When I bought my Bandit I was looking for a bike that would be reasonably priced, cheap to run, easy to ride either solo or carrying a passenger and capable of covering reasonable distances. I can honestly say that in my opinion the 600 Bandit S lives up to all my expectations.
I was mainly looking for the unfaired version, as I prefer the looks of the "naked" bike - a motorcycle should just be an engine, two wheels, a seat and a headlight! But when I first saw mine "in the flesh" I fell in love with it immediately - to the extent that I bought it without a test ride and paid the exact asking price!! Luckily the ride home was enough to convince me that I had made the right decision. The Bandit was easy for me to ride from the off, even though I rode it home at night, in the rain and previously the largest bike I had ridden was a 305 cc Kawasaki GPz!
I find the bike fits me as if it were custom made, with the bars, footpegs and ground all within easy reach (I'm 5'8" tall) although my girlfriend (5'2") struggles to reach the floor and therefore has not yet ridden it. I am sure , however that this problem can be overcome as I've seen people of similar stature as her ride Bandits with ease.
One problem that has caught me out is the weight (208 kgs without fuel) as I have dropped it on one occasion moving it round the driveway, but I think that had more to do with my lack of experience than with the bike being particularly overweight, and compared to other similar machines it fares reasonably well in this respect.
According to the various passengers I've carried it seems that the seat is roomy and comfortable, with a two thousand mile round trip to Spain being 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 Suzuki Bandit 600S is an excellent machine if you want to do a bit of everything. Mine has proved reliable, economical, comfortable with some nice practical touches (digital clock, twin trip meters, room under the seat for a chain and a disk lock) and it's a good looking machine that has put up with everything I've thrown at it and even after a year of ownership and over 12,000 miles in all weathers it still cleans up almost like new. The only point I would mention is that the tool kit is for emergencies only, do not rely on it for regular use because (as with most manufacturers tool kits) it is cheap and flimsy and could damage the fasteners you use it on.
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