Another Sydney Bandit

Evening, all

Grabbed the link from two-wheeled texans, joined a while ago but haven't spent much time in here.

Thought I would drop in and look around.

I am in Sydney and have a 2008 1250SA (silver, all the ABS model came in during 2008 and never got around to respraying)
Fitted with Blueflame exhaust, bmc filter, carbon hugger, abm fatbars and speddohealer. In other words, mainly the usual stuff.

Dave.

Welcome Dave.
Will catch you around on a ride. Im in Penrith so will catch up for a ride. I want to look at your hugger. I wam looking at a couple but not sure which one yet

Hi Dave

Welcome along, I have an 08 1250S in black, you have all the good options on yours by the sounds!

Thanks,

Mainly the usual mod/bling bits.
Rapidly approaching the 18,000km service. Need to put a power commander on and get the fuel ratios balanced out properly and change the brake pads.
Picked up a set of "DP Brakes" pads last week. Now just have to get around to putting them in...

tj1 wrote:Hi Dave

Welcome along, I have an 08 1250S in black, you have all the good options on yours by the sounds!

You enjoying yours?
Any issues with the bike for you?

Dmaxhall wrote:

tj1 wrote:Hi Dave

Welcome along, I have an 08 1250S in black, you have all the good options on yours by the sounds!

You enjoying yours?
Any issues with the bike for you?

Yeah I am at the moment, I have put a Beowulf 380mm stainless can on it and some LED park lights, but thats it.
I find it very suitable, had a sports bike before this (ZX6R) and this is much more suited to the way I ride. Have just been on a Triumph ride day and ridden the speed triple and street triple, both of which are great bikes but I still prefer the Bandit over them, maybe its what I am used to.

Where the exhaust headers go from 4 to 2 to 1 it looks like the polished stainless on the pipes is deteriorating, I have heard storys that these burn through in this point, and some have been replaced under warranty, wondering if this is whats happening to mine.

other than that, it hasnt missed a beat

Mine had a very bad stain in the same area of the headers and so I put a warranty claim in.
Suzuki have not responded, but the dealer has definately put the claim in.
I was not prepared to experiment with polishing the pipe and so I had the dealer try to polish it out.
I watched as they polished the effected area with "OOO" extra fine steel wool and "Autosol" metal polish. Result: perfect shine and the corrosion has not returned!
I have bought the same products, and intend to polish the pipes/ Headers regularly.

CHERRY1 wrote:Mine had a very bad stain in the same area of the headers and so I put a warranty claim in.
Suzuki have not responded, but the dealer has definately put the claim in.
I was not prepared to experiment with polishing the pipe and so I had the dealer try to polish it out.
I watched as they polished the effected area with "OOO" extra fine steel wool and "Autosol" metal polish. Result: perfect shine and the corrosion has not returned!
I have bought the same products, and intend to polish the pipes/ Headers regularly.

I had mine changed under warranty about 12 months in (10,000km) without a drama after notifying my dealer. Took about 6 weeks to organise it but I wasn’t worried. The replacement header has not had the burn mark return.
The only issue I had was an arse reaming from a mod on twowheels forum (one of our members here will remember that) from me defending myself because they thought I had spilt something on the cat converter to cause the burn stain. Bunch of tossers on that site.

Note: The headers on these bikes weigh a bloody ton. Easy 12-15kg I'd estimate. Imagine how the front end would improve is that was halved.

My headers have the same issue around the Cat.

The "Suzuki Stain" started to develop after about one month. My Dealer advised waiting until closer to the end of the warranty period before replacing the headers. I now have about 17,000km and there has been no change since 2,000km.

I will have them changed soon. Will probably have the "HPC" (High Performance Coatings) treatment put on to seal the headers when I have them changed. (see hpcoatings.com.au)

The other issue for me was the usual surging at about 3500rpm. This has seemed to reduce as the kms build up and has reduced more with the fitment of a BMC air filter and the Blueflame exhaust.

2wheelsagain wrote:

CHERRY1 wrote:Mine had a very bad stain in the same area of the headers and so I put a warranty claim in.
Suzuki have not responded, but the dealer has definately put the claim in.
I was not prepared to experiment with polishing the pipe and so I had the dealer try to polish it out.
I watched as they polished the effected area with "OOO" extra fine steel wool and "Autosol" metal polish. Result: perfect shine and the corrosion has not returned!
I have bought the same products, and intend to polish the pipes/ Headers regularly.

I had mine changed under warranty about 12 months in (10,000km) without a drama after notifying my dealer. Took about 6 weeks to organise it but I wasn’t worried. The replacement header has not had the burn mark return.
The only issue I had was an arse reaming from a mod on twowheels forum (one of our members here will remember that) from me defending myself because they thought I had spilt something on the cat converter to cause the burn stain. Bunch of tossers on that site.

Note: The headers on these bikes weigh a bloody ton. Easy 12-15kg I'd estimate. Imagine how the front end would improve is that was halved.

I remember that area on TW Forum. The idjit had no idea about the issues with the new Bandit. Great bike, but it shows where it was built down to a price. Unforunately, the Cat (and headers) and the ECU tuning programs were two major parts of that...

I never had a problem with the headers on my bike. From the first ride, i give them a polish after every ride...keeps them shining like new.

Spence wrote:I never had a problem with the headers on my bike. From the first ride, i give them a polish after every ride...keeps them shining like new.

The headers themselves are fine. They're easy to keep shiny. Its the cat converter after the collector that retains a lot of heat. Some burnt some didn't.


10,000 km top. 4,000km bottom.

Mine has only about 4000km on the clock. Ill just keep on shinin' and hope it stays the way it is now. Fingers crossed.

I think it's an exhaust thing with Suzuki, my 2001 K1 had the usual crappy rusty collector that all seem to suffer from. I was quoted over £100 ($200ish) to repair. I bought a piece of pipe from an exhaust shop and weld it myself.........about £5, perfect. Maybe next year a new set of FULL stainless single skin lightweight pipes are in order. .

1836 wrote:Maybe next year a new set of FULL stainless single skin lightweight pipes are in order. .

I think thats a top idea...you can be our guinea pig

2wheelsagain wrote:

Spence wrote:I never had a problem with the headers on my bike. From the first ride, i give them a polish after every ride...keeps them shining like new.

The headers themselves are fine. They're easy to keep shiny. Its the cat converter after the collector that retains a lot of heat. Some burnt some didn't.


10,000 km top. 4,000km bottom.

That top pic is how mine are starting to look at 5500km. will wait and see how they go over the summer.

The staining is chromium bleeding out of the stainless steel; comes from using "cheaper" grade stainless, and of cause that areas proximity to the cat convertor, the surging at 3500rpm is easily cured by removing the secondary throttle plates; make sure you re-balance the throttle bodies after removing them to get the plates out.

Dink