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Wife is casually looking to replace her VLX with a peppy bike, upright or cruiser riding position, lightweight, fun to ride, nimble, low seat height for her little frame... and of course it has to pass her "visual appeal" test. So far the little Bandit 400 and the Honda Hawk NT650 seem to meet those requirements. I'll also toss in the 87/88 Honda Super Magna.


Anybody have any comments on the little Bandit or Hawk? I'm not worried about age if they have been cared for. The thing that worries me about the Bandit is it was only in the US for a few years in the early 90's, I would assume even simple parts would be a pita to find... true? There's one on ebay now with some dings, needs fork seal and clutch cover gasket, but the price is nice.

Any real experience to share would be appreciated.

No real experience on any of them, but they are al bikes that I would love to own. Honda really had it with that '87-'88 Magna, but then had to go and make them look like everyone else after that. That is one of only a few bikes that would make me want a cruiser

sv650?

High_Side wrote:No real experience on any of them, but they are al bikes that I would love to own. Honda really had it with that '87-'88 Magna, but then had to go and make them look like everyone else after that. That is one of only a few bikes that would make me want a cruiser

My sentiments exactly.

How little, do you have a target seat height? I'm not sure, but I think the vulcan 500 is peppier than the VLX. Seems like Motorcyclecruiser mag tested them together once, but I could be wrong. I can vouch for the older versions, though. Chris has a '94 and it gets right up and goes. 27.1 inch seat height, too. Can she ride a standard, or is that too high?

She's 5'4" tall, 30" inseam. To flatfoot (or close to it) the seat height should be around 25-28", depending on seat width.


I was informed that if I looked at another cruiser for her that she might as well keep the VLX... unless it's the old magna, it's just too cool to ignore.


The standards she's sat on have all been too high, (919, 599, FZ6, SV650(s)... can't find a Bandit 600 or 1200 to try).


If anyone hasn't seen the Bandit 400, this is it. Standard, but about 2-3" smaller in most every measurement except wheelbase, that's only about 1" less than my rex.

Cool. I saw a bandit 1200 the other day...it is a large bike. The seat was higher than mine, and mine is 30" at the lowest spot. That 400 looks good. Will it be Peppy enough? Some manufacturers offer lower seat options (I think Buell is one). If you're buying new, that is worth a shot.

I can only guess at the power based on numbers and what people report (one big reason for this thread!). The numbers I've seen so far say rwhp in the low to mid 50's, dry weight of 370 pounds. Reviews I've seen (very few) make statements like "it's surprisingly strong" and "can hang with the big boys in the twisties", I think I saw a 1/4 mile time of around 12.8 seconds listed somewhere, and a top end of around 120 mph.

We'll see... I left the wife this morning with "instructions" to pull the trigger if she wanted it, but I wasn't going to make the choice. It's a gamble buying something you've not ridden or sat upon and can only make an educated guess at... part of the fun, eh?

There is also the option to shave the seat down a little, or switch to something aftermarket if she finds something that is close.

I think your biggest problem is going to be the fact that standards and sportsbikes are all going to have high seats which means if she is set on flatfooting with both feet (something that isn't always necessary) then she might actually be stuck with the cruiser class.

Don't think you need to worry about pep with the Bandit 400. I rode one back when they were new and was pleasantly surprised. Its power to weight ratio easily allows it to keep up with larger displacement bikes. It didn't even seem to be in the same class as the 400cc air cooled parallel twins I was used to.