marksmith

It's good enough for Hondas. Why not Suzukis?

Yes I do it automatically too most of the time. The issue is when I'm holding something (e.g. helmet) which happens surprisingly often. Load on the starter did cross my mind... but I reckon it's worth it. I'll give it a try when I get a chance.

If you unplug the connector it's as if the clutch is always out - i.e. won't start at all. I know this because a few years ago I broke it and had to fiddle around shorting it with a key to get the thing to start - which required all three hands. I don't want the switch shorted permanently - then it would be possible to start it in gear (when the stand is up) but I can't see much benefit in having to pull the clutch in when the thing is in neutral...

Hi folks, Does anyone know of a reason why Bandits (and possibly others) require you to pull the clutch in to start? The Hondas I've ridden don't, and it's a bit of a pain to be honest, needing both hands free. I'm contemplating fitting a relay, in parallel with the neutral light, to short the clutch switch - that way when the bike is in neutral it will be as if the clutch were pulled in, and will start with just a press of the button. Anyone foresee any problems? Thanks! -Mark

Possibly worth reading a bit about how to check the chain too. How will you know it's knackered (before it snaps or ruins the gearbox bearings)? Here's my brief version, but I'd encourage you to read up a bit, I'm no expert, just a person with a bike. The "stretch" in the chain is due to the links wearing - the holes elongate a tiny bit. This doesn't always happen evenly, and you might find that 99 of the links are fine and one is stretched. This stretched one won't sit properly on either sprocket, and you'll end up with a "tight spot", meaning the (otherwise correctly-tensioned) chain is too tight when in a particular position. You need to do at least one full rotation of the chain, checking tensions every 10cm or so. Only if the tension is acceptable in all chain positions, is the chain good. Hope that helps!

That link is broken GoG...

I've got... whatever carbs came on a 1999 Bandit 600. What would you like to know about them?

Thanks, I might give that a try. 25p a litre on top of fuel costs though - ouch. Still, I don't get throught much fuel at 4 miles a day...

Hi folks, I have an ageing Bandit 600, which I use when it's too cold and/or wet to cycle to work - just a couple of miles. It suits this task perfectly - it's tatty, dirty and reliable - except for one problem: the carbs ice up when it's too cold and wet. This is quite a problem, as that's basically when I use it. For some reason it doesn't have the carb heaters. There are little blanks in where they would be - they've clearly never been there. Perhaps it's an import, although not declared as such. On warm and/or dry days it runs really amazingly well for a 15 year old, 36k mile machine. I've been thinking about replacing it, but I hardly use it for pleasure any more and it seems a shame to get a lovely shiny new bike to leave the rain, so I wonder if there's a way I can retro-fit carb heaters. The looms are available on eBay etc. but I haven't been able to find the heaters themselves. Any ideas? Thanks! -Mark

Your maths is way off there John933 but the point stands I think.

That's an excellent photo - did you take it?

You can get tools to remove them - I have a chain one. I put duct tape around the filter to give it some grip and then get the chain tool on it. A long while back I did one by spiking a long screwdriver right through it and using it as a lever.

Well sorry to keep banging on about this - but it played up again yesterday and today. Started fine and ran well for about five minutes - then started missing and eventually gave up. Long story short, I know what the problem is now. The fuel tap is intermittent on the "on" setting. Prime and reserve work fine but fuel isn't always getting through on the main setting. Anyone know if that's a common problem? Do the tap repair kits have the bits to repair it?

Got the bike back from the garage yesterday, all working nicely. We're not really sure what the final problem was - possibly the fuel hose I put on to replace the old perforated one was a bit too long and was kinking, possibly (ridiculously) I just didn't put enough fuel in the tank after emptying it out. Anyway it's running really nicely now - better than it has done for a long time, so I guess it was grateful for some maintenance. Thanks all for the advice! Now just need to get the screen back on. Those rubber nut things are an abomination.

