Advantages: Reliable, maintenance free, comfy, easy to ride Disadvantages: have to work the engine & gears
O.K so it's an N I own and not an S, but it's the sme bike, but without the sporty bit on the front. mine has actually been modified, as in it has dual headlights (HIGHLY recommended), stainless steeel exhaust & pinnings and a scottoiler (again VERY recommended). I have found it extremely easy to ride, very energetic little bike. Comfortable if going the distance and yet still exciting enough for those little country road jaunts. You do have to work those gears, and keep the engine revs up though for anything resembling a quick getaway. I believe the 1200 engine is better than the 600 for that sort of thing. But for those who either cant afford the insurance on a 1200, or want to start on a smaller bike (perhaps just passed your test?) Then nothing can beat the 600. Of course this bike is also good for town traffic, and it's easy riding ...
Advantages: cheap to buy and run Disadvantages: taller and heavier than some similar bikes
easily attainable by both rider and pillion. Also it was on this trip that I discovered that the tank range is at least 160 miles from a 20 litre tank (140ish to reserve) whilst riding normally (i.e quite briskly) and with a passenger and our luggage - including tent and cooking equipment! I have heard reports of so called "sports tourers" with much worse fuel consumption than that!
Top speed seen by me on the clocks is about 130 mph and it feels quite stable at that speed, and the acceleration is more than adequate in the real world. On a racetrack many bikes would make the Bandit look slow but out on the open road it easily holds it's own with most of my friend's machines, although it sometimes feels just a little wallowy in bends.
All in all I would say that the SuzukiBandit600S is an excellent machine if you want to do a bit ...
Advantages: Fun, Economic, Reasonably priced Disadvantages: Wobbles over 100mph, Forks bottom out, Too high for people with short legs!!
enough we signed on the dotted line, parted with £2,500 and we were the proud new owners of an R reg, blue SuzukiBanditGSF600N. (Strangely enough, Suzuki class this blue colour as green?! They must have colour-blind employees!!!) A brand new Bandit will cost around £3500.
So how does this bike perform? It has a decent sized engine although not as fast as the 1200 version but that is pretty obvious and to be expected. It is very handy for town work and is light and nippy enough to weave through traffic comfortably. Saying that however, it is also good on the open road and loves being given the opportunity to do just that, especially if it’s normally used for only town work. I don’t think huge amounts of town work is good for any vehicles, so a ‘good run’ every now and then will do it a world of good ...
