Rik398

I will try and get a pick up. Literally got called to work on spare of the moment as I was doing it, so stuck it all back together using the available bolts for the moment.

Ok folks, so after 2 years faultless reliability, the bandit problems just keep on coming. Had a big MOT bill, and I have ordered a load of stuff for service, plugs, air filter, oil, oil filter, going to do valve clearances and carb balance also. Partly because the bike needs it, partly because I am bored and decided to teat myself to some wrench time. But, I decided to investigate why my top box wobbled so much. Its a renntec rack, so not really designed for top box, and the top box is a cheap one, but it has always wobbled ever since I put it on. So decided to look. The rack bolts into where the grab handle is. The grab handle bolts into threaded eyelets on the frame. Soon as I took the back plastics off, one of the eyelets simply fell off the frame. The threaded bit had snapped off the frame, and there was some residue on the side where someone has tried to glue it or something previously. I am no welder, but did bump into some alminium brazing rods while searching the net, and thought I would just use them. Then i remembered that the frame is steel. So, is there a brazing rod or something that can be used on steel, or am I looking at welding as only option. I have investigated silver solder brazing, would this be sufficient? The bolt will be taking the load of a top box, but there are 4 bolts so its not as though that one bolt takes all the weight. Its annoying as having the top box is one of the good points of the bike, and it has no sub frame, its all one piece.

Yeah I would try and stick the bit of the key you have at the moment on there and then pull it out. Don't use too much though or you will bugger the lock. Or... get a locksmith out. They have key extractor tools. Not sure how much they would charge though. What insurance do you have? some cover keys.

Something like this? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/25117019 ... 108&ff19=0

What about a piggy back fuse? You could add it to the fuse box and then it will be on only when ignition is on? Not sure if this will work but remember bumping into something when I was putting heated grips on.

Well, I have it booked in at the garage, mainly because it needs to go there for the tire anyway, and I do not know what is up with the back brake. Also, guy I spoke to to book it in was a different guy and said it was about £100 for bearings to be done, so maybe not so bad as I thought. I am fairly sure it will all come out at the right price, guy I spoke to originally was obviously trying to sell me a new machine.

Thanks for the advice guys. I do most my own work for most things anyway so will probably try and give it a go myself by the sounds of it. When he said 200 quid for steering bearings I was a little suspicious. Hence why I searched for the part. I took calipers apart and put new seals in. Problem is the garage (same place) noticed they were binding when they changes a front tyre, and removed the dust seals and I had been running without the dust seals. Obviously planned on getting it sorted, then came the rain. So yeah pistons came all the way out and calipers pulled apart, I got them out without marking them but as I say, rust spots on the pistons. But yeah if he is quoting £200 for front bearings then there is obviously an issue. Probably reasonably easy, most things tend to be after some you-tubing

Good stuff. For non bikers, its one of those things that people just do not understand. If they think we are instantly going to be killed while riding to the shops on our motorbikes, then their opinion is unlikely to change if you then decide to put your child on the back. At one of my placement schools there was a child who came to school on the back of a bike.

Hey Folks. Had some bad news when I took the bandit for MOT yesterday. The Bill? £700-£1000 depending on certain things. Ok so the problems: - Steering bearings are gone. 'Notchy' Steering. - He said that is about a £200 job - Front brakes are binding (I am aware of this, and know that its because the actual pistons have rust spots on them. I rebuilt as a temporary solution, and they were better, but obviously not good enough. So will probs be new valipers, they say they have some for £80 each - Nail in rear tyre - Fell like an idiot for not noticing that one lol - Not enough reserve travel in rear brake pedal - Had a new caliper so may be master cylinder. Though looks like on the bandit you can adjust pedal position. - Front brake rotors he said were slightly warped. Did not come up in mot but if new brakes are going in then it makes sense to me to do them to prevet problems up the line. Hence the 'depending' in the quite Basically, I was considering buying a new bike when I heard the news. Then I had some more worries. 1) I can find rotors on ebay for 140 quid, but do the garage have to go with OEM? In which case that could get very pricey indeed 2) The rear tyre has already been plugged once. Is there a limit on how many plugs you can have in a tyre? 3) He said head bearings is £200 quid job. I am assuming there is a ton of work invovled becuase I can find steering bearings for £20??!! So yeah, considered a new bike but I am going to get it fixed. Obviously I will let them do some of the work (too busy at the moment) but its trying to find what I should do myself to keep costs down. If the steering bearings is not to big a job, and they can only use OEM disks, then doing those two would surely save a bunch of cash.