Latest update... mechanic suggested replacing the spark plugs, so got some new ones, gapped them (0.65mm) and fitted them. Bike started, hurrah. However it would immediately stall if I gave it ANY gas. I was able to keep it running by messing with the choke. It's always been a bit tempermental when cold, so I left it to idle - but after about 30s rather than starting to clear, it just slowed down and stalled. It restarted, but got progressively worse until after 5 or 10 goes it now won't start at all. This is exactly the behaviour I saw when I first tried starting it after Christmas. Come full circle, bike still unsuable. Grrrr.

Yes from normal petrol stations but the water could have been in the tank for 10 years for all I know. It appears not to have been the problem anyway.

Yes, and yes. (Used it to drain the tank most of the way.)

Completely drained and dried out the tank. Put it all back together, put in some fresh fuel and... it still won't start. Cranks and cranks and cranks and once or twice it spluttered a little fire, and backfired several times, but it just will not start. Battery is flat too now so it's on charge but I'm really stuck. I'll crank it a bit more later when it's charged, but I can't see why it would help. Really disappointed. Was hoping it would just spring to life - but it is behaving exactly like it did before I started all this. Two complete weekends spent on this now. Wonder what it's worth as scrap.

Latest news: took the carbs off yesterday to clean. Drained them - and they were half full of water. Drained the tank and it had a good half litre of water in the bottom. So that would appear to be the problem. Apart from that they were very clean - so blocked jets or crudded up needles etc. Gave them a good clean out anyway. Today's job is to work out why water's getting into the fuel. Presume some problem with the drain around the filler cap.

Thanks very much for the advice. I'm summoning up the courage to remove the carbs and clean them. Hunting around youTube yesterday I saw a video of a Bandit cold start, and it's much nicer than mine has been for several years - so I think I've got used to compensating for it gradually getting worse. I have a vain hope that I might be able to make it run like that again -- although getting it to start at all would be an achievement at the moment. (My concern with fiddling with lots of different bits is that I could inadvertently introduce a second fault, and finding two faults would be almost impossible. Always prefer to mess with one thing at a time, returning to something working each time - then when it goes wrong, you know where to look.)

Well this is doing my head in now. Left it overnight on charge, tried again this morning - would not fire. Spark plugs out for about half an hour, replaced with some old (but good) ones. Still will not fire. Removing the carbs requires removing the air box required removing the seat cowl requires removing the luggage rack. If I were confident that it would help, I'd do it -- but I am struggling to believe that all four carbs went from being fine to being so bad the bike won't start, simultaneously. I wonder how happy the AA man would be to come back now the bike is in pieces...

If I can get it to run at all, I'll try to swap the coils over. If the leads will reach... 1 and 4 are a lot further apart than 2 and 3...

I did the valve clearances a couple of years ago and they were surprisingly good. I don't think they would suddenly have gone so far out that it wouldn't start - they'd gradually drift out, wouldnt they? It was running fine before Christmas. Carbs sounds interesting though. I wonder whether a float has seized or a needle gummed up. They've never been serviced or cleaned. Do you really have to replace the rubber gasket on the bowls? They're almost as expensive as the carbs...

Well the bike has been in the dry for three days and nights, but this morning again refused to start with the same symptoms - cranked strongly and maybe just a momentary fire, but then nothing -- so I no longer think this is wet related. While disassembling I discovered the main fuel line was badly holed so I replaced that. Also cleaned up the LT connections to the coil. Measured the resistances of the coils and all good (a bit out, both HT coils about 46k - Haynes says 30-40k - but I suspect that's good enough). Tank back on and it started immediately - but would not rev and no1 pipe didn't get hot. (No4 was questionable, 2 and 3 definitely hot.) Fiddled about with throttle and choke a bit (repeatedly stalling and restarting, getting progressively worse) and now it won't fire at all. The HT leads look good (no corrosion) and there is no sign of water in the spark plug holes. A spark plug attached to each lead sparks. Fuel is getting to the two inlets on the bottoms of the carbs. Air filter removed in case that was choking it. I suspect it's flooded now, and I've flattened the battery trying to start it, but I am sure there is another problem. It's like the mixture is so badly out that there's no combination of throttle and choke which makes it run properly, so just starting it results it it flooding. Something like that. It's going to be a frustrating one to diagnose, I suspect... Advice much appreciated!

Are there?! Can you poke them through from the other side? Where do they come out?