In between partying hard last term and the fervent studying for exams this term I managed to gety some more work done on the bandit.
Many of you may wonder what the hell "Katakana" is, well its not some weird type of anime but the writing on my tank! The three symbols on the tank spell Suzuki, and theres an enlarged version of the original 400 decal on the tail piece. Other than that work just consisted of swapping in those new straight black renthals and some fugly mirrors ( the only reason for them is to check for blue flashing lights behind at speed!)
Well that was all the work I planned to do.....
As with any new bike, you ride it as hard and as often as possible, which led me to find a few faults. First of all the bike wouldnt idle happily at the proper RPM, hence the decision to have the carbs proffesionally rebuilt. Then a near head-on led me to scrutinise my suspension and tyres properly. I found the fork seals absolutely shot to the point where one fork leg had water in it, the rear shock needed hardening up, and my tyres were old and hard ( Compared to my mates lovely new Conti Sport attack tyres that is!) Also lowering it had caused me to dent the undertail plate I had fitted and worn even more of the hugger away.
So now the suspension has been adjusted, forks rebuilt with new seals and fancy dust covers, suspension raised, new Conti Road Attack 2 tyres ordered and the seat cut down it should all work fine! In theory!
However I'm back at uni again to finish one last exam, and one mad party before I can give a true verdict on the work, So for now here's some pics of the nice new graphics, the guts of my forks, and the damage speed bumps a little too fast do....
Many of you may wonder what the hell "Katakana" is, well its not some weird type of anime but the writing on my tank! The three symbols on the tank spell Suzuki, and theres an enlarged version of the original 400 decal on the tail piece. Other than that work just consisted of swapping in those new straight black renthals and some fugly mirrors ( the only reason for them is to check for blue flashing lights behind at speed!)
Well that was all the work I planned to do.....
As with any new bike, you ride it as hard and as often as possible, which led me to find a few faults. First of all the bike wouldnt idle happily at the proper RPM, hence the decision to have the carbs proffesionally rebuilt. Then a near head-on led me to scrutinise my suspension and tyres properly. I found the fork seals absolutely shot to the point where one fork leg had water in it, the rear shock needed hardening up, and my tyres were old and hard ( Compared to my mates lovely new Conti Sport attack tyres that is!) Also lowering it had caused me to dent the undertail plate I had fitted and worn even more of the hugger away.
So now the suspension has been adjusted, forks rebuilt with new seals and fancy dust covers, suspension raised, new Conti Road Attack 2 tyres ordered and the seat cut down it should all work fine! In theory!
However I'm back at uni again to finish one last exam, and one mad party before I can give a true verdict on the work, So for now here's some pics of the nice new graphics, the guts of my forks, and the damage speed bumps a little too fast do....
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