I've had my Bandit 600N for 5 years now, bought it new for £3995.
The Bandit is a great bike, I can't rate it highly enough. Physically it looks great and it's a good size for me as a 6 footer and that equates to easy riding and comfort about town and on back roads. Keep off the motorways though because without a fairing it is a tiring ride.
Economy is about 50mpg and but tyre wear is high with rear BT45s only lasting 3500 miles and fronts about 7000 miles.
Forget what some say about the engine being flat, there is enough torque for pottering around below 5000 rpm and a great rush over 9000 which can get quite adictive. Ok it's got nothing on a GSX600 or R6 but it's as fast as my old Z650, and certainly fast enough to get you into trouble.
The Bandit has always been popular and that's because it's a good all rounder - it might be the underdog compared to the 1200 but the only real difference is the 1200's propensity to wheelie under acceleration.
If your looking to buy one, they're all a bit dodgy starting from cold and need full choke, and they all sound like a bag of old nails. However despite the racket the engines appear bullet proof.
Other things to look out for are; the left hand fork seal leaks if left on the side stand too long and the middle section of the stanless exhaust is a weak point because it's only mild steel. Other than that there's not much else to fault it. Good clean low mileage examples are about £2200 now and worth every penny.
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Some good stuff here, especially as I am planning on buying a second hand Bandit in a couple of months. Thanks.
wotnot 28.01.2003 12:31
Hi
Suzuki have got to realise that they should bring a 900c version of the Bandit to challenge the Honda Hornet and Blades of this world.
Can get Faired versions but look like tourers(boring).
If you cant see the sump bolt then you aint trying.
Good op
Dardalius 26.01.2003 08:43
Welcome to Cia. Good first op, but if you would like higher ratings please include a few more details. I found when I joined that it helped to read ops of a similur type to get ideas. Not trying to put you down though, my first one was terrible, I re wrote it 3 times, but the members here rerated it for me... just leave a message in my gb if you edit yours. Thanks
Jan 25th, 2003
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