Startup issue

Had a ride planned for yesterday, went to do my pre-ride check, hit the starter and nothing.  First thought was flat battery, but no.  The lights were bright and the horn was loud, checked the sidestand was up, yes.  To cut a long story short, I found the problem was the starter lockout switch.  Pulled the connectors off, cut some wire from an old extension cord, bared the ends and shoved them in to the connectors, taped it all up and zip tied the wires to the handlebar.  Vroom vroom

Met the mate, headed up the highway, discovered the other Bandit's ecu reflash, air filter mods and a Yoshi exhaust adds about 15k at the top.  Interesting feeling seeing 2 dollar forty on the dash   and being passed   hmmm is it worth the grand investment?  Off the highway, on to the old one, no traffic, three lanes, great surface, right into Coles Creek Rd, through Cooran, left to Kin Kin, the clouds were threatening and just as we hit the range, down it came.  The mate's pithy comment when we stopped: "It was like looking at porn, looks great but there's nothing you can do with it"    

The rain was headed our way, no stopping if we wanted to ride on dry roads, off through Cedar Pocket way, brief stop at the dam, rain was coming.  Took a right on to Tin Can Bay Road just as the rain came down.  That little three quarter fairing is quite effective if the speed is high enough, only got a little bit damp on the knees and shoulders.

Right in to Gympie Kin-Kin Road, a big thank you to the B-double driver who pulled off the road to let us past, saw him on the way back, long grey beard, looked like a brother. Great piece of road! I would need a lot more practice to push the bandit anywhere near it's limits through a glorious set of s curves, one after the other, good surface, reasonable visibility re driveways and fantastic views; if there was time to look, pity about the speed limit   

Did a u-turn when it started getting wet, not a hard decision considering it meant going back over that glorious bit of bitumen. Left on to Tin Can Bay, started raining again, back in to Cedar Pocket Road, dodged the worst bit, right at Cedar Pocket Hall and in to Gympie.  Some good high points along  here and it's possible to see a long way in all directions and it looked drier inland.  Took a left on to the Mary Valley Highway, another good piece of road, for most of it, again the fairing came in handy through a few showers.

Lunch at Imbil, then a quick run up to Boorumba Dam and back, on to Kenilworth, was dry on the range which was great fun and then down the other side to Kenilworth.  Mate had one sphincter puckering incident lighting up his near new Pilot 5 on a damp corner.  Fuelled up, took the back way to Mapleton, great little bit of divided road up the range, with the up lane being a tight and twisty road with a fairly good surface, watch those 20k posted corners   and a good place to stop at the lookout; on the left, just as the road joins again into two lanes.  On through Mapleton, left towards Nambour, right on to Dulong Road another interesting bit of road, great views and lots of corners.

Farewell drinks at Ricky's in Palmwoods, out through Chevallum, back on the highway, time for a cruise home. 

The temporary fix on the clutch lockout worked, do you reckon it's worth replacing the switch?

It depends how good your memory is ................just like in days long gone , you will need to make sure it is in neutral before you start it  ( it's a heavy bastard to pick up so they tell me ) Would the switch respond to a squirt of contact cleaner ? 

Nice write-up & a good read besides that though .

Got done doing 160 kph on that Tin Can Bay road years ago .Had my licence in my hand before he even got out of the car .
Ex Kenilworth are ,you probably road past my house plenty of times .Sign out side said Kiah Cottage ,just near the concrete hill .

I'm having the same problem of starting my 1200 Bandit. Assumed the starter motor was stuffed as she would go with a push start. She's booked into an auto electrician once I get her back from the spray painter. Ah well...such is love!

Chalkie wrote:I'm having the same problem of starting my 1200 Bandit. Assumed the starter motor was stuffed as she would go with a push start. She's booked into an auto electrician once I get her back from the spray painter. Ah well...such is love!

Pretty rare for the 1200's in general, for the starter to fail.
I've had over the years, the clutch and kill switch fail due to corrosion. Pull apart, clean, spray wd40, all good.
Not saying it's not your stater, but before you hand over $$'s to someone to look at, might be wise to look at those first.