The 2007 Suzuki Bandit 1250S -The Mega Thread

[Zephyr]

This Bandit thread is one of TWT's longest, goes back 2007 but I think most people have moved on to other bikes.

However, try the search function in the upper right hand corner and search this forum. I got quite a few hits using "lower fairing". My internet search on the lower fairings found some folks didn't like them. So, I wasn't tempted.

 

[barry_mcki]

i apologize if this has been covered but i did search and came up empty.

I am interested in putting lower fairings on my 07 bandit and am looking for some direction on what has worked for any who have done it. I found some at https://www.nicecycle.com/Suzuki-Bandit-Fairings-s/2240.htm that looks decent at a decent price.

I put these on, still think they look ok. Had a small issue with the Arrow headers and needed to do a bit of surgery on the lower right side as the Arrows stick out a fraction more than the standard headers. Another thing to watch on the 07 vintage is the cooling system is not the best, they changed it in the later models with a larger radiator and dual fans. If you live in a warmer climate the lower fairings keeps the temperature in and the motor runs a bit hotter, so any small issue with your cooling will cause the dreaded green puddle under the bike, easily fixed with some minor re-routing of the overflow lines.

 

[jkelley82]

I like those. Where did you get them?

 

[barry_mcki]

I got mine from a UK eBay sale (I live in Australia), it cost more for postage than I paid for the (2nd hand) fairings. These were the factory option, they were not released here in Australia as for as I know. The engineer that made my sidecar painted and fitted these, the above photo doesn't show the left side which has two holes for the front sidecar struts.

It looks like you can still get these there is an eBay ad I found here:

Suzuki Bandit GSF1250 Factory Grey Street Lower Fairings 990D0-18H20-YHG_hd CO | eBay

Find great deals for Suzuki Bandit GSF1250 Factory Grey Street Lower Fairings 990D0-18H20-YHG_hd CO. Shop with confidence on eBay!

www.ebay.com

I think there was also a third party knock-off that was pretty simular in shape. If you do get this sort (well any lower fairing really) make sure the fitting kit comes with it, mine didn't but I found a good image of it and my engineer made a set up.



He also took a fibreglass mould of these and made a set for another Bandit sidecar he was building.

 

[chainslap*]

I searched this site. Tried to find it on my own.

Before I reach out to Driven or Vortex. Has anyone swapped their 530 chain and sprocket for a 520?

About to drop the rear sprocket to a 40 tooth and want to replace with a 520 set up. I'll keep the 18 up front as dropping the rear to 40 nets better results than stepping up to a 19 in front. Looking for better cruising rpms and hopefully better mpgs.

Any input? Thanks

 

[jkelley82]

I have done a similar set up but kept the 530 chain. My speedometer and odometer are pretty much spot on now without a healer. Cruise at 78mph just under 4k rpm.

 

[chainslap*]

That's good to know and what I'm looking for highway wise.

Now to figure out if I can get a 520 kit for it.

Obviously the chain not an issue. I did find one vendor that had a 520 40 tooth rear but have not been able, on my own, to find an 18 tooth 520 that's compatible. I know there has to be. It's just who?

I was also hoping someone had already done this and had the quick answer.

530 is overkill in my view for this bike. Yes it's torquey but nothing extreme and the HP is what barely 100 at the crank? So a 520 would save a pound, be less costly and better suited in my opinion.

Thank you.

 

[jkelley82]

Depending on riding style, i would think that you would wear a 520 out quite a bit faster resulting in more recent replacements and the end cost would be the same. I could be wrong though.

I enjoy the 40 tooth rear. it really rounds out the bike in my opinion.

 

[chainslap*]

I've done the conversion on other big bore and small bore bikes and not noticed much if any wear over time differences. And the cost of replacements while not much less adds up over time. Add in the slight weight savings and I have found personally that unless I have a 150 HP big bore ripper a 530 is typically overkill. And I have had 140-150hp bikes. So not just speculating. Going from actual usage.

I'll find the right parts and report back.

Thanks again.

 

[jkelley82]

That is great info and am interested in your report. Keep us posted please.

 

[chainslap*]

Here's what I've found so far.:

An 18/40 combo in 520 with a xring chain at 9.1k tensile strength for $224
An 18/40 combo in 530 with a xring chain at 9.4k tensile strength for $256

Total weight difference is just under two pounds. That's both sprockets and chain.

Steel front on both. Aluminum Rear on both.

Two pounds on a 550 pound is not as significant like it would be on a much lighter bike. So weight savings is pretty much a mute point.

