I'm new to this forum stuff but thought I would get involved, as recently I've bored everyone I know to death with bandit talk. I've been wanting a bandit for about 10 years now, ever since I test rode one at a dealers. Anyway I ended up with a CBR 600, which was sort of fun for a while but hiding behind a fairing is not really my style and I got fed up with people trying to race me every time I fancied a cruise. Anyway after a couple of years the CBR was sold to pay for my wife's new kitchen, to be honest I went off the CBR after it feel off it's centre stand one day and made a right mess of the fairing. Next I went for a bike that I had fancied back in the day but couldn't afford one new, an XT 600 tenere. I thought that would be good as nobody would try to race me, so preserving my life for a bit longer. Not a good idea as the tenere really only ever wanted to be on it's back wheel so that was sold. I've gone without a bike for about 5 years or so now and dabbled with a few of my other vehicular passions, a Mk 1 golf convertible, that was never here when I wanted it because my wife liked it to much and a Mk2 mini countryman estate (woody) but I didn't have the resources to even start that so the mini was turned into a week in Tenerife. I have been toying with the idea of another bike for ages and a bandit was what I wanted, to be truthful I would have preferred a 1200 but a tight budget and the right bike in the right place at the right time resulted in me buying a tatty early 600 for £550 It was ideal as most of the bike was there and it ran beautifully, it just needed completely stripping, refurbishing and rebuilding with a couple of simple mods and improvements thrown in. Anyway the strip down happened 3 weeks ago, everything boxed up, categories, photographed and labeled and a fairly big list of bits needed and jobs to do made. I couldn't resist starting on the fork legs and set to work with a gallon of paint stripper, steel wool, various sanding discs and a new polishing kit for a new bench grinder purchased. The initial results were impressive and so I have pushed on with a mixture of polishing, paint stripping and grinding to remove all traces of the rotting metal and paint which covered the poor old bandit. I did set about stripping the frame once it was completely free of all removable items but soon realised that I needed to take a trip to the local sand blasting guy. He made a fantastic job of removing every trace of paint, rust and grease from the frame and swinging arm for 65 quid (fair) and I purchased nearly £200 worth of etch primmer, filler primmer, thinners, 2x colours of base coat and lacquer along with tack cloths, paper roll, mixing cups and hardener, oh and a mask to keep the toxic fumes out of my lungs. The frame, swinging arm and side stand were suspended from my shed roof and carfully a layer at a time I set about laying each coat until I finished up with a lovely glossy metallic graphite grey frame and matching swinging arm and side stand. I let the frame rest for a couple of days and set about the wheels, firstly stripping the paint and then attacking the corrosion, 600 then 1200 wet and dry and finally autosol and a few good hours polishing. The rims looked good but I needed to get some paint on the centres, spokes and hubs. My colour scheme is simple, a metallic graphite grey frame and swinging arm and black body work, with everything that's made of ally polished mirror finish and so I wanted the paint on the wheels to be black. To do this I masked off the rims and sprayed the black centres with smooth black hammerite thinned a little with a splash off white spirits. The wheels looked fantastic, almost powder coated and to celebrate I took them down to our local tyre centre and surrendered another nearly £200 to have a couple of new Michelin pilot tyres fitted (sexy tread pattern). I have also redone the rear brake calliper in the smooth black hammerite along with numerous other painted black items and they all look fantastic, like a new item. The front callipers are yet to be sprayed the same. I serviced the front forks last weekend, checked the springs for shortening, drained off the old black fork oil and fitted new seals, fork dust seals are on there way as well as new fork oil. Got loads of bits arrived to either smarten up the bike or restore various functional items, new chrome clock bowls, front master cylinder repair kit, new calliper rubbers and pads all round. Started to rebuild the bike but currently taking a couple of days out to recharge the batteries ready for another onslaught towards the end of the week and over the long weekend. Talking of batteries, I became the proud owner