1,000 miles on my new Bandit.... - Motorcycle-Journal Forums

Fittysom'n · 10-20-2008, 11:16 AM

Yesterday's 150 (s)miler resulted in 40 mpg:

Early in the morning as the sun was coming up, I followed my buddy on his Fazer/FZ1 outa town..... frequently accelerating hard to over 100 mph at WOT.

We got to a favorite haunt of ours by way of fast switch-backs, high speed sweepers, and and a road lining Comanche Reservoir. Stony Creek Road is a technical run consisting of hills, decreasing radius', and swoopy doopy curves that can be taken at break-neck speeds. I accelerated HARD outa corners, grabbing as much and MORE throttle trying to catch up to my friend who is the "Troll of Stony Creek".... he KNOWS this road!

After breakfast in the old mining town of Jackson, we set off on Hwy 49 at legal speeds seeking more fun in the foothills. After a little fun on some isolated roads, I had to leave for work..... so we exchanged our "GOOD RIDE!"s and parted. I took a bumpy two laner roller coaster of a road testing out my 9500 rpm limit, getting airborne, and testing the ABS:

*First of all, 9500 rpm..... why bother. The engine almost falls on it's face over 7,200 rpm in 3rd, 4th, 5th, and.... fahgetaboutit! There is no "party zone" anywhere in the 1250's rev' spread; it's got torque, just torque. A bit anti-climactic having come off a 988cc R1 engine with it's turbo boost EXUP valve unleashing pure FURY at the upper end of it's rev's. Bottom line, I'm gonna hafta learn how to short shift and use the Bandit's lower-end torque to MY advantage.
*I like the ease with which the bike handles the fast stuff, the suspension is still new & stiff enough to support my 220 pounds. Getting airborne at speed, the front-end felt a little lite.... unsubstantial.... kinda lacking, but it didn't get away from me. I can see improved springs, a fork brace, and Holeshot's billet handlebar clamp.
*ABS...... my Beemer's ABS engaged all the time, when I didn't want it to, annoying, and disconcerting. The Suzuiki's ABS had to be forced into a situation that might require it. I tried grabbing a hand-full of front brake at speed over a bumpy goat-trail of a road. It was difficult to intentionally stomp the rear brake.... I noticed that the brake lever/brake fluid seemed to stack up on me when repeatedly hitting the brakes back to back; kinda weird, don't know what was going on. Bumping around, flying off the tarmac, really poor road conditions, AT SPEED , then grabbing hard the brakes engaging the ABS.... WHOA! The bike came to a stop with no drama!?! Not bad.

After riding like a fool over that "goat trail" section of road, I confirmed what I concluded earlier about spinning her up to 9,500 rpm. With quite a few rather spirited runs toward red line, I am all the more anxious to do a Stage II mod with the air box as per Holeshot, complete with his can, module, K&N, etc. It's frustrating having a big engine beneath me that produces most of it's power 2,500 rpm BELOW it's rev limit.....! But oh what a smooth and powerful engine it is! ! !

Riding like an idiot, pushing the engine (with now 1,000 miles on it) to it's limit, some wide open throttle, heavy & hard acceleration outa corners, and it returned me 40 mpg. That ain't bad, though one must consider that there was some sane & legal limit droning to get to our playground in the foothills.

All said & done, this bike is best suited dressed out in hard bags & matching top box, aftermarket pogos, fork brace & handlebar brace, sport-touring tires, and well..... just leave the intake & exhaust stock, as it comes from the factory, quiet. I'm leaning toward making of my Bandit a touring SPORTcruiser. I know I won't be able to leave the exhaust alone, but money may go toward bags & suspension first.

I can't wait to retire and hit the open road aboard my '08 1250S.....!