400 Bandit an import?

Ah, cheers.

A neighbour lost 3 bikes over 3 years out of his front garden but I
think they were sports bikes (pikey area I know). ;-(

T i m

 

It doesn't *have* to be ..

Nearly the latter. It's what she has (repeatedly) said she prefers.

We often pop up to High Beach for lunch and wander round all the
bikes. Stuff she generally likes are old things like the REB (I don't
know much about old Brit iron but did have a Madras 350 for a few
years), old trials bikes (she had a TY80), some rats and stuff like
the Bandit (and specifically the 600 naked Bandit). She has expressed
a dislike of lardy barges, scooters, cruisers or anything really
'sports' looking. A possible exception to that is the new GPZ250R but
I understand than's more sports looks than ride etc.

She has just passed her car theory and as soon as she's back from
Scotland I hope she'll get her ass in gear and have an eval lesson to
see when / if she should put in for her car test [1]. However
up_till_recently she's not shown much interest in driving but the
penny has now dropped re having to rely on us or cabs when b/f comes
down here (he's passed his test recently so can't supervise her as a
learner).

He is also keen to do his bike test hence the (background) interest in
something that she might take up there that they can both fit on and
will be cheap / reliable / manageable.

Cheers, T i m

[1] She'd driven about 600 miles so far including one foray into
Euston at night to pick up her train tickets but only had a couple of
formal lessons to date.

 

Hmm, I've now got the re-chromed forks back for the GPZ550 I'm doing
up but you are right she'd be better off on a twin.

Cheers, T i m

 

Care to share your logic on that one?

 

Thanks for all that, nice insight.

T i m

 

Erm, the basic bikes we have been talking about are all twins aren't
they (well, we started off there). Generally more suited to the role
of runabout rather than fun riding as such and generally cheaper to
insure and maintain (less bits to go wrong).

Also generally cheaper than the same capacity bike in a 4?

So I thought anyway.

T i m

 

We started off with a 4.

You thought wrong - there is no direct correlation between cost and
number of cylinders.

I'd say a GPZ500S will be similar to a CB500 for 2-up riding - just a
tad too small and gutless. (Haven't ridden a GPZ, but have done a fair
amount of miles 2-up on a CB).

She probably needs to go and sit on a fair few bikes and try a few
before making a decision - one of the criteria is 'good on the motorway'
- which, IMHO, rules out anything without some kind of fairing.

 

There is when it comes time to change the plugs ;-)

--
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest * 2 Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Erm, ok ...

How would they compare with our R100RT's out of interest (only 350+
bike I've ridden to any extent).

Of course. But before she does that I though I'd also ask here (then
we would have a better idea what to look for).

Neither of us are big fans of motorway riding (that's what the cars
are for) and so whilst a fairing can be handy in the winter it can
also be a pain a other times. For me the cons are increased wind and
engine noise and no cooling breeze in the summer. That along with more
(expensive) stuff to break when / if you drop it and often more
difficult to access / service (without taking some of it off).

Once she has such a bike up in Scotland I imaging it would be used
more on the local twisties than the motorways.

FWIW her MZ came with a reasonable little screen and it was the first
thing she removed when we got the bike home (and the panniers). I
fitted the original mini fairing but I don't think that offers much in
the way of way of weather protection to anything other than the
clocks. ;-)

For her daily commute she has been wearing her mesh jacket and hasn't
complained of being cold as yet.

Cheers, T i m

 

Peak power is similar, as I recall - but the R100 has lots more torque.
Which is why they're so nice to ride 2-up.

I'm not saying a CB500 isn't suitable, but you do have to thrash them to
make progress when 2-up - our combined weight is probably in the region
of 21-22 stone.

We're talking half faired bikes on the whole - so access for servicing
is largely the same as on a naked bike, but the fairing makes a huge
difference in daily use.

Dropping it shouldn't be a big consideration - I dropped my Divvy 6 a
few times and never really did any damage.

I went from a Z400J to a Divvy 6 for all year round commuting - and
wondered why I'd stuck with nakeds for so long.

 

And for towing. ;-)

Fair enough.

As you say, a half fairing should be less vulnerable.

I guess part of this is what sort of roads you ride for your commute.
At the moment hers are mostly 30's and 40's, quite a few traffic
lights and mini roundabouts etc. There is the potential for a trip a
few junctions round the M25 once a week but because she'll probably
need to carry a fair bit of stuff [1] it may well be in the car (for
that trip and by then).

T i m

[1] Chainsaw on the way there and saw plus carvings on the way back. I
could only just lift the first mushroom she carved. ;-)

 

Bzzt. OP mentions 4 stroke (4/) not 4 cylinders.

Nice try though, thanks for playing.

 

I've just run a quick insurance thing through for her:

19, £1k, 5k miles, 1 years NCB, TPF&T, Front drive, etc

SUZUKI GSF 600 BANDIT (UNFAIRED) 1995- 599cc Manual Petrol
£592 (Simply) - £2461 (Swinton). It went up in £100 steps to about
£1200 and that's where most were pitched.

I then ran the CB500 and it came back with two quotes starting at
£1500 then crashed. I'll try again this evening. ;-)

FWIW She pays £350 on the MZ.

Was the CB500 you were thinking of a roadster or S?

T i m

 

The Bandit 400 is an inline 4.

HTH.