Suzuki GSF1200 Bandit Reviews

I have had occasional tiny oil leaks over the 12 years of ownership; mostly at the valve cover, and easily set right.

My seat cover began to tear after 10 years or so.

Light bulbs need replacing sporadically after years of service. This is one very reliable bike.

The bike is comfy and practical, does well as city transport and two-up. Stock, it is quiet, civilized, unobtrusive, and a bit of a "Blandit", until you hold the gas on for a few seconds, then it gets exciting pretty quick.

The stock suspension is poor at first, and degraded to terrifying over the years. Motor of doom, legs of cheese...

Running costs are pretty high. I live in an area with displacement surcharges on insurance, and the beast was always a bit hard on consumables. Chains, tires, brakes, and sprockets wear out pretty quick if you use the power at all. Fuel mileage is mediocre, and valve inspections are frequent by modern standards.

After 10 years, I started with the mods. Full suspension overhaul with Gixxer shock and aftermarket fork rebuild with valving, HEL lines, full system with jetting, custom seat, Renthals, tinted screen, headlight improvements, all the essentials. It is a different bike. Very exciting and kinda bad ass. Lighter, harder, 20% more power. I am glad I did it, but it is a bit much really.

I think I will ride it for the foreseeable future, as it does everything pretty well, and after 12 years and all the effort, there's no point stopping.

No problems; has been very reliable.

I am more than satisfied with this motorbike, and would thoroughly recommend it as a reliable, reasonably comfortable, good performer.

It's a good looking bike.

Its handling is good for a big bike, and even in wet weather, it has proven to stick to the road with its Metzler tyres.

Have completed 10000 klms in 14 days on this bike - crossed the Nullarbor twice, and only issue was the flatspotting of the rear tyre due to the excessive distance traveled on straight roads.

I decided on purchasing the Bandit 1200 four touring after reading many reviews on sports/tourer motorcycles. I wanted to get away from water cooled engines, and back to basic suspension etc for ease of repair and service if needed while traveling in remote and often hot/harsh conditions.

I crossed Australia from Brisbane to Perth and back again (10000 klms in 14 days) without any breakdowns or issues on a 205 model starting with 80000 klms on the clock. The bike never missed a beat mechanically, and I got around 280 to 300 klms a tank fully loaded.

Seat comfort can be an issue on long distance rides like this.

I fully recommend the reliability of the bike, and the engine is just simply bulletproof and pulls like nothing I have ever ridden in 25 years of riding.

No problems to date.

Nice combination of torque, horsepower, handling and good looks. Also, very reasonably priced.

I'm 64 years old and my motorcycle days mostly ended in 1969 when I sold my '64 Bonneville, '68 Enfield Interceptor and '51 Indian Chief to move out west. Since then only had a Yamaha XS 500 for a very short time and didn't ride it much; it had a little scoot but only if thrashed.

Stopped riding while raising kids because of cost and responsibility, but now decided to enter my second childhood.

While test riding quite a few new 'Street Fighter' bikes last summer I ran across this 2001 Bandit 1200s used. It was considerably faster and lots more comfortable than anything I'd ridden, although the longer frame made it slower in tight turns. I continued testing new bikes, but nothing else did it for me like the Bandit, so I bought it and put on a new set of Avon Storm ST's.

You can ride it docile and it feels docile. Tach it up, and there's a monster inside. Both horsepower and torque keep coming on strong until about 7500rpm, at which point the adrenaline rush really kicks in all the way to 11,000.

As for turns, it's very comfortable out on the highway. There's a lot more performance in both the turns and straights than I'll ever be able to use. Cruising at 70mph in high gear there's so much power on tap that downshifting to pass is really moot unless you want to impress someone. Drop it into second and it goes unicycle, and I'm riding at 8000 plus altitude, so losing 25% or more power.

If you need Gucci or Armani or the like, this isn't your bike. If you want lots of performance and great reliability, I highly recommend looking at this bike. I'm riding with a bunch of bikes costing 3-7 times as much, and this bike outruns all of them.