have made it easy to customise the bike.
I have had a lot of fun tinkering with the Bandit and making it my own, but even in standard form it really is a terrific real world bike and one which I intend to keep for a good few years yet.
Further down the line another V-twin beckons, maybe a Guzzi....we shall see.
I have had a lot of fun tinkering with the Bandit and making it my own, but even in standard form it really is a terrific real world bike and one which I intend to keep for a good few years yet.
Further down the line another V-twin beckons, maybe a Guzzi....we shall see.
