Foz

is this a mk1 or mk2 bandit ? Does it have four pipes under where the headers attach to the head ? If so The PAIR system can be a nuisance with cold starting/running , slow warm up , poor running til warm . There's an easy way to isolate it as a test if it's a mk2

Tlr is just the fat ugly brother to the tls , there's quite a weight difference and the R has twin injectors per cylinder as opposed to singles on the S so is smoother and more civilised. The early S 's had round port heads which gave it a lot of its character later models had a different port shape. Though the forums you'll find the R has about 118 bhp on the dyno , personally I'll have an S every time but I always go for the original us sanitised versions of bikes

Water pump ? You mean thermostat ? No sender unit in the rad at the lower left hand side ? Mines got 32k on it and is still strong, ask on the TL zone or the two TL Facebook pages. The early engines were perhaps a bit weaker especially the clutch but that said had better shaped ports so were more fun

What year is it ? My TL is a 97 and used to average about 100 miles between fill ups . Be sure it runs at 81 degrees if it's a 97 as it'll be on the warm map, below that it'll run lumpy and constantly be on choke and as such thirsty. If the temp senders in the rad the thermostat mods a good idea

TL's seem when in good order to put 12.4-8 volts back to the battery so on an older bike it's less , barely giving you enough cranking power. There's a charging mod for TL's which gives you 13.5 back to the battery , once done starting becomes pretty easy. I've just resurrected mine after 3 plus years and now it's either first or second prod of the starter again. You'll have to google the mod but it was on the TL zone

Get one that's sorted for fuelling and handling and yes it'll feel lazy at times then you'll notice your travelling well into 3 figures

What year is the bike ? The 97 Ecu isn't all that...on a 97 the thermostat mod is one of the best things you can do as without it the bike is constantly on choke and as such is lumpy and thirsty. If it is a later bike or runs at 81 degrees you fine , if it's at 61 degrees it would benefit from the thermostat being sorted,

Had my 97s for 6-7 years now, it's one of the most hilarious bikes I've ever owned and the only bike to make me giggle like a child in my helmet. When I bought it ,riding it home it was horrible but that was due to the fact it was on the cold map as it hadn't had the thermostat mod at that point . Once I did the thermostat mod it ran like a different bike , it smooth and economical for a TL . Since then it's had a full akrapovic system, jacked and gapped subframe , heli bars which make it all day comfy, maxton forks , maxton Spring and Hagon damper ,pc3 custom map, modded airbox etc . I keep thinking of selling it but everytime I hear it running I can't bring myself to .

I've tried mine on different Spring tensions and found one which I can live with, the test will be going up the motorway for the TT on Friday. The induction noise and throttle response makes it all worthwhile

I have rs38's on my 1216 bandit and they work really well ,the only critism would be the slightly heavy throttle when travelling distance on the motorway.

Does anyone know who may have done this head work on my flowed and ported head,it has 2mm oversized inlet and exhaust valves ,heavy duty springs and retainers beyond that I have no knowledge about it. It's not one of Mr Uppertons and there is no stampings or markings on the head

I've had this bike for 4-5 years Carl and always used semi synthetic ,the clutch could be the original for all I know so it's probably best being changed anyway considering the power increase

I'd got one in the garage along with a set of ebc ones and a set of Barnets is on way so between them I should get it sorted.The steels were totally unmarked but will check for the two 2mm ones when the springs go in

Rene, to be fair the history of the clutch was a bit Unknown .It could well be the original 43,000 mile clutch plates and springs, all the steels were in good condition and it now has new friction plates the only thing I didn't have with me were some HD diaphragm springs so initially we'll go down the route of replacing them. Oilyspanner, the engines now got a wiseco 1216 block and Pistons, gsxr 11k cams, a heavily ported and flowed head with 2mm oversize inlet and exhaust valves with heavy duty springs , rs38 flatslides , full 4-2-1 akrapovic exhaust system with a yoshimura rs3 end can , it should have all the ingredients for some good power.

I can live with heavy, I have a TL remember :-) as the bandit really starts to pull at 8+ that's when it lets go .One maybe enough for day to day use as the likelihood of using it on the road near the red line isn't likely to often. But still be nice to get a full power run in to check the fuelling and see what it's got in it

Annoying part was is that I had a Barnett HD Spring at home but not at my mates dyno so now I've got to take it back for a final set up as we couldn't get a full power run without the clutch letting go. Would two HD springs be overly heavy ?

My bandit 12 has now got its tuned engine fitted and after a break in period it's been back on the dyno, initially the clutch slipped so the plates were all changed however I was led to believe it had one heavy duty and one standard diaphragm Spring fitted , I since think both springs were standard. After the new plates were fitted we tried another run and again it started to slip but only slightly this time as the engine started to come on cam at about 8-9k this was about 143 bhp according to the print out. I think I remember FB saying he used just one hd Spring on his 150bhp bandit without issue, I know I can go down the gsxr Spring clutch route but initially was going to definetly fit one hd Spring possibly even two . Opinions by those in the know would be useful, is two to heavy ? Any other suggestions

Come on mark, you know you want to have a go at getting a 600 running with filters ? They'll tell you how :-

It just has to be mk1 , especially when you tune the engine :-)

The clip had come off the needle on one of the carbs , so all sorted now.

That's what I'm going to look at next Mark, the carbs were a bit of an unknown so I'm hoping it's something like that rather than worse case scenario

What would the symptoms be of a dropped valve ? I was out earlier on my bandit 12 and after a blast along a long straight it seemed to feel as though the bike had dropped onto 3 1/2 cylinders ,the bike still got me home and still ticked over /started ok. I've the Checked plugs etc and all is fine , the bike seems to rev cleanly now it's back in the garage. I don't know if it's something wrong with the fuelling due to the rs38's nor quite being set up as yet or whether it's perhaps one valve that's gone out of clearance or worse still a bent valve. The head is ported and flowed with heavy duty valve springs and gsxr cams but wouldn't have thought that would have been an issue

Clutch,cams etc are different. The last of the oil cooled gsxrs were shim heads as opposed to screw and locknut adjusters .

I'm about to fit a 1216 kit,flowed head and gsxr cams to my bandit 12 along with a set of rs38's . I'm not asking for a precise set up just a ball park on the main jet so I have something to work with based on the spec