Bandit ride height.

[imago]

After a  fair bit of fannying about checking stuff I've nailed down why it's handling 'weird'. A previous owner has fitted shorter dog bones to lower the back by @ 20mm. They didn't shove the forks through to match though. 

So as it's only going to be on the road until I get round to stripping it: lower the front to suit? Or stick a pair of standard bones in? The seat height is fine for me either way. 

[bluedog59]

Shorter dog bones raise the back end.

[imago]

1 hour ago, bluedog59 said:

Shorter dog bones raise the back end.

Yes they do, these are longer, no idea why I put shorter. 

[bluedog59]

8 minutes ago, imago said:

Yes they do, these are longer, no idea why I put shorter. 

I ran mine slightly up at the back and down 20mm at the front but I do go for agility over stability for the B roads round me. If you run this set up with light wheels you may want to fit a steering damper.

[imago]

4 minutes ago, bluedog59 said:

I ran mine slightly up at the back and down 20mm at the front but I do go for agility over stability for the B roads round me. If you run this set up with light wheels you may want to fit a steering damper.

The way it's set up at the moment is the dead opposite, more trail than a Tesco trolley. 

I'm leaning toward swapping the bones to level it up tbh. It'll just be a run about for a while, but it'd be nice if it'd actually turn in.

[bluedog59]

Bandit ? Turn in ? 

Two things not normally found in the same sentence.

[eddiegsx]

3 hours ago, imago said:

After a  fair bit of fannying about checking stuff I've nailed down why it's handling 'weird'. A previous owner has fitted shorter dog bones to lower the back by @ 20mm. They didn't shove the forks through to match though. 

So as it's only going to be on the road until I get round to stripping it: lower the front to suit? Or stick a pair of standard bones in? The seat height is fine for me either way. 

Coincidence that you mention ' weird ' handling following a mess about with the arse end, I raised the rear on mine and I'm experiencing only what I can describe as vague handling that I can't really fathom. Despite having an onlins shock that I've played with. Also I have a gsxr1000k1 front end which may be an issue? Just can't tell. Now in the process of going back to a standard setup and leave it alone.

 

[bluedog59]

12 minutes ago, eddiegsx said:

Coincidence that you mention ' weird ' handling following a mess about with the arse end, I raised the rear on mine and I'm experiencing only what I can describe as vague handling that I can't really fathom. Despite having an onlins shock that I've played with. Also I have a gsxr1000k1 front end which may be an issue? Just can't tell. Now in the process of going back to a standard setup and leave it alone.

 

How long are your forks compared to stock ? Most USD's are a lot shorter.

[imago]

3 hours ago, bluedog59 said:

Bandit ? Turn in ? 

Two things not normally found in the same sentence.

Yeah, so now imagine that someone spent some time and money making it worse. 

[eddiegsx]

4 hours ago, bluedog59 said:

How long are your forks compared to stock ? Most USD's are a lot shorter.

I make it approximately 50mm shorter than stock, I know that's a hell of a lot but in my mind you would think this would quicken the steering but as I said it felt vague, almost lazy!

[fatblokeonbandit]

5 hours ago, bluedog59 said:

Bandit ? Turn in ? 

Two things not normally found in the same sentence.

Yes because we all know a bandit cant be made to turn in, Steer or handle, don't we

 

 

[Tony Nitrous]

4 minutes ago, fatblokeonbandit said:

Yes because we all know a bandit cant be made to turn in, Steer or handle, don't we

 

 

I love it ! 

It doesn’t matter if it’s a Bandit, Busa or GSX14, some folk get so upset when the get passed and left by a bike they see as inferior and unsuitable to their own “proper” Sportsbike. 

Good work ! 

[bluedog59]

3 minutes ago, fatblokeonbandit said:

Yes because we all know a bandit cant be made to turn in, Steer or handle, don't we

 

 

With a bit of well thought out modding and a decent rider you can make them surprisingly agile.

[imago]

14 hours ago, bluedog59 said:

With a bit of well thought out modding and a decent rider you can make them surprisingly agile.

and with a bit of modding with no thought or understanding you can properly fcuk them up. 

It took me a while to get round to checking the height at the rear because it never entered my head that anyone would be stupid enough to drop the back end by nearly an inch without changing the front to suit. "i cAN't tOuCh the fLOor. MuzT cHanGe thINgz, haVe spANnerz now."