Cheers folks. Looks like I will be swapping to to old hose pipe again. The waterless muc off stuff may not be ideal in terms of keeping the brakes healthy. Rebuild should be fine, pads need done anyway so not too annoying. The del boys garage stuff is really helpful for the bandit. And being a bandit parts are dead easy to find so all good. I saw the rebuild vids so everything is good there, hopefully proper hose pipe wash will help the new ones I put in last a bit longer.

Ok folks, So, this is the first time in biking that I have come across needing to do a caliper rebuild on the bike. I will be doing it myself, simply because I enjoy doing stuff myself and the dealer quoted crazy prices when they fount that they needed done which is fair enough as it is time consuming though the parts are fairly cheap, as long as there are no pitted pistons. The only real question I have, is that as this is the first time I have encountered it, is it something that generally needs done relatively regularly? I do ride in winter though non of the other bikes I have had experienced the problem, though the rear brake design on the bandit is particularly stupid. What maintenance needs done to prolong the life of the seals? Never really had the thought of / needed to maintain brakes as such, other than keeping an eye on the pads and investigating a change in feel. Should I be doing anything regularly to maintain the brakes as such? Suppose I am wondering whether it is faulty maintenance that has led to the problem, or simply the fact that the bike is an 03 model and who knows....they may not have been done before? Previous owners have all been fairly ride in the dry only types.

Yeah I think soldering the joints or re-doing them with a decent waterproof 2 pin connection or something will be the way to go. All works fine with the battery protection option disabled so deffo the problem. Thanks folks

Yeah I doubt it is the charging system. Had dealings with these in the past on bikes and it doesn't seem to be that, generally because all starts fine and nothing is going flat. Turns out that you can disable the relay system and the 'power saving mode' so will do that until I can get time for a proper look. I have to say that though they make some decent heat, the connections are fairly poor. I have to wiggle a wire every so often to get the right grip to work. I will probably replace them with some different connections as the push fit ones supplied seem a bit naff.

Hey Folks, Had a bit of an issue with the heated grips on the way home. Problem is that they are a newer oxford unit, and on the way home it was flashing and saying that they were going into 'power saving mode' even though the engine is running and my commute recently has been a fairly long one. First time they have played up. I am thinking that there is either a dodgy connection somewhere, the battery is buggered for some reason, or the new in built stuff in the unit thinks there is not enough power when there actually is. I will not have a proper time to investigate until the weekend, luckily doesn't look too madly cold round here for the next coupe of days. My question being whether anyone else has experienced anything similar with the new oxford units with the built in thing that means that there is no need to put a relay on? Kind of annoying as I ditched the receipt so would be cool if it is a common bug easily fixed. Thanks Folks.

Sound as a pound. Got a breaker / rivet tool and will use a file instead of a dremel, I think a dremel is handy if you are going to use it for other things as well but will probably not buy one for this one job. Looks fairly straight forward, just needed to know the right tool lol. Thanks for the help

Hey folks. So its finally got to the point where I can no longer try and defend my chain - its buggered and idealy needs replaced. So, I got an 8 ring chain and sprocked set. It says it comes with soft rivet link, and is for my bike. So, I am guessing I will need a link remover in case it is too long, but do I need a tool to connect it ir is there like a special link with a lock? Cheers folks.

