Monday 6 September 2021

Raffi's ratty Bandit 600 (part 2)

 ... following all the fun one had with the fuel tank, the other issues almost seem minor in comparison. 

The carbs were a bit on the crusty side, but that's more of what was to be expected anyway. Again a first was the fact that one of the carb needles was actually stuck in the valve seat. 

Resulting in a "slight" seepage also known as the Exxon-Valdez disaster of Austria.

The other issue was that after the front fairing was removed, intermittently the bike wouldn't spark. After having a bit of a bet with my dad, the fault was found in under a minute in the shape of a snapped wire. 


Let's just say, maintenance wasn't exactly the forte of the previous owner and the airfilter was of almost legendary crustyness... Interestingly the front brakes were just fine.


Yes there's a clutch-pushrod seal in there and yes, maybe it's leaking, but one can't be sure...

The rear brake is generally a somewhat questionable construction on those older Bandits, where the VX has got pretty much the same rear caliper in an upright position, which results in all the dirt falling out again, it is pretty much trapped on these bikes.



Pro-tip, when your freshly overhauled calipers still have a tendency to stick, check the pads, if they are too thin, the pistons won't go back cleanly.

As it was clear by this point that the bike would be salvageable, a set of steel braided brake hose (front and rear), were installed and to be fair after the first rideout: those brakes improved notably compared to 26 year old rubber hoses.


But in the end there's only thing that matters with small fours: Just how hard can you rev' em?

The answer is 12,500rpm, but there's not a lot happening once you go beyond 11,500. I guess a bit of tweaking of the carbs is still necessary. 😏

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