32 bucks savings doesn't seem like much but over three years if I replaced each year that's 100 bucks.

So cost would be my deciding factor and I'm not sure at this point if 100 bucks over three years is worth it. Yes its a good chunk of change and could go to gas, a tire or some accessory. But at this point it's not making as big an impact as it has on other bikes I've done the conversion on.

Decisions. Decisions.

 

[jkelley82]

good comparison and food for thought. To me 32 bucks a year and two pounds wouldn't be worth it unless the rear sprocket and front sprocket was readily available and easily accessible. If i wanted to save 32 bucks i would just ride an extra week to work and leave the truck at home. Then again, i have a company car so now it actually cost more to take the bike to work.. There goes my savings of any sort. Now, my concern is longevity and reliability.

Chainslap, i am still interested in how this works out for you, where you locate the sprockets and how much actual life you get out of them. 2 pounds is 2 pounds and any type of savings is still money in your pocket for something else.

 

[chainslap*]

Decisions have been made. Parts are ordered.

Talking with Rebel Gears out of Tenn. We decided the best compromise was this:

17/37 combo in 525 with an xring chain rated at 10.4k tensile strength.

18/40 has an effective ratio of 2.22. 17/37 has an effective ratio of 2.18. Basically 1% difference to the better. So I should still see the under 4k rpms at 80 mph I'm looking for.

Front is PBI 8620 heat treated alloy steel. Rear is made by them in-house with 7075-T6 Aluminum.

Price for the 525 is right between the 530 and 520 and weight savings over the 530 is just under 1.5 lbs.

Future part availability shouldn't be an issue they have been in business over 30 years. And I can always go back to 530 and buy parts right off the shelf.

I'll report back when installed and have a few trips to make a real comparison.


Just for reference since I'm new:

07 GSF1250 -

No P/C, no Juice box, stock ecm. Not remapped.

Complete GSXR1K front end with high sweep superbars. And GSXR1K rear shock.

Full yoshimura system with o2 delete.

Holeshot PAIR system and EVAP removal kit.

Plus a few other little goodies. Sargent seat, chin fairing, T-Rex Crash bars, etc.





I'm also chainslap on advrider and most other moto forums.

 

[chainslap*]

Shiny:



Waiting for the chain to arrive. Will put everything on this weekend. No big rides planned anytime soon but will try to get out for a few hours and see if I can get a seat of the pants feel and will report back.

 

[chainslap*]

Old rear:

Old front:

Old chain:


Countershaft sprocket turd:

Installed:


So, initial impressions? Meh.

Not nearly the drop in rpm's I was hoping for. 79/80mph at 4k rpms. Very slight drop. Not as much as I was hoping for.

It winds up pretty quickly. Faster than expected. I had thought it would neuter it some but it still pulls pretty hard and seems to get up to speed a hair quicker.

I can tell it's lost a little grunt but not much. Gets into the higher rpms quicker but feels less "torquey?" It's weird. Seems smoother all the way through now instead of the initial hard bite then sudden drop.

Lost some engine braking. Stock I'd lift the throttle and it would about toss me off the front. Now still plenty of engine brake just not as sudden or harsh.

Lost some top end. Or could be the stock reading was off. Stock 146mph and then took forever to get to 151 where it just said nope. No more to give. Now it will pull hard to 135 then creep to around 140/141 and says I'm done.

Heck, all I wanted was a reduction in rpms at 80ish to hopefully get some better gas mileage. Not sure how that's going to pan out until I can run a few tanks on a trip and calculate mpgs.

Oh, and now. I have this strange shudder/wander around 123-125mph then goes away up or down. I replicated it several times. Didn't do that before. Not sure what's up with that.

I will report back after some real seat time and several tank fulls to see If I've gained any mpgs. Because that's what this was all about to begin with.

As stated earlier the weight savings while real isn't that big of a deal on this tank of a bike. The stock front sprocket weighed as much as both the new sprockets together. The rear sprocket weighed almost a pound and the chain difference was just under a pound. Total weight savings just under two pounds.

I'm 99% sure that was the original chain and sprockets. The chain had some serious rust and the rollers looked pretty worn. The rear sprocket was worn but not hooked. And the front sprocket was hooking and the whole thing was worn. Plus look at that turd I plucked out of there. So maybe the rear sprocket and chain had one change on them but the front looked untouched.

I think someone asked if my t-rex bars I installed were dragging. So far no but I am still scraping the center stand. I really like having the center stand but really not liking it touching asphalt so often.

