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nsaP posted:No one plans on riding like a dong Seriously. I'm probably the most meticulous motorcycle driver I know when it comes to safety, gear, etc. But that poo poo just happens.
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Aug 3, 2012 02:40
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Zubumafoo posted:Seriously. I'm probably the most meticulous motorcycle driver I know when it comes to safety, gear, etc. But that poo poo just happens. So very true. We all have two versions of each story we tell; one for fellow bikers and drinking buddies and the sanitised version for when the wives and girlfriends are around! To actually contribute; I've been reading Proficient Motorcycling by David Hough and one of the topics he covers is rolling on the throttle as you add lean. I tend to go round a corner with the throttle held at a certain point - I've heard this referred to as maintenance throttle - is this what he's talking about or does he mean actually rolling on progressively more throttle through the corner?
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Aug 3, 2012 13:59
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ReformedNiceGuy posted:I've been reading Proficient Motorcycling by David Hough and one of the topics he covers is rolling on the throttle as you add lean. I tend to go round a corner with the throttle held at a certain point - I've heard this referred to as maintenance throttle - is this what he's talking about or does he mean actually rolling on progressively more throttle through the corner? He talks about maintenance throttle. But I think he also talks about rolling on throttle as you exit a corner and are decreasing lean.
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Aug 3, 2012 14:43
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ReformedNiceGuy posted:So very true. We all have two versions of each story we tell; one for fellow bikers and drinking buddies and the sanitised version for when the wives and girlfriends are around! I just finished that book, and it owns. In the city, it's hard to focus on rolling on throttle in corners instead of riding through in gear with almost no throttle (not coasting in neutral, more like coasting in gear). So I am still working on the proper cornering technique and habits. I definitely use my front brake more routinely after reading that book, instead of relying almost entirely on downshifting, especially in corners.
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Aug 3, 2012 17:03
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Hey, Bandit lovers (and MootMoot): I don't watch Bandit prices, but am I correct in thinking that I should be able to get a decent example between $2k-$3k? I don't care much if its cosmetically scratched, since it'll just be a commuting bitch. They're as fun as you've all lead me to believe, for realzies, right?
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Aug 3, 2012 17:30
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I rode a friend's naked B12 around, he got it for about 2k so I think you're in the ballpark on price. The suspension is not super fun but it makes up for that in torque that registers on the Richter scale. Solid cheap commuter option.
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Aug 3, 2012 17:36
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Given equal price and mileage, 2007 CBF600 ABS or 2007 Bandit 650 ABS?
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Aug 3, 2012 18:21
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Spiffness posted:Hey, Bandit lovers (and MootMoot): My B12 is a couch with a rocket strapped to it. Modding is cheap and mine currently, for all intents and purposes, is essentially a bored GSXR 1100 set up for cruising. I don't think B12's get enough love. People always talk about the more expensive premium bikes but I am so extremely happy with my Bandit that I don't think I'll ever sell it. You can acquire a new rear shock and reworked forks with braces for almost nothing and you'll find the bike will actually have a pretty good and stiff feel. The wheelbase is short so despite being over 500 pounds the weight completely disappears at speeds over 5mph. I do have wider handlebars since I have a body type equivalent to one of those noodle tube guys in front of car dealerships and it makes it flick into corners better than my friend's GSXR750. I also get about 37 combined mileage but I need another dyno tune to bring it up to 40-45. There's a reason a lot of motorcycle reviewers own them. Oh and it's hilariously fast but that's a given Oh and with the 1216 kit it makes like 95ftlbs of torque at 4k and at 7k you can lift the front end on the freeway. Did I mention it's fast?
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Aug 3, 2012 19:52
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Spiffness posted:Hey, Bandit lovers (and MootMoot): I think so. My decent condition 2002 MK2 B6 was 3kCAD. Depends on the area and the year really. MK1 6/12s should be easily within that budget.