Welcome, Is the fairing plastic or fiber glass? If its plastic (abs) then you can repair faring with a piece of plastic gutter pipe (or any plastic really) and a heat gun. You basically burn plastic together with a soldering iron or something, stitch it, and then you can fill the gap with any other plastic you have lying around. I fixed my daytona fairing with a camping stove, a knife, and some old gutter pipe. There are a few vids on youtube which I used to help me and they are really good: This guy: "> and his general series is good. There is also another guy 'Dellboy's Garage' I think is the name, and he basically shows you that when you are doing a tab (where it bolts to the bike) or other part that takes stress, you can heat a paper clip and melt in into the plastic to give extra rigidity. It does work, and is not too tricky. If you don't feel up to it, then there are no doubt places you can send it to to get it fixed. The garage I took my bike to said they could have the fairing repaired for 60 quid, and that included paint so not such a bad deal. In the end I got a new fairing and fixed the old one up for a spare. If it is fibre glass, then you can get fiber glass repair kits and they will work just fine. Just don't use fiber glass kits on plastic, or try and use body filler. Will work in the short term, but over all you could have problems.

DAMN... Hope its not to late, but I had that exact intercom system. It was very very good, and there was not really a time where I could not hear what my pillion was saying. I have also received a phone call on the system and the person on the other end did not realize I was on the bike. It was literally one of this 'I am on the bike' 'Really?' situations. The signal strength is good. We live on the 3rd floor and I could hear the other half while she was standing by the bike outside and 3 floors down. As a rider to pillion communication its is not really that essential, but good to know that the strength of signal is there. Battery life was ok, and it gives you plenty of warning when it is going via a beep sound so you don't just get cut off in mid flow. I could easily get a days riding out of it. Probably around 5 hours of continued use going form music to intercom modes. Now for the bad... The headsets were not that great. The microphone bit was awesome, but there did come a point where I had to secure some connections with insulation tape. All worked well for about a year, when one day a connection was made between the two systems and a god awful hissing sound bellowed through the headsets. Tried the reset button, nothing. So yeah, that was the end of that. For the price though cannot really complain. I should also point out that all I have to go on before this point was a cheap wired system. So may not be the best 'review' in the world.

All year round riding you want a textile jacket really. I recently got a frank thomas 3 season jacket (you get a removable thermal liner for winter, and a waterproof liner, so you can just about get by in summer, and be waterproof, warm, or both in winter, which is generally the way with all 3 season jackets). Not raining at the moment but stood under the shower for a bit and didn't get wet so can't complain. Having said that, gore tex does seem to be within budget. Never tried it myself but seems to be the way to go if you can afford it. Boots wise, I basically wear by bike boots as my shoes as well, so they basically become my only form of footwear. As a result, I generally get fairly plainly designed boots. My last pair lasted me nearly 5 years, and I had to chuck them because I had worn through the souls rather than any stitching gone or anything, they were made by Forma, and I now have some boots from J&S Accessories that seem similarly well made. I have a pair of Honda gloves and they are simply awesome. Gloves tend to come in winter and summer flavors, so you may need 2 pairs for year round riding. I am afraid I cannot comment on trousers, as I literally just stick to kevlar jeans, and stick a pair of cheap pack - away waterproof over trousers on top when the weather changes. I would recommend getting to a shop and trying on, fit is king. You have made a decent budget, so can afford to go to a shop and get a feel of what you like and what feels quality and go for what you feel is good for you at the time.

