Mustang's Bandit 600 Thread

[mustangGT90210]

So apparently I never made a thread for this bike through my first year of ownership of it. This was the bike I bought back in November of 2014, 2 months after totalling my SV650. It's a 96 Bandit 600 that had about 42k on it back then. Rode it for about a year, and then times got tight so I ended up selling it to my neighbor. Fast forward past the project bobber, and I bought this Bandit back. I'd never really wanted to sell it in the first place, but I had to do what I had to do. Either way, she's back! And while my neighbor had it, he re-did the seat, supposedly had the brakes re-done (don't believe it), and had the carbs cleaned and balanced. I ended up buying it back for the exact same amount I sold it for

Day 1, 2014

Cleaned up a little bit! 2014

Polished headers, 2015. It's ready to have them polished again

Waxed up, final beer run before I sold it, 2015

First picture back in possession of the old girl, with the fresh seat!

Had to break it in with a proper ride too. Here it is with my buddies' 1050 Street Triple and F4i

Overall, I missed this bike. The valve cover gasket has started leaking, so I'll have to replace that soon. Clutch was slipping when I bought it back, turned out to be improperly adjusted. In that time, I can tell some wear was added to it because it'll slip when it's cold, but after warming up, I can not for the life of me get that clutch to slip. Suspension is still as worn out as before, but overall not terrible given the type of riding I do. I've got a fork seal leaking right now, so I'm just waiting for that to blow out and then I'll get the front end re-sprung and all that good stuff.

I don't plan on getting rid of this again, but if I do, it's going to be because it's getting replaced with an FZ-09 next year at this time. I'd prefer to have both though, because these Bandits make great street fighters

 

[Carlos]

Nice bike! Is the orange reflector there for legal reasons? I would take that off if possible.

 

[mustangGT90210]

Thanks! I have no idea for the legality of the reflector, nor do I really care, in all honesty lol With this bike being so dark colored, and the fact I just moved into the city, I'm thinking I'll leave it on. Reflectors don't really matter to deer as cross traffic, but I think they'll have an effect on cars!

Also, having my first problems with this thing today on my ride. I think the CDI box is starting to go, or the connections need some cleaning up. Annoying stuff today. More to come on that soon

 

[Pillo-san]

Bandit 600 is a nice bike, 76 ponnys but they do move fast when revving her up. Mine was Mk1 like yours but an year older and with redline a bit higher at 14k, if I remember correctly the later models did rev lower. But anyway, if you do use cheap oil this will happen to your machine when it is steaming hot and breeze less and you do not for all what you are worth want to get passed by your friends on old sport bikes like srad 750 and fzr1000 at the track

When all were raging about the Ktm 990smr I was forced to try one out for some time, but it felt worse then the old rocking horse. It was jerky, my feet went numb because of the vibrations, it felt heavy, and not that fun as I expected it to be. So keep your sweet smooth Bandit and do not let her die like I did, I miss her actually. ;(

 

[mustangGT90210]

Figured out the random no starting problem. Had water down in the ignition switch. Blew it all out, sprayed some WD-40 in it, and all was well.

Well, until a week later. Total ignition switch failure. It's got some damaged connections internally, so I sent it off to the shop to get a new ignition installed while I went to Talladega for a weekend of Nascar!