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Aug 3, 2012 20:02
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Spiffness posted:Hey, Bandit lovers (and MootMoot): Depends on prices in your area. They run about 50% more than ninja 250s in my area, so like $4500. I got one freighted in from a few hours away for $3000, and could sell it for that in about five minutes here. And they are exactly as Xovaan says. Although I'm doing better on mileage than he is, he's got a performance tune. I'm running just intake and exhaust mods with a main jet a couple sizes larger, and I can run WOT for about an hour a day and get 42mpg. Being easy and going the speed limit (drat near impossible) gets me 50mpg. The monstrous 5gal tank gives these bikes pretty long legs, too. Note: WOT in 5th is probably double any speed limit you're likely to encounter. Don't do that. Well, don't do that more than four or five times a week.
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Aug 3, 2012 21:10
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I've owned and operated plenty of bikes that obliterate the speed limit at a moments notice. I'm specifically interested in the bandit because it looks like a comfy standard with a big engine (fun) but lovely suspension, weight, components, etc meaning it'll help me keep the fun stuff on the track. Thanks for the replies folks. It's on the short list.
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Aug 3, 2012 21:16
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Spiffness posted:I've owned and operated plenty of bikes that obliterate the speed limit at a moments notice. I'm specifically interested in the bandit because it looks like a comfy standard with a big engine (fun) but lovely suspension, weight, components, etc meaning it'll help me keep the fun stuff on the track. The sheer availability of aftermarket parts for the Bandit means that all of those things can be changed to your hearts content too. It's probably the most customisable non-Harley ever built, which is definitely a plus if you like that sort of thing. As an aside - in the UK, despite its popularity (it was easily the best-selling bike that wasn't a superbike (yeah we buy more superbikes as a proportion of the population than any other country despite our loving awful roads and weather - also more open-topped cars, for that matter) or a scooter for the entirety of its production run) the Bandit has a bit of A Reputation, not because it was a bad bike as such, but because it appealed to the sort of person who then promptly threw it under a truck while trying to wheelie through a city centre. They weren't called BinnedIts for nothing. This also means that second-hand ones tend to be viewed with suspicion because that sort of person is also the sort of person not to tell the insurance, bolt a shitload of new parts on it, then promptly sell it on despite the wheels not pointing in the same direction and the engine hanging on by a single bit of twine. Also, even among the non-loony owners, the standard solution for the top-end ticking noise that indicated imminent valve death was to fit a louder exhaust so you couldn't hear the noise any more. Add on a plethora of back-street "tuning shops" who would take 500 quid off your hands, put a straight pipe on it, and give you a dyno chart telling you that it now put out a billion horsepower, and you'll seriously struggle to actually find a good one nowadays on this side of the pond. (AFAIK you Yanks preferred the old high-top GSX1100 for that sort of behaviour so hopefully you won't run into the same problems with your second-hand market over there)
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Aug 3, 2012 21:34
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Hmm yeah, Bandit 1200s...let's see if the German market has some nice exampl... Looks like a cat that has just been hit with a spray of water.
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Aug 3, 2012 21:45
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I've also been kinda curious about the Bandit for whenever I decide to upgrade my bike. The only thing that really turns me off is the weight. The thing's a pig.
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Aug 3, 2012 22:37
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Spiffness posted:Hey, Bandit lovers (and MootMoot): FWIW (I don't know if you are looking at a 1200 or 600) I love my 600 as a first bike. I was super timid at first, but after riding around and testing the throttle it is predictable and smooth. I found my 01 600 for $1500 last year. All you other Bandit owners, can you point me to some info on upgrades. I see alot here, but specific upgrades would be nice to look at.