+1 on the decent alarm system. The only issue I have with alarm systems is they can get annoying when working on the bike and stuff. Yes, I know datatool alarms come with 'service' mode and all that, but still annoying. At least you have a bike to work on though! Other simple things would be ALWAYS put the steering lock on - easily breakable by someone stealing it but its all about making it tricky. They will pass up a tricky theft for a sure thing, opportunists Leave it in gear, as in like 3rd or something, that way it makes it slightly more tricky to just wheel away. Anyone wanting to wheel your bike away now will at least need to have SOME knowledge about how to ride it / how the gears work. Sounds stupid but when I did my CBT I tried turning the key to start the bike, didn't even know it had a starter button. So you have reduced potential thieves to other bikers alone now. Disk lock is essential. These are great as even the cheap ones are not easily by passable due to the fact that the shape of the locking system is not really standard, and breaking them off could potentially damage the bike. Probably most of all - a cover. If they can't see it, though don't know whether it is worth stealing or not, and puts an extra step of effort in their way should they want to take it. Its not going to catch anyone's eye. I suppose they are my suggestions for 3 basic and relativity cheap things that could make a decent difference. The alarm system is brilliant though. A decent one will do you wonders. Basically means you cannot start the bike even if you have the key. Though they don't have to start it to take it... Ground anchor probably only any use if you have a garage, and can stick it in some concrete or something. Having said all this, I am fortunate enough to live in an area where you could leave your car open with keys in the ignition and get away with it.

I think they are playing it safe with the 2kg load capacity. At the end of the day it is a piece of alloy welded to some tubing, it is fairly strong. I have put a box on mine, and loaded the box up with a huge amount of stuff, several bottles of milk, uni bag with laptop, 4 pack of beer all at the same time and not had a problem. Obviously, how the rack actually bolts to the bike and how strong its weight bearing is will vary bike to bike, but with the bandit it goes into the bolts which hold the grab handle and it is literally a single piece of angled alloy in a sort of triangle shape either side that holds it up, which makes it quite secure. One thing worth mentioning though.... although top boxes are safer to leave stuff in then soft bags, it is probably advisable not to leave anything of value in there too often. Anyone who knows anything about locks would be able to pick that and open it with complete ease (past hobby of mine, crosswords were boring so did that instead) also, you could easily get into a plastic top box with a crowbar if needs be. So don't rely on them fully for keeping your stuff safe. My suggestion would be the sw motech tank bag range, which now include a locking system and you can padlock the zips if needed. Keeps the bike looking standard when you don't want it and adds secure carrying capacity that would not mark the paint.

Well no, just thinking tempreture between the inside of the grip and the bar may be higher. Again think I may be looking too much into this. There certainley would not be enough air for a fire, and I am assuming through heat alone it would take near on 100 degrees to set fire to something with just heat and no spark or flame as such. Yeah its been a long day... Lol.

Ok folks, been fitting heated grips today, oxford ones. Managed to get them for a bargain at the local bike shop. They had obviously been in the shop un-purchased for some time as the glue they came with was hard in the pot. Also, the throttle one was actually quite loose (think someone may have been playing with grips before and sanded it down too much) Being unable to drive anywhere with the lack of grip, I fed a cut down length of micro fibre polishing cloth through the grip, and pushed them on. You can now pull them off with a lot of effort, but otherwise they are not going anywhere. So, this is a temporary solution. But then I thought that actually, could I just leave it like that? I am assuming that the grips won't heat the cloth to ignition temperature? Its just with the one on the right hand side, I am worried that glue may not hold long term due to it being slightly loose, whereas the cloth gives it the smaller internal diameter to be a snug fit. Generally fine?

Cheers folks. I only have a few small places around here, and usually they don't have the tyre I need so I think I will buy tyres and that way I don't have to wait an extra day for them to order them in. Also, when I had my daytona it was about 160 for the rear tyre and fitting. Out of curiosity, went online and I can get both as a set for 180. So maybe buying them as a set would pay off. As for fitting them myself it would take a fair amount if time for the tools to pay for themselves by the looks of things, so I think I will just buy the tyres and take them in with me. Job done. Cheers folks

Here is the website that I got my stuff from, decent prices and a fast turn around if you want t go down the stator re-wind route. http://www.bbbikeshop.co.uk/