 

[Joflewbyu2]

The picture shows the stock header with cat and a slip on muffler. Was an aftermarket race header downpipe added after the picture?

Decisions have been made. Parts are ordered.

Talking with Rebel Gears out of Tenn. We decided the best compromise was this:

17/37 combo in 525 with an xring chain rated at 10.4k tensile strength.

18/40 has an effective ratio of 2.22. 17/37 has an effective ratio of 2.18. Basically 1% difference to the better. So I should still see the under 4k rpms at 80 mph I'm looking for.

Front is PBI 8620 heat treated alloy steel. Rear is made by them in-house with 7075-T6 Aluminum.

Price for the 525 is right between the 530 and 520 and weight savings over the 530 is just under 1.5 lbs.

Future part availability shouldn't be an issue they have been in business over 30 years. And I can always go back to 530 and buy parts right off the shelf.

I'll report back when installed and have a few trips to make a real comparison.


Just for reference since I'm new:

07 GSF1250 -

No P/C, no Juice box, stock ecm. Not remapped.

Complete GSXR1K front end with high sweep superbars. And GSXR1K rear shock.

Full yoshimura system with o2 delete.

Holeshot PAIR system and EVAP removal kit.

Plus a few other little goodies. Sargent seat, chin fairing, T-Rex Crash bars, etc.





I'm also chainslap on advrider and most other moto forums.

 

[chainslap*]

The picture shows the stock header with cat and a slip on muffler. Was an aftermarket race header downpipe added after the picture?

Nope stock header and cat. All Yoshimura from the cat back. Connector with heel guard and exhaust. The 02 has been blocked off with a stud and has a aftermarket bypass connector. No issues with fueling. No remap. No PC. Stock ecm.

I have been debating full headers with cat delete. Delkevic half the price of holeshot. Arrows looks hideous but still a lot cheaper than holeshot. I'd mostly be doing that mod to drop a little more weight.

I'm also debating dumping the center stand but I really like having them on my bikes when they don't get in the way.

I have the bike about the way I want it. I was hunting for more mpg's with the sprocket change. A few short trips and it's improved some but not as much as I'd hoped. I'll need some longer trips with consistently long durations at 80ish mph to see if there's any real improvement mileage wise. It has smoothed out the power delivery though and while I'll take it as an incidental improvement it's not why I swapped.

 

[jkelley82]

Nice write up. Thank you for the info

 

[chainslap*]

Nice write up. Thank you for the info

Thanks.

Just for reference:

17/37 gearing. 525 pitch/width. 116 link chain.

I bought a 120 link chain. I had to cut off 4 links.

You can definitely tell a difference in several ways. But will the end result be what I wanted to begin with? I'll report back with updates.

 

[Joflewbyu2]

Tuning is definitely needed with a slip on especially if the air intake is opened up as it will run lean in the upper rpms. Holeshot doesn’t make a header anymore as it was cost counter productive, especially with BlackWidow and Delkevic priced so competitively. There is a world of difference with a tune, slip on and intake compared to stock. Add a race downpipe / header with revised tuning and it even gets better 6k rpms and up. You can take off the centerstand and keep it in the garage when you want to work on the bike. when needed, just slide the bolt through and hand spin a nut and you are all set up. Dropping the stock header, you would drop ~ 10 lbs going with aftermarket. Taking off the centerstand drops another ~ 10 lbs. I would not have kept the stock boring fall asleep at 5500 rpm bike. After a tune, intake and exhaust - I am all smiles ear to ear.

Nope stock header and cat. All Yoshimura from the cat back. Connector with heel guard and exhaust. The 02 has been blocked off with a stud and has a aftermarket bypass connector. No issues with fueling. No remap. No PC. Stock ecm.

I have been debating full headers with cat delete. Delkevic half the price of holeshot. Arrows looks hideous but still a lot cheaper than holeshot. I'd mostly be doing that mod to drop a little more weight.

I'm also debating dumping the center stand but I really like having them on my bikes when they don't get in the way.

I have the bike about the way I want it. I was hunting for more mpg's with the sprocket change. A few short trips and it's improved some but not as much as I'd hoped. I'll need some longer trips with consistently long durations at 80ish mph to see if there's any real improvement mileage wise. It has smoothed out the power delivery though and while I'll take it as an incidental improvement it's not why I swapped.