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Aug 4, 2012 03:05
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Zubumafoo posted:I've also been kinda curious about the Bandit for whenever I decide to upgrade my bike. The only thing that really turns me off is the weight. The thing's a pig. Like others said, above 5mph, you don't notice. But under that, yup. Get one, make it naked, have a classy assed ride you can bomb around in for hours in comfort. Once I start, I never want to get off mine. I don't tear up corners (I have a car with sticky rubber and autocross to get that high) but I just lope around the city commuting and tooling around. From what the poster said, the Bandit fits the bill very nicely. Even B6s. I love revs and gears more than I like torque and speed. So I'm more than happy with my B6 and it's 12k redline and 6 gears. Here's a fun read for those interested in Bandits. http://www.visordown.com/road-tests/splitting-heirs-suzuki-gsf600-v-gsf1200/4466.html
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Aug 4, 2012 03:22
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Potentially dumb question - if there anything that can be done to improve the appearance of a header pipe that has had three years of gunk thrown at it by the front wheel? I'm tempted to just break out the polishing kit to see what's under the corrosion and gunk but a tiny voice at the back of my mind is telling me that the I don't actually know how much good metal is left under it, and I'm worried about shortening it's life just for some pretty shiny.
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Aug 4, 2012 19:36
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goddamnedtwisto posted:Potentially dumb question - if there anything that can be done to improve the appearance of a header pipe that has had three years of gunk thrown at it by the front wheel? I'm tempted to just break out the polishing kit to see what's under the corrosion and gunk but a tiny voice at the back of my mind is telling me that the I don't actually know how much good metal is left under it, and I'm worried about shortening it's life just for some pretty shiny. That's not gunk, that's the header itself. Stainless doesn't colour as much, get one of those. Edit: a new one that would cost $$$ obviously. karms fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Aug 4, 2012 |
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Aug 4, 2012 21:03
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KARMA! posted:That's not gunk, that's the header itself. Stainless doesn't colour as much, get one of those. Yeah, pretty much the only replacement headers (other than OEM) available are as part of a full titanium system, which is why I was hoping to be able to do it with stuff in my polishing kit (which thanks to the painted frame on the Shiver has gone tragically underutilised for a while now). I actually think they are stainless (the back header, collector and cat all started shiny and are now a sort of titanium yellowy-brown colour, which is what I'd expect to see with stainless steel with that sort of heat inflicted on them), but nobody (even Aprilia) want to say what they're actually are. I'd expect mild steel to be much more corroded because it's literally right in the path of water off the front wheel. Digging around revealed lots of positive reviews of this stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtSK4Fxyerg which is imported into the country by Hein Gericke, who are going out of business and selling everything off cheap - this seems to be serendipity. gently caress it, if it rots a hole in the exhaust it's just an excuse to buy that titanium system...
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Aug 4, 2012 23:02
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So I made two trips to Harbor Freight the other night (got the external one on accident first), and got all the wheel bearings and spacers out. Took the wheels in today and had the tires dismounted and disposed of. Check and check, we are ready to rock.. Oh wait, they left the valve stems in. Do I need to save these or can I just cut them out?
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Aug 5, 2012 00:43
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marauderthirty posted:So I made two trips to Harbor Freight the other night (got the external one on accident first), and got all the wheel bearings and spacers out. Took the wheels in today and had the tires dismounted and disposed of. Check and check, we are ready to rock.. Oh wait, they left the valve stems in. Do I need to save these or can I just cut them out? Pliers and pull them out from the inside. New stems are about $4.
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Aug 5, 2012 03:59
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Collateral Damage posted:Given equal price and mileage, 2007 CBF600 ABS or 2007 Bandit 650 ABS? CBF600 definitely. 2007 CB600F even better  e: 2007 EFI model or run-out carburetted model? If it's a carby CBF600 v. a bandit 650, there's probably little to choose between them. Saga fucked around with this message at 08:06 on Aug 5, 2012 |
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Aug 5, 2012 07:57
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It's a CBF600 SA. No idea if it's EFI or Carb actually, the ad didn't say. I'm discussing with the world slowest email replyer about an ER-6f which is €500 cheaper, but if that falls through the CBF is my next target. I think the ER-6f looks better though.
