Bandit has a sweet valve adjustment...

[sixtysix]

Not like those crappy shims on the XS and Trophy. Buy the $6 special tool and set them wherever you want! 4 valves per cylinder and all can be checked at only two positions...quick and easy! Well....... once you take the whole darn bike apart to get to them, that is.

[Shack]

Sure is nice once you get the parts out of the way...Great bike those Bandits....

Shack

[Mike Hart]

Gary, tell me you used the 'fairing tilt method', and didn't actually remove anything but the tank...

(who was that masked man?)

[sixtysix]

Yep I just tilted the fairing forward, easiest way to get at the innerds! Still had to remove coils and faring brackets, etc., etc.

[Shack]

Gary,
NICE OPERATING TABLE!!



Shack

[sixtysix]

Just call me Dr. 66! Nurse.....pliers! razor knife! Carb-Tune and for God's sake get me a beer, we are losing the Doctor......

[Shack]

Thank fully the Bandit requires very little surgery..unless you are giving it the 25 horse power the factory took from them...I really want to get the Bandit back to correct Horsepower hehehehe!!

Shack

[HadTX750]

Since you used the word "crappy" to define the shims on my XS11, I will point out that according to Motorcycle Concumer News' Letters Column, Bandits are having a bad time not burning their oil. Something to do with the piston rings not doing their job very well. I think I'll stick with my "crappy" shims and humble more Bandits as I've already done. Perhaps it was only the rider who would not or could not stay with me on my '78 XS100E. I like the Bandits but if you're going to get into name calling...well!!!

Austin

[sixtysix]

Originally posted by HadTX750
Since you used the word "crappy" to define the shims on my XS11, I will point out that according to Motorcycle Concumer News' Letters Column, Bandits are having a bad time not burning their oil. Something to do with the piston rings not doing their job very well. I think I'll stick with my "crappy" shims and humble more Bandits as I've already done. Perhaps it was only the rider who would not or could not stay with me on my '78 XS100E. I like the Bandits but if you're going to get into name calling...well!!!

Austin

Austin,

Yep there a few of the 2001 Bandits that have a problem with oil blow-by, mine is a '97 however and has no problem with oil. The XS and hundreds of other bikes have crappy shims to adjust valves, I simply called the shims crappy and not the bike. There is a worse system on some of the Kawasaki's, shim under bucket wich requires cam removal. My wife's 2001 Honda 750 Nighthawk has hydraulic valves, no adjustment or service required.....EVER. Compared to that even my Bandit is crappy

[uk1.1s]

Shims vs. tappets

Oh dear - seems to have caused a little argument - tho' not serious I’m sure.

Shimming the valve clearances comes from the racing world of course and started to hit us in the 70's (maybe earlier on certain bikes) - but my teeth were cut on GS850 / Gs1000's, Z1000 and the XS11. As revs climbed it was a more durable solution, but by taking things even further further racers (and nutters) found that under extreme conditions the shims could be spat out if they got slightly dislodged. I think Kawasaki lead the way with the aircooled GPz's that had the annoying shim-under-bucket arrangement to prevent this. I say annoying as the cam has to come out to service, but reading some submissions here, some people do that anyway on the XS11 engine.

Personally I like shimmed valves, purely as they stay within tolerance during normal road use far longer than the tappet and locknut arrangement. I've heard servicing intervals for a shimmed engine go into the 30k, 40k miles. I certainly check tappets a lot more often than that - especially on my '78 Guzzi!

Although it seems like a problem with some, I actually find shimming an engine quite easy and one of those therapeutic jobs, where you can sit on a stool in the garage beside the bike and just go through the logical process. There again I've heard that people think I'm a bit weird so there you are....

[sixtysix]

Well can we all agree the no maintenance Honda system is the best? No arguements here...I hate 'em all if they gotta be adjusted, I just hate the Bandit less!

[Shack]

Austin,
The 2001 Bandit has pistons that are drilled incorrectly and some have made a lot of oil consumption fer sure. My 2001 has been labeled as infected... The Suzuki Corp has issued a service bulletin and are correcting the problem pistons.... fortunately my Bandit has 13k miles and no smoke..unless you count the back tire .. It is surprising to me that an XS11 E is faster than a Bandit FWIW

Shack

[Shack]

Hello again,
Since we we are quoting from Motorcycle Consumer news... I thought it would be nice to add the quarter mile times listed for the 2001 Bandit 1200S== e.t. 10.75 @125.59. Looks like it is a little quicker than most...but not near as quick as the big brother of the Bandit the HAYABUSA its et was 9.84@142.76.WOW!!! now that is fast but 10.75 ain't slow either...I like both my bikes. but the Bandit is a little quicker according to the 1978 Magazines I have read on the subject..FWIW

Shack