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I had a 1200 bandit bought new in '98, and thought it was a great bike, until I rode a Honda CBR1100XX, which hooked me for the next 3 years. Some owners of XX's have upwards of 80k miles on them with no problems. If the riding position doesn't bother you, a '97 or '98 can sometimes be found in your price range. They are considered a sport-tourer.
If the standard is your thing, and you don't like adjusting valves very often, the Yamaha FZ1 is king, running about 26000 miles between required checks.

The Bandit 1200: Where's the battery located?

How many miles do you guys have on your Bandits?


I looked at a Honda 919 today, riding position exactly like my CB, but when I went to start it, the battery was dead. The battery is *completely* inaccessable unless you remove the fuel tank, come back tomorrow said the dealer.....no thank you.

I've read the instructions for valve adj on the Bandit, looks like a major pain but only every 15k miles, about once a year for me, might be tolerable.

J.R. Bob Dobbs wrote:The Bandit 1200: Where's the battery located?

How many miles do you guys have on your Bandits?

Battery is under the seat.Pop the seat undo a couple of screws which holds a little shelf pull that off and you have a battery.Very easy to get to.

I only have 1500kms on mine.Due to a very quite season last season due to one thing and another.Intend to put a lot more on it this summer.

I've got 11,000 mi on my 01 bandit, 5k of which I put on last summer

I've heard no issues of reliability from any Bandit owners I know, many of them with over 80K miles on their steeds. If you're looking at Suzuki another option is the SV1000S - my bike's big brother. For quite a while I spun wrenches for a living, so taking stuff apart ot work on it doesn't take me very long, and certainly isn't anything new to me. I personally looked at the Bandits years ago, but decided I wanted a vtwin so ended up w/ the SV.

Yes, I have wrenched all my life too, wouldn't hesitate to do a complete overhaul myself. I'm just wary of having to dis-assemble lots of sealed items routinely, if any gasket tears etc I'm out of comission unless I lay in a complete supply beforehand.

Again I'm spoiled by my CB750, I changed the plugs last week, took me about 5 minutes. Looks like a 2+hr job on the Bandit At least a dead battery won't require a tow as on the 919.

I may have time to go check out the Bandit this weekend....work takes me out of town all next week.

2 hours!?!
Every plug is accessable without removing anything more than the plug caps.

plugs are a 5 min job on my bike, the cylinder heads stick out in plain view making the plugs super easy to get to. valve adjustments have to be done every 3000 but its only a 10 min job, basically they are done with every oil change.

my battery is really easy to get to, I just pop off the left side cover and there it is.

Hmm I read the gas tank has to come off to replace the plugs(?)

Definitely not.

It would make the job a little easier but it is not necessary.