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Aug 5, 2012 11:16
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Spiffness posted:Hey, Bandit lovers (and MootMoot): Think of the B12's (the only Bandits I have experience with) as a mini-hayabusa. They're super torquey, very fast, and a good all-round bike. I owned a 2000 B12 for four years, and it ran like a top the whole time. The suspension is meh, but that can be fixed with a $50 GSXR-1000 shock off eBay and a revalve in the front. The really nice thing about Bandits is that they're a blank slate. You can make them whatever you want. Naked, faired, mild, wild, touring, sportbike, whatever. The short wheelbase means wheelies like what, and as mentioned, once you're moving over 5 or 10 mph that 500lbs completely disappears. They're good at everything, and great at nothing, except being good at everything. They're unbelievably reliable, and nearly impossible to kill. Very nice bikes, despite the fact that they arent crashable enough for mootmoot.
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Aug 5, 2012 13:59
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Went to ride my Indian yesterday, pressed the starter button, it turned over a couple of times so I released the button to let the starter rest a minute. Tried it again and now all it does is produce a single "click," the headlight dims, and that's it. I've charged the battery, cycle the key and the kill switch, and made sure the bike is in neutral. Any ideas? Is my starter toast? Really made me wish I had a kick start.
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Aug 5, 2012 15:20
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Could be the starter, but it could still be the battery too. On my 636 the battery was stone dead and it wouldn't start the bike unless a real charger (not a tender) was pumping juice into it when I hit the button. It would still power the headlights and dash though. I have a Q of my own. If I get a flat on the tubed bike, can I just replace the tube and re-use the same tire? EDIT: Looks like I can, according to cyclegear. I have an extra tube too. Supermoto Supremacy! Gnaghi fucked around with this message at 15:44 on Aug 5, 2012 |
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Aug 5, 2012 15:32
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Gnaghi posted:I have a Q of my own. If I get a flat on the tubed bike, can I just replace the tube and re-use the same tire? Yes you can, can also patch the tube and have it as a backup.
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Aug 5, 2012 15:46
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That is really awesome, a welcome change from my 636 when getting a bolt through the tire put me out 2 weeks and $200.
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Aug 5, 2012 16:03
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Armyman25 posted:Went to ride my Indian yesterday, pressed the starter button, it turned over a couple of times so I released the button to let the starter rest a minute. Tried it again and now all it does is produce a single "click," the headlight dims, and that's it. I've charged the battery, cycle the key and the kill switch, and made sure the bike is in neutral. Any ideas? Is my starter toast? Try putting it in gear and rolling the bike backwards or forwards a bit. Sometimes the sprag clutch on the starter can get stuck, and/or the starter motor can get stuck in a stalled position - turning the engine over manually like that can release it. If that fails, find the starter motor relay (the thing that clicks when you hit the starter), pull the contacts (one by one, don't want to get them mixed up...) and check for corrosion - if they're spade-type connectors just bend the prongs of the female connector in slightly with a pair of needle-nose pliers in case it's not making a good connection, then do the same for the connectors to the starter motor itself assuming it's easily accessible. After that you're into proper mechanic territory which is where my knowledge runs out...
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Aug 5, 2012 18:25
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NitroSpazzz posted:Yes you can, can also patch the tube and have it as a backup. Cycle Gear said they could use my old tube, then said they couldn't because of some liability form and rust around the valve. Even still, $17 for a tube and $15 to mount is hardly worth complaining about.
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Aug 5, 2012 19:10
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My friend has been talking about using tire slime to balance a tire. I guess MotoGP racers have been doing it for a while. Any idea how well it works for ~the streets~? Seems pretty interesting.
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Aug 5, 2012 19:25
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Armyman25 posted:Went to ride my Indian yesterday, pressed the starter button, it turned over a couple of times so I released the button to let the starter rest a minute. Tried it again and now all it does is produce a single "click," the headlight dims, and that's it. I've charged the battery, cycle the key and the kill switch, and made sure the bike is in neutral. Any ideas? Is my starter toast? I've had that problem a few times, turned out to be stuck brushes in the starter motor. I gave the starter motor a good whack with a hammer and it did the trick, albeit only temporarily and I ended up having to take it to the dealers to get it sorted.
