GSX1250FA (new bandit)

Any ride reports? Looking at buying one next year for a sport tourer, tourer from VA, Fl, Al, and back to VA.

I have a litttle less than 2K miles on mine now, still earlly for a full report but so far it's been great. There are a couple things that I might add like a taller windshield, better seat, headlight bulb upgrade. I would buy this bike again...no regrets whatsoever !

i thouroughly enjoyed mine until i traded it last week for a gold wing. my o7 model had it all--except room for the wife. just too close for the two of us to ride extended periods of time. i had a few miles short of 20k with no mechanical problems. don't expect to add extras to the bike and get yur money back. only buy what you need without respect to resell. ithough people would be all over my corbin seat and hard bags but not so. you can pick up 1250s pretty cheap for what they are. the new fairing bike is the same as previous models except for the plastics. call st augustine honda. i'm guessing you could pick up my bandit for $3500 and it's got a $2000 suspension under it.

I just got my black colour GSX1250FA and now after 1800km , I am quite happy with the engine which is smooth and powerful without much vibration coming into the handlebars .
Only the suspension is a bit letdown, slow ride and the suspension is stil ok but it is only when u are riding at high speed and u can feel the suspension is getting busy all over the place . Fueling is also very good and smooth ..

Off to the pyrenees in south france this week will let you know how it behaves compared to my bandit 1250 i just chopped in.

leedude03, Thanks

I have had mine 6 weeks now. Took it for a quick trip to Seattle and back to see how it was.
I loved it, previously had a 1000DL Vstrom that I went to San Fran on. Of the two I prefer the GS have just over 6,000 k's on it now. I dont use it for commuting or riding around town so it does not get high mileage If I get on it it must be for a distance of 100K's or more.
I try and aim for 10-15,000K's a year ( which in Canada is equal to about 3 months)

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Just got back from france, my thoughts on the gsx compared to the gsf,
the fairing and overall protection from the elements is better on the gsx, fuel consumption is better but dont understand why, unless its the bikes new fairing, on a similar run with the gsf i got an average of 43 mpg the gsx returned 49mpg in both cases i used the sat nav for mileage and mph.
There is a little more vibration from the gsx again i dont understand why, you would think it would be identical.
Brakes are better this is possibly due to a different compound of pad,
all the riding was done two up and with a fully loaded top box and panniers, if anything i would say they were a little overloaded but with my lady only weighing 7.5 stone i figured it wouldnt be to bad. I also fitted a pair of conti motion tyres on before i left and have covered 2500 miles on them, the front shows little to no wear and the rear has just started to show signs of squaring off and they performed very well in all conditions from torrential rain to 37 degree of heat, and gripped well throughout, i would use them again.

The suspension on the gsx is better than the gsf when 2 up and loaded set at the same settings as the gsf.
The headlight is not as good as the gsf,on dip it does not have the same amount of side coverage and on main beam it has more of a pin point beam not as wide as the gsf, this is using the 55w ddm tuning hid kits as were in the gsf.
So on the whole better in some areas and not as good in others, would i buy one over the other, if it were just for looks then yes the gsx imho looks better, but for everything else they are both good bikes, and i will be selling this on and getting a newer one next year.

Thanks for the reply. Took my wife to look at the new bandit and she said that she would like to have something bigger. She liked the Concours 14? I like prefer a smaller bike, maybe I'll look at the 800cc's. I need to find something we both agree on.

I bought one back in May. I came off a BMW K1200S and wanted something with a more relaxed riding position and something I could maintain on my own without having to depend on a dealer. It fulfills both of those roles and still gives good performance. The engine is a gem. Doesn't have the top end of a K1200S/ZX-14/Busa but does very well up to 100mph and is very easy to ride in town due to the tremendous low rpm torque. It's also very, very smooth.

That said, I traded it two weeks ago for an FJR1300 garage queen with 2700 miles on it. While the seating position on the GSX is very comfortable, to me it doesn't offer enough wind protection for 500 mile plus days. I live in the middle of the cornfields here in Illinois and routinely have to do 300 or more miles of slab to get in a couple hundred miles of good back roads. Maybe it's my age, but the Suzuki just wasn't enough of a highway bike to suit me. I also missed the integrated hard bags and shaft drive the BMW had.

It's a good machine, just didn't hit the mark for me.

I have a few goodies for sale from the GSX1250FA if anyone is interested.

Just mentioned is the only 2 bikes I'd might lose my '07 Bandit for 1) Connie 14 2) FJR 1300. I still miss the ease of shaft drive I had on my R11** GSs for over 130K miles. And, was lucky enough that the bearings didn't go out.
Keep us posted on how the big Yamaha works for you.

900 miles in the last two days and a bath today. It's working pretty well and I forgot how much easier it is to clean a shaft drive bike. Comfy but heavy, though I am getting used to it.