A birthday for the bandit

The 48,000km service was due , so as I use the bike daily , I opted to change the oil & filter and do the incidentals myself & because I couldn't be off the road if the shims needed doing, I got the bike shop where I bought it to check the valves and while they were under the tank so to speak .........change the coolant , change the spark plugs ( which had done double the recommended km & apart from a bit of rust on a couple where the plug spanner fits , they were still ok ) , balance the throttle bodies , throw in the air cleaner I supplied & do a safety check . Originally I was told around $420 & plus about $ 50 for a rocker gasket ............when I picked it up , to my surprise they said the gasket was fine & the bill was $ 365 all up including parts .The valves were still all in speck as well & they gave me a loan bike to use  while they had my bike . Today I fitted some EBC pads to the front ..............a marked improvement on OEM pads & some Nissin Yamaha pads in the rear ( also a bit more bite than OEM ) .................. and the whole set was considerably cheaper than Suzuki's pads .Never noticed that there is Nissin callipers on the back and Tokico on the front .
So next Saturday , I'm off to replace the roadsmarts..............the front is down to the wear-marks & although still a little scalloped or cupped if you prefer , no where near as much as the PR2s I used to run . I did notice I could feel some road surfaces more with the Dunlops as well . The Rear tyre still has tread , & is squaring off due to all the commuting I do , but I would have put up with it longer if the front tyre still had some life in it . I was going to try the new dunlops , but if I'm replacing my tyres @ 11,000km or every 9 months , for the type of riding I do ( mainly commting ) I'm going to try the Bridgestones 023s ( Reddog's  brand choice if I recall correctly ) They are the previous model to the current T30s & have some good reviews on grip & longevity....................& @ $430 fitted the price is pretty good ................I still expect to get around the same mileage as the dulops but we shall see .

What sort of mileage did you get with the PR2's? Im up for tyres shortly and Team Moto have specials on the PR2 for $400 fitted.
Also BT023's for about the same money.

Ironman wrote:What sort of mileage did you get with the PR2's? Im up for tyres shortly and Team Moto have specials on the PR2 for $400 fitted.
Also BT023's for about the same money.

About 15,000km ( both times on 2 sets ) , but the front had scalloped quite badly & the rear was pretty squared off by then ....................For $ 400 a set you could always change them a bit earlier , good price! .

The bt023s are a good tyre and suit the bandit well. I wouldn't expect you'll get better mileage with them though. My bridgestone rears last 6000, whilst I got a pr2 to do nearly 9000, but I hated the feel of the Michelin compared to the bridgestone.

Good luck with them Paul. The t30s got a good report from a guy over here that used to run a bandit. He has then on his BMW k1300s

reddog wrote:The bt023s are a good tyre and suit the bandit well. I wouldn't expect you'll get better mileage with them though. My bridgestone rears last 6000, whilst I got a pr2 to do nearly 9000, but I hated the feel of the Michelin compared to the bridgestone.

Good luck with them Paul. The t30s got a good report from a guy over here that used to run a bandit. He has then on his BMW k1300s

I've not tried them before ,  I'm not hard on tyres ,so it will be interesting to see how they go ......a mate of mine always ran bridgestone on his Bandits & swore by them