Bandit 1200 Yoshimura Special

[earlfor]

Gas needles had thick hard dirt baked on.
Cleaned them up, simple job.

The needles are held in place with a plastic holder,
with an o-ring on it.
The o-rings were like chewing gum ....

View attachment 59966

Are you using ethanol gas there? I only use ethanol gas when traveling beyond fuel tank range. For local riding I only use non ethanol fuel.

 

[Rijko]

My brother used E5 in it all the time, the Bandit should be able to cope with that
multiple sources said.
And then it stood for over 3 years.

I only use E5 when i cannot find non-ethanol gas in my GT and GS bikes.
And i will try to avoid E5 even more now, looking at the sorry state of these
jets and o-rings.

 

[earlfor]

My brother used E5 in it all the time, the Bandit should be able to cope with that
multiple sources said.
And then it stood for over 3 years.

I only use E5 when i cannot find non-ethanol gas in my GT and GS bikes.
And i will try to avoid E5 even more now, looking at the sorry state of these
jets and o-rings.

Ethanol kills the seals/O rings in the carburetors and gums everything up also.

 

[Nessism]

E5 fuel won't hurt the carbs other than it gums up easier than straight gas if you leave the bike sit. Use Stabil if you are worried or if you leave your bike sit a lot.

 

[earlfor]

I'd say inactivity combined with ethanol gums up carbs. Finding and paying for non-ethanol is a non-starter. I'd buy an efi bike first. I drive too far, too often, to be hobbled with that limitation.

I've used E10 for over 260K miles on my FZ1. I had a stutter after one winter about a decade ago that required a cleaning. Other than that no problems. I do store it in heated indoors.

Stay active, what's the downside?

It's not a limitation. 99% of the time, my daily use is less than the range of the fuel tank. On trips, I refuel with ethanol and resume non ethanol once back home.

 

[rphillips]

Bikes & lawn mowers, summer doesn't matter, late in yr., when may sit for a month or two, NO Ethanol. I'd never put any ethanol in a 2 stroke outboard, heard & read too many bad stories about that.

 

[Rijko]

The Bandit is alive

 

[Rijko]

The petcock was leaking, ordered a new one.
Took off the oilfiller cap, sniff and yes.... definately gas had mixed with the oil.
So i ordered new oil, filter, and filter wrench.
While the oil is out of the engine i thought it a good idea
to work a bit on the engine covers.

 

[Rijko]

the other side ...

 

[Rijko]

After hours of sanding and a quick cloth rub with Belgom Alu.
Not perfect yet, but i do not have the time to be picky and sand
them down for another couple of hours a piece.
The bike needs to be used next week.
Tonight i will finish sanding them with a Sisal disc and polish
the covers. Good enough for now.

 

[rphillips]

It may not be enough to matter, but for fuel to get to the oil, there has got to be both a leaking pet cock & a needle & seat leaking a little. I wish my handlebars were as tall as yours, mine are both shorter & narrower, but the wires & hoses won't let me raise them near that much & I won't let myself pay the $$$ for the Holeshot kit. What is the little blinking light on the triple clamp nut, I saw it when you turned the key on. Just for info, I bought a digital, electronic gear position indicator from Holeshot, that I love, reminds me of the old Suzuki's that came from the factory with them. Sounds good, congrats.

 

[Rijko]

It may not be enough to matter, but for fuel to get to the oil, there has got to be both a leaking pet cock & a needle & seat leaking a little.

The petcock was set to ON for the last 4 years while it sat.
When i took off the hose from the petcock, gas kept trickling out.
The needles/seats were very, very dirty. (check post #41)

The gas tank still had over 18 liters of gas in it, so not that much could have leaked.

What is the little blinking light on the triple clamp nut, I saw it when you turned the key on.

That's part of the Spyball alarm system.

Just for info, I bought a digital, electronic gear position indicator from Holeshot, that I love, reminds me of the old Suzuki's that came from the factory with them.

My GT750's have the gear indicator too, love it.
Eyeballing that indicator too.

 

[Rijko]

Polished the engine covers today, as well as the crash studs.
They came out very nice ! I like shiny alu
Mounting them tomorrow evening.

And i ordered some PAIR blanking plates, i want to
check the valves next and don't feel like putting the PAIR
system back on.

 

[Rijko]

Reading up on simple tuning improvements.

It seems like my Bandit may have a "wheely wire",
a system that reduces power in the first 3 gears.
From what i have found, if it's on there, disconnecting
a 2-wire connector close to the battery box is
all it takes to disable that.

Also, the TPS on some Bandits seems to be set
incorrectly. Simple check with an Ohm meter should
show if it's set ok.

And a 5 degree timing advancer could do good.
I know on the XJR it made a noticable difference.

 

[Rijko]

Brakes will be checked next, new oil at least.

Looking at speed bleeders.
Think i need the 7mm x 1.0, have to check.
Love that system on my Lockheed brakes,
makes bleeding the system by myself a lot easier.

 

[fbody_mike]

Yes, I normally keep emission stuff, but I agree with ditching the pair. The reed block valve fails too and causes lots of popping.
I never heard of the wheelie wire, sounds interesting.

 

[Rijko]

I never heard of the wheelie wire, sounds interesting.

This site has a wealth of Bandit info : https://userswww.pd.infn.it/~lacaprar/Moto/FAQ/FAQ.html

On there i found the reference to that Ignition Retardation Wire first.
It's not clear on which models Bandit it was used, (European/EFI/carbs version)
but if it's there you have not only a neutral wire coming from the front sprocket section
but also 3 wires for the first three gears.

Ignition Retardation Wire
The Bandit 1200 comes with an ignition retarder that is designed to reduce engine/exhaust noise in 2nd and 3rd gear to pass noise emission testing. Some Bandit owners recommend disconnecting this wire to prevent the ignition from retarding in those gears (and losing power). The connector is a two way red/black and green/blue wire near the front of the left side cover panel.
Note: This wire is only found on European Bandit models.

It's on some GSXR models, too.
Googling "GSRX wheelie wire" brings up loads of hits.

Guess the best way to be sure is to take off the front sprocket cover
and check how many wires.