[fotocycle]

Hey all,

First post here - I bought a '98 Bandit 600S over a month ago, couldn't leave well enough alone (it was almost bone stock) so I started to go 'fighter with it. I've been wanting a streetfighter for a while as I know they make excellent weapons for my daily combat commuting.

I recently found myself without a bike when my '98 CBR600 started spewing smoke and oil out of the exhaust pipe at 150mph - too many hard miles on that thing - but I've been riding for four years and the Bandit is actually my fourth bike now. (The first was an old Suzuki UJM that never ran well enough to ride.) I picked up the Bandit for $2000, replaced the leaky rear shock with one from a B12 and will be trashing the weak clutch tomorrow for a new one.

I've done a few mods to the bike: Universal Demon fairing; drag bars (not in the pic); power outlet for touring; Pirelli Diablos; Competition Werkes footpegs.

Mods coming: swapping instruments for a bar-mounted digital unit; belly-mounted shorty exhaust; projector-type lights for the fairing (which will be lowered once the new gauges are in); fabbed-up footpeg risers; and I still haven't decided what to do about the tailsection.

Before:

Most current image (now old):

 

[spanks100]

Welcome and nice bike!! I'm from West Palm, Bump to a fellow south floridian!!

 

[dogbreath]

I used to live in Palm Bay... with someone from Jax we'd have completed the east coast of Florida, hah hah.

The front end looks really good! Plans for anything behind it? What's different from that pic?

 

[fotocycle]

Thanks for the welcome, guys. Who knew I'd find a couple of fellow Floridians right off the bat?

So far, the drag bars are the only thing different in the pic, really. But even though they were only $10, these were a major mod for me. I've been riding sportbikes or sporty standards since the beginning (Kawi EX500; CBR600; plus lots of friends' bikes) and the high bars that were stock were totally alien to me. The bike is now much more fun to ride.

The tailsection... I just don't know. I'd really like to swap out for another bike's tail, like a CBR1000RR or even a Kawi Z750 or Z1000. However, I don't do welding (though a buddy does) so I may be limited in what I can do. The stock pieces desperately need paint (as does the front fender), I might just do that for now and shave off the passenger bars while I'm at it.

I was looking at some carbon fibre tails but could not find one for the first-gen Bandit.

 

[dogbreath]

I'm sure the bandit guys on here know of some relatively simple tail sways, there's plenty of crazy Bandits running around... I think one has/had an R6 tail (?).

And if you take your tail plastic off and take a picture, we're full of ideas

 

[fotocycle]

I'm sure the bandit guys on here know of some relatively simple tail sways, there's plenty of crazy Bandits running around... I think one has/had an R6 tail (?).

And if you take your tail plastic off and take a picture, we're full of ideas

Good notion, thanks. I'll strip her down this weekend and take some pics.

 

[rdannar]

:cfrocks: Welcome to the site.

 

[929_adam]

WELCOME TO THE SITE!

BIG improvement on the bike so far, great work. keep it up!

 

[The Green Lantern]

hey-oh from the great white north

 

[fotocycle]

Thanks, guys! I forgot to mention I am planning on stiff fork springs and SS brakelines front and back, and am looking into engine mods next (pricing the usual jet kit/filterpods right now). Performance has to match the looks!

I'm having a lot of fun building her up and wracking my technical creativity, but researching everything sure takes some time.

 

[drunkNun]

Welcome to the site fotocycle!
Are those mirrors still on there? That bike is gonna take flight with those things. :blbl:

 

[fotocycle]

Yup. They were cheap and much nicer than stock, but now that I've redone the front they don't look right anymore. I have spiked barends coming in, so I don't know that I can put in barend mirrors now... plus they tend to stick out too far, and I lanesplit alot (thought I shortened the Bikemaster dragbar for this purpose, so maybe it won't be a big deal).

 

[drunkNun]

U can get barend mirrors that will go between ur bars and the spikes. Also you can get barend mirrors that go in the same place and dont even extend past your bars. Someone or some picture on here has them...

 

[fotocycle]

Cool, I'll keep looking then because I'd like to get rid of these. Thanks.