Bloke I work with has recently brought a 250cc 4cyl Bandit. I never knew they existed, I thought Hondas' 350 4 was the smallest. Apparently this thing rev's it's nuts off, is doing around 9,000 rpm at 110k (65mph) & goes out to around 15 - 16,000rpm! Makes about 48hp he said.
Anyone had a crack on one? or owned one? Looking at it ya wouldn't think it was a 250cc, big down pipes n all. Just a curious thing, to me anyway.
Col, i think all big 4 Jap brands made a 250, 4 cylinder at some stage. Honda had 5 cyl, 125 race bike. The motor in that is worth reading about, amazing tiny bits. Ill try to find the link about it. As for the GSX you wrote about, if i lived in a city id have one. Revs would be fun.
Mate of mine bought a ZZR250 kwak, he was new to bikes and asked me to see if it was ok, nothing until 9000 then still mot much up to 18000 :shocked: even with standard exhausts it sounded good as was sewing machine smooth
These sort of revs make me cringe, 15 thou, 18 thou! Brrrr
Yes Col
@KiwiCol :wheelie: they are a bit of a sewing machine. The engineering to have a four cylinder four stroke rev to 16 or 18 thousand RPM is quite remarkable they are very small pistons and travel a very short distance and all the valves have to keep time with everything else spinning faster than the naked eye could see. Suzuki made a baby Bandit with red tappet cover similar to Ferrari Testarossa. :jack:
Here are the specs for the little 250 Bandit...
https://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/suzu/suzuki_gsf250_bandit%2090.htm
They pop up on a few of the Bandit pages on Facebook from time to time, but not in the UK. There aren't that many 400 Bandits in the UK either.
Don't forget the Suzuki GSX250F Across. Another 250cc in line four cylinder that just revved and went really slow.
Quote from: froudy on Friday, 06 December 2019, 07:26 PM
Here are the specs for the little 250 Bandit...
https://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/suzu/suzuki_gsf250_bandit%2090.htm
They pop up on a few of the Bandit pages on Facebook from time to time, but not in the UK. There aren't that many 400 Bandits in the UK either.
Thanks Froudy, interesting read. 120 mpg!! 2.35l/100k Very economical wee beast for something that's revving that hard.
I have an Across which is a fully faired one of those, thirsty little thing does about 15k to the litre and it has about a 10 liter tank.
https://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/suzu/suzuki_gsx250f_across%2090.htm
I'm sure I will be able to put mine on historic plates next year.
This new one from Kawasaki doesn't sound like a sewing machine...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNK6UKzpTrU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNK6UKzpTrU)
I think it sounds awesome!
:onya:
I agree, sounds bigger than a 250.
I fitted a Kerker silencer off a GPZ900R sounds awesome even on idle it sounds like a 750.
https://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/suzu/suzuki_gsx250s_katana%2091.htm
And here's another one not many know exist, been around just as long a mate of mine has two. I did the Across up for my son would have done the Katana but the Across was a fraction of the cost.
Ah the good old gsf250 bandit, its how i fell in love with suzuki in the first place. First bike i owned many moons ago. Awesome bike to learn on. I rode one rain hail or shine in Melbourne vic for about 3 years, never missed a beat. Revved its nuts off, went very well. They had a version with the red cam cover that ran vvti.
These engines were fitted with mikuni flat slide carbs, one per cylinder, awesome throttle response. Ended up selling it for what i bought it for, coz moving interstate, went and bought a daytona 675 after that, then my current 1400. Thought about the 1200 bandit, but the 1400 does it for me.
Quote from: Irish in Oz on Monday, 09 December 2019, 12:20 PM
I have an Across which is a fully faired one of those, thirsty little thing does about 15k to the litre and it has about a 10 liter tank.
The Across ran twin carbs into a siamese manifold as opposed to the baby bandit that had 1 carb per cylinder. If jetted right the naked bandit 250 was way quicker than the faired Across.
@Eric GSX1400K3 Did the GSF have 4 independant carbs, from memory the Across shared one fuel bowl between two.
I notice the power and rev figures are the same.
Yes, 4 off mikuni flat slide carbs as standard. the across had only two carbs so sharing a fuel bowl between two carbs.
GSF250 Bandit..
I'm restoring one at the moment as a father and son project.
Proper Aussie model with the red painted rocker cover and the variable valve timing.
Mine has a genuine full Yoshimura exhaust system on it as well. Got it all started last weekend and it is a sweet sound indeed.
Very cool, I wanted the vvt version, but couldn't find one back then. Mine had std 4-2-1 stainless pipes and sounded ok too. Was in great nick and i only ever replaced chain and sprockets and the usual wear items. Rev limit is something like 14,000,000 rpm 🤣 I never knew they were officially released in OZ, mine was a grey import from Japan. Back then in Vic you had to do your learners on 250cc for 2 years before being able to then get a full licence and buy a GSXR1000 straight up. The LAMS these days is better as it stops artificial market price for 250s and opens up options for larger capacity, longer term bikes. My neighbours son rides a LAMs approved Yam 800 I think, sounds great and when he's done his learners they simply derestrict the bike via the ECU.
Quote from: Eric GSX1400K3 on Wednesday, 18 December 2019, 09:20 PM
Very cool, I wanted the vvt version, but couldn't find one back then. Mine had std 4-2-1 stainless pipes and sounded ok too. Was in great nick and i only ever replaced chain and sprockets and the usual wear items. Rev limit is something like 14,000,000 rpm 🤣 I never knew they were officially released in OZ, mine was a grey import from Japan. Back then in Vic you had to do your learners on 250cc for 2 years before being able to then get a full licence and buy a GSXR1000 straight up. The LAMS these days is better as it stops artificial market price for 250s and opens up options for larger capacity, longer term bikes. My neighbours son rides a LAMs approved Yam 800 I think, sounds great and when he's done his learners they simply derestrict the bike via the ECU.
I didn't think that modifying a LAMS bike to make it non-LAMS was legal?
If I'm not mistaken, I'm pretty sure that in NSW it is illegal to do that. I've spoken to the local bike shops here and they said as much, that they were not allowed to derestrict the bikes. To the point now that I think it was Honda Australia won't order in a ECU unless the shop tells them what the VIN Chassis number is. If the number comes up as a LAMS bike, then you get the LAMS ecu - they won't send out an unrestricted ecu.
Ah, I'll check the rules in WA then. Thanks for the heads up.