bandit wannabe from south of Hobart

Oh, I jumped into the forums before introducing myself, so here I am in shame.

I've been test riding various bikes for the last couple of years with my girlfriend on the back. I get caught up in things and before i know it I'm getting into the corners and precision overtaking. My girlfriend gets excited even though she has often complained of nearly vomiting! This is a novel concept for me, not having someone nervously tap me on the shoulder to slow down - it means I have to be the adult.

Our favourite bike so far is something I never used to understand - the triumph rocket III roadster. My logic got left behind when I hit the hyperspace control. All of a sudden I fell in love with torque.

But I'm on a bandit forum The rocket, although incredibly addictive, I imagine would be hard to live with. The suspension is shocking, the rear tyre is stupidly over size, and if it ever fell over (probably while manouvreing it slowly) how would I pick it up? My girlfriend is only 50kg so she is no help. I do like the "bigness" of everything else on it though.

I love suzukis. They have the best gear boxes of anything I've ridden. I have a dr650, a drz400e, and an italian made yamaha tt600r. I believe the japanese still make the best bikes and cars - that Italian yamaha is very agricultural.

I've always liked the "all rounder" description of the bandit. If I get one we will do everything on it; lots of dirt road exploring, touring, commuting. I've already been researching tyres, exhaust and screen, tuning etc. I'll get continental trailattack tyres, enduro handlebars so that I can stand up, bigger screen, loud pipe, open up air box, jet, pcIII, panniers, a thing to tell me what gear I'm in, stiffen up the front end and the front brakes, maybe gear it down a bit.

Welcome to the forum mate.

hello & welcome / I suppose someone will ask so it may as well be me , where does poohduck come from ?
( duckpoo I`ve heard of LOL )

Welcome aboard poohduck.

G'day pd, welcome along

Welcome mate.

Welcome.
A dirt Bandit you say? Bloody scary thought IMHO

Welcome. I have done ball bearing gravel roads on the Bandit but I wouldn't attempt real offroad with it as its too big and heavy. It also spins up the rear real easy on loose stuff. I have a drz400e for the times I want to get dirty.

Just exploring the lesser roads. I've got dirt bikes, including the venerable drz400e Just cruising along and looking around while on our way to somewhere else. The trail attacks look like predominantly road based tyres and seem to have a great reputation for grip on the road, with some dirt road capability. That and the bars will be my only compromise for lesser roads.

Re your question Paul, poohduck came out of a brainstorming session to find a username that wasn't taken up a few years ago. Previous usernames have been "adopted" from me; I reckon I'm pretty safe with this one I had an image in my head of a duck covered in shit with a big grin - ducks are like that.

You're a better man than me if you can confidently take the Bandit zipping up a dirt road that consists of more than solid gravel, ie nothing loose and certainly not muddy. Too much weight and CoG too high, and rake/trail right for bitumen but not dirt. My one drop was enough for me.

Hi & welcome Pooduck

hi there