Suzuki Bandit GSF 1250A

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• 26182 km - Februari 9, 2019
  Coming soon!
  Starting in March, I will be commuting to work 4 days a week for at least a year, about 200 km per day. I'm not selling the Fireblade, but of course that is not your ideal commuter bike. Not on the Dutch highways anyway...
  So I looked around for suitable models that would be practical and not too expensive to buy and run - and still be fun to ride. Ruud suggested this Bandit: low mileage, cheap to buy and not too expensive to run, and quite practical. No fairing, but I'm not planning to ride it in the rain or cold much, so that should be fine.
  More details to follow.
• 26182 km - Februari 17, 2019
  Ruud delivered the bike yesterday, so I took it for a spin. The first few kilometers the engine sputtered a little, as if it was sometimes running on three cylinders. The bike had been stationary for a few years so that was to be expected. Adding a few liters of fresh new fuel and half an hour of driving smoothed it out perfectly.
  First impressions: I like it! The driving position takes a bit of getting used to (more upright, no fairing, plus higher and wider handlebars) but it is quite relaxed, so perfect for commuting. The suspension is a bit firmer than I expected, which is a good thing; it does become a little unsettled in fast bumpy corners, but nothing to get nervous about. The steering is precise enough and quite light, even though the bike is quite a bit heavier than the Fireblade. Wind protection is fine up to about 130 km/h, after that it becomes a bit much for long stretches.
  The bike has new tires (Pilot Power 2CT, as usual), new oil, and new brake fluid. Some options are fitted: A Bagster tank cover (I have ordered an Evosign bag), a Sebring exhaust (which is pleasantly loud and burbly), an LSL handlebar, and heated grips.
• 28300 km - February 23, 2019
  I took both the Fireblade and the Bandit out for the same 100 km ride, one after the other. Check out the Fireblade page for details.
• 36617 km - May 31, 2021
  It's been a while since my last post - not much to report, it has been working fine up till now. Today however, it sometimes runs on only 3 or 2 cylinders it seems. Not very safe, and probably not good for the bike either. Could be a simple matter of changing the sparkplugs, but riding it like this is not a good idea so Ruud is going to pick it up to get it fixed.
  Which got me to thinking that this may be a good time to sell both the Bandit and the Fireblade, and get something new. The Bandit needs new tires soon anyway, and some maintenance probably. The Fireblade is fine, but while I still love riding it, it is not the most practical bike out there. And neither is the Bandit, so the next one will be a compromise I think - but leaning more towards "sport" than "tour".
  The shortlist at the moment: Suzuki GSX-S 1000 F and Kawasaki Z1000SX. But that can change at any time :-)
• 36617 km - June 14, 2021
  The Bandit is up for sale, and the Fireblade will be traded in! So this page has come to an end, the next bike will be a Suzuki GSX-S 1000 F.
  In case you were wondering why I never updated the "Maintenance and parts" section below: No maintenance was ever done :-) Ruud will take care of that before selling it, new tyres are needed (they did 10k+, so no complaints there), the spark plugs need sorting out, and maybe some new oil and stuff like that. Other than that, the bike is still doing fine.
• 36617 km - June 20, 2021
  Sold.







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Maintenance and parts
km	tires	oil	oil filter	brakepads	airfilter	sparkplugs	battery	chain	other
26182	new	new							new brake fluid