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Aug 5, 2012 19:26
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Xovaan posted:My friend has been talking about using tire slime to balance a tire. I guess MotoGP racers have been doing it for a while. Any idea how well it works for ~the streets~? Seems pretty interesting.
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Aug 5, 2012 21:01
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I have a starting issue that seems like a bum battery, but not quite sure. If I let the bike sit for a week or two and try to start it I get the issue that goes like this: key on -> lights on -> press ignition -> single click and lights out. At this point the battery reads around 12.4-12.8V, which I think is where it should be. I then put it on the trickle charger, it charges for 5 min or less, reads maybe 13.5V, put it back in the bike and it starts up no problem. Today I did this song and dance again while trying to get voltage readings while the bike is running. Maybe an hour later I geared up and got on only to find myself back at square one. Hrmph. If I'm riding and the bike dies for some reason, I get the same thing. The two times this has happened I got lucky after pulling over. Everything magically came back to life and I was able to start it. Dead battery, right? Or is it possible for something to be wrong with the starter/electrics such that it only responds when the battery has a topped off charge? If the PO was to be believed, the battery is 1.5 years old now. Starter solenoid fuse looks fine. Don't know what else to check before replacing both.
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Aug 6, 2012 02:03
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Xovaan posted:My friend has been talking about using tire slime to balance a tire. I guess MotoGP racers have been doing it for a while. Any idea how well it works for ~the streets~? Seems pretty interesting. It makes a mess for next time you need a new tire, at least. I had a tire shop charge me extra to clean out the goo when I had to put some in my car tire as an emergency fix.
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Aug 6, 2012 03:02
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timn posted:I have a starting issue that seems like a bum battery, but not quite sure. It does sound like your battery is shot. 5 minutes on a trickle charger shouldn't make a large (>1V) difference in charge state. What is the voltage when the bike's running? That'll for sure tell you charging system health.
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Aug 6, 2012 03:19
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Frankston posted:I've had that problem a few times, turned out to be stuck brushes in the starter motor. I gave the starter motor a good whack with a hammer and it did the trick, albeit only temporarily and I ended up having to take it to the dealers to get it sorted. I tried bump-starting it to see if it was stuck, but I can't get very much speed going in the garage, and the driveway is too steep to get to the bottom and push it back up without help. I did let the bike sit over night, then tried it again. First push of the starter button met with a click, then it turned over and started with the second press. I'm going to have to ride it a bit, bring it home, and see if it will reliably restart before I shot it off anywhere else.
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Aug 6, 2012 06:53
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Xovaan posted:My friend has been talking about using tire slime to balance a tire. I guess MotoGP racers have been doing it for a while. Any idea how well it works for ~the streets~? Seems pretty interesting. I don't buy this, wheres the article talking about his. I really can't believe they would just dump slime in there to balance for a motogp bike. I'm pretty sure I saw wheel weights and balancers when I was at Indy last year for the race.
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Aug 6, 2012 14:32
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NitroSpazzz posted:I don't buy this, wheres the article talking about his. I really can't believe they would just dump slime in there to balance for a motogp bike. I'm pretty sure I saw wheel weights and balancers when I was at Indy last year for the race. Really? Most tracks make you tape over wheel weights or prefer you don't even run them. I'd imagine GP wheels are balanced well enough that they don't need them as they'd be a real liability flying off at 200mph.
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Aug 6, 2012 15:22
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JP Money posted:Really? Most tracks make you tape over wheel weights or prefer you don't even run them. I'd imagine GP wheels are balanced well enough that they don't need them as they'd be a real liability flying off at 200mph. Yeah, I'd also imagine the tyres likewise are made to high enough tolerances that balancing them isn't an issue. FFS they use nitrogen rather than air in the tyres because it expands more predictably under heating and titanium valve stems to shave a couple of grams off the unsprung weight. The idea they'd slap some random gunk from Halfords in the tyres is pretty strange. (I also don't understand the mechanism by which this is supposed to work, even at best you're just going to get the stuff evenly distributed around the tyre, how that is supposed to balance the wheels I don't know)
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Aug 6, 2012 15:39
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