 

[chainslap*]

Tuning is definitely needed with a slip on especially if the air intake is opened up as it will run lean in the upper rpms. Holeshot doesn’t make a header anymore as it was cost counter productive, especially with BlackWidow and Delkevic priced so competitively. There is a world of difference with a tune, slip on and intake compared to stock. Add a race downpipe / header with revised tuning and it even gets better 6k rpms and up. You can take off the centerstand and keep it in the garage when you want to work on the bike. when needed, just slide the bolt through and hand spin a nut and you are all set up. Dropping the stock header, you would drop ~ 10 lbs going with aftermarket. Taking off the centerstand drops another ~ 10 lbs. I would not have kept the stock boring fall asleep at 5500 rpm bike. After a tune, intake and exhaust - I am all smiles ear to ear.

All good to know. Thank you.

So If I got the headers and deleted the cat and kept the yosh would I still need a tune or would the stock ecm figure it out? I've never had much luck with aftermarket tuners and "race" ecm's on other bikes. Maybe I've been lucky but I've changed air boxes run straight pipes and never had to use a tune or PC.

I like the sound of dropping twenty more pounds off this thing.

The removal of the centerstand is tempting. And I could use a improvised prop along with the kickstand to get the rear up on the road if needed. And I could just use a pit stand at home in the garage if I'm going to go that route. There's a few vendors that sell a road side kit that gets the rear up for repairs on the road I could keep it in my bags.

Do you have a preference between black widow or delkevic? Or Arrow?

 

[Joflewbyu2]

A tune is definitely needed if you opened the airbox and do a full exhaust. The stock ECM is rich in the low load / low rpms as designed as the Lambda sensor (o2) will lean out the mixture for epa regulations by reducing injector pulse width. If you disconnected the o2 sensor, then you will be rich in low load / low rpm / closed loop operation. Need to subtract ~ 9% fuel. Opening the airbox allows much more air flow and an less restrictive exhaust flows more air too. You will be lean in high load / high rpm / open loop operation. Need to add between ~ 9% - 18% fuel depending upon rpm. I would recommend you get a Dale Walker SuperTuner which just adjusts the injector pulse width and is adjustable for different mods. Dale has hundreds of dyno pulls on his bandit. He is known as the Bandit guru. He can set it for open airbox and slip on which is stage 1 or open air box, slip on and secondary throttle blades removed -which is stage 2. If you add a header, he will reset the tuner as more fuel is needed in the upper end with the header.

All good to know. Thank you.

So If I got the headers and deleted the cat and kept the yosh would I still need a tune or would the stock ecm figure it out? I've never had much luck with aftermarket tuners and "race" ecm's on other bikes. Maybe I've been lucky but I've changed air boxes run straight pipes and never had to use a tune or PC.

I like the sound of dropping twenty more pounds off this thing.

The removal of the centerstand is tempting. And I could use a improvised prop along with the kickstand to get the rear up on the road if needed. And I could just use a pit stand at home in the garage if I'm going to go that route. There's a few vendors that sell a road side kit that gets the rear up for repairs on the road I could keep it in my bags.

Do you have a preference between black widow or delkevic? Or Arrow?

 

[Joflewbyu2]

Chainslap*, have you taken the plunge and called Dale at Holeshot to get a SuperTuner that is user friendly and adjustable according to you mods?

 

[Joflewbyu2]

All good to know. Thank you.

So If I got the headers and deleted the cat and kept the yosh would I still need a tune or would the stock ecm figure it out? I've never had much luck with aftermarket tuners and "race" ecm's on other bikes. Maybe I've been lucky but I've changed air boxes run straight pipes and never had to use a tune or PC.

I like the sound of dropping twenty more pounds off this thing.

The removal of the centerstand is tempting. And I could use a improvised prop along with the kickstand to get the rear up on the road if needed. And I could just use a pit stand at home in the garage if I'm going to go that route. There's a few vendors that sell a road side kit that gets the rear up for repairs on the road I could keep it in my bags.

Do you have a preference between black widow or delkevic? Or Arrow?

So have you taken the plunge and called Dale at Holeshot to get a SuperTuner that is user friendly and adjustable according to you mods?

 

[DrHypno]

Jumping in.

I’ve opened up the air box completely
added a Delvic slip on
added a timing retard eliminator
O2 bypass
Powercommander V

I‘m somewhat flying blind as I’m usung a summed average of several PCV maps, but they are all fairly similar to each other.

they all have a heat map that is pretty much the same.
I have an Autotune unit, but haven’t had the new O2 wideband sensor welded on yet.

pulling the secondaries as soon as the weather cools off here (no garage to work in, it’s all parking lot side street work)

Ill go with a delvic full pipe eventually.
Shes already noticeably quicker