[Dezza]

The obvious answer is to put the engine in a Harris or Spondon frame. And then change the engine for a faster unit

[Simbec1863]

I’m with @fatblokeonbanditwith a decent setup they can do some amazing things for a shopping bike 

[bluedog59]

1 hour ago, Dezza said:

The obvious answer is to put the engine in a Harris or Spondon frame. And then change the engine for a faster unit

The obvious answer but not a cast iron guarantee. There are plenty of people quite capable of making a pig's ear out of a silk purse.

[bluedog59]

50 minutes ago, Simbec1863 said:

I’m with @fatblokeonbanditwith a decent setup they can do some amazing things for a shopping bike 

That's the great thing about them, you can make them handle/stop/go better and still chuck your Mrs and a tent on the back for a tour round Europe (Brexit, ferry strikes, plague permitting).

[imago]

3 minutes ago, bluedog59 said:

That's the great thing about them, you can make them handle/stop/go better and still chuck your Mrs and a tent on the back for a tour round Europe (Brexit, ferry strikes, plague permitting).

They're just a continuation/return to the 'UJM' approach that gave us the GS1000 and GSX1100. So it makes sense that with some fettling and tweaks you can tailor them to your requirements. I'd never had a Bandit until now, I quite like it TBH and can see why they're popular.

Not going to stop me stripping it of good bits for the ET though.  Then again, 20-30 years from now I'll probably be wondering why I ruined what would have become a £25k classic bike. 

[bluedog59]

That's a cracking idea ! Take the shite bits off the Bandit and use them to improve the ET, replace the missing bits on the Bandit with better stuff and you'll end up with 2 bikes that are way better than stock.

Don't worry about the future, you'll probably still own them both in 30 years.  Put the Bandit bits back on the Bandit, put the stock bits back on the ET (you did remember to keep them ?! ) and you'll make £60k. 

[imago]

23 minutes ago, bluedog59 said:

That's a cracking idea ! Take the shite bits off the Bandit and use them to improve the ET, replace the missing bits on the Bandit with better stuff and you'll end up with 2 bikes that are way better than stock.

Don't worry about the future, you'll probably still own them both in 30 years.  Put the Bandit bits back on the Bandit, put the stock bits back on the ET (you did remember to keep them ?! ) and you'll make £60k. 

 It's not going to work like that unfortunately, any leftovers from the Bandit will be sold or binned and most of the usable stock bits from the ET will be used during the rebuild of the other two ETs.

ET frame, tank and bodywork, Bandit forks (to avoid USD) converted to cartridge, Bandit swing arm converted to twin shock, Bandit engine converted to injection, wheels TBA but probably Bandit. Strip the guts and dials/LCD from the Bandit clocks and fit them to the stock ET housing, scratch build a loom, keyless start/immobiliser, convert the lights to LEDs, etc etc.

[Simbec1863]

2 hours ago, bluedog59 said:

That's the great thing about them, you can make them handle/stop/go better and still chuck your Mrs and a tent on the back for a tour round Europe (Brexit, ferry strikes, plague permitting).

One of my mates still races one that he rides to the pub on with his missus on a daytime mot,he just leans it up against the wall or available fence 

Edited August 17, 2022 by Simbec1863

[TonyGee]

its a shame the bandit gets a bad press  they are a great bike and fun too ride. the frame is stiffer than a gs/gsx and with good suspension they can handle good.  ok the seat unit is not the best looking part of the bike but that can easily be changed   ive had a few and loved them 

[imago]

2 hours ago, TonyGee said:

its a shame the bandit gets a bad press  they are a great bike and fun too ride. the frame is stiffer than a gs/gsx and with good suspension they can handle good.  ok the seat unit is not the best looking part of the bike but that can easily be changed   ive had a few and loved them 

Yeah, as I said I hadn't had one before but was pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure they get a bad press as such, just that they're pretty dull in stock form. I'd liken them to the powerscreen in that they don't do anything particularly badly and they're a good value for money all rounder, but they don't really blow your frock up.

[bluedog59]

16 minutes ago, imago said:

Yeah, as I said I hadn't had one before but was pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure they get a bad press as such, just that they're pretty dull in stock form. I'd liken them to the powerscreen in that they don't do anything particularly badly and they're a good value for money all rounder, but they don't really blow your frock up.

My crystal ball predicts that you will secretly regret breaking it and buy another to build as a "sleeper".