of a new one of those a couple of week s ago as well. Next job once my fork dust seals and fork oil arrives is to finish the fork overhaul and get the front and back wheels on, I would like a rolling chassis by next Monday night. Anyway I've gone on a bit, I'll be boring you lot next. I hope to upload some pic's with this post but as I said, I'm new to this forum stuff and may well struggle. Would love to hear from anyone who's interested in my project or with similar projects. Gazman OK. hopefully there should be a couple more pics of the sandblasted and freshly painted frame. Got the tank stripped and etch primed and all the bodywork prepared for primmer as well. Making good progress now and have nearly all the ally parts polished and all odd steel parts and brackets sprayed black. Aiming to be on the road before the end of Frame after sand blasting, ready for etch primer. Tank stripped and ready for primer. tank etch primmed Sprayed the frame metalic graphite grey and laquered it. Started to put the frame back together set about the engine cases with my new buffing wheels. And clean up and spray other bits and pieces. repaired some damaged panels and primed ready for top coat. spent most of one weekend getting the wheels to a better standard. new tyres fitted, Michelin pilots. made a start on the header pipes, got an irritating ding on number 1 cylinger down pipe htough. Time to get going on the engine, I wasn't sure at the time, which colour to go with though, black or silver. Gunked it down and pressured it off, carefully. Went for the black engine and polished cases. Collected the body work from a guy I know who is a really good sprayer, went jet, gloss black in 2 pack (actually its Merc paint). Had stuff arriving daily, stainless nuts and bolts, spark plugs, fork seals, dust seals, new brake pads all round, new caliper seals all round, new fork oil, new engine oil, number plate, head light, NOS speado with zero miles on, new chrome speedo and rev counter bowls, the list goes on and on. Recruited my wife and 2x teenage daughter one night to help me get the engine back in the frame, used the new stainless engine mount bolts. Had some decals made in silver and spent nearly 4 hours almost destroying them myself, alright for a tenner though. about 4 hours to gunk and polish the carbs, not mirror but a slight sheen using autosol and an artists brush, for ages and ages. Got a local engineer to pull the ding out of the header pipes and weld some stainless in the hole, ground it off and polished it and it's about 98% good. A bit more polishing. got the footrest hangers polished and mounted and couldn't resist a little mock up to see what the rideing position was like after jacking up the rear and new low bars. result it was perfect. Took 130 mm out of the very long can and generally refurbed it all so that it shines, new stainless jubilee clips polished up a treat as well. got the whole exhaust system back on the bike and am well pleased with how it looks. polished the rear foor rests and new springs and ball bearings. refurbished the original rear caliper. and remounted. Finally tonight I had another hour or so polishing the front brake master cylinder, getting there but needs a bit more effort yet. Just had enough time to get the chain back on, been soaking it in oil for a couple of months. There's nothing wrong with it and so I'm gonna use it. That's a whistle stop tour of my project bandit 600. Loads of other stuff has gone on but that should get anyone who is interested up to speed. Gaz javascript:emoticonp('')
That James is mint, did your dad restore it or buy it done, either way it's quality. Looks like a 98cc (I think) by the size of the engine and exhaust. Looks like the same era as my old James, rigid frame and single sprung saddle, just a little less chunky and although mine had a rigid frame it did have little rubber plungers near the rear spindle to absorb a little of the shock. One of my dreams is to buy back all my old bikes and restore them. I have tried to track my old James but not successfully. Go for the refurb of the bandit mate, if you've never done it then you might just love it, best thing I've done in years. If you do post progress and lots of pics on hear and you will get loads of help, i'm sure. What year is your bandit, B6 or B12
How much longer did you need to make your side stand Mark ? and how much was your bike jacked up ?. I thought about an adjustable stand using threaded stainless bar and lock nuts for about a minute, realised it would stress me out to make it and would be fairly pointless and so I am left with a similar idea as yours mate, or in other words exactly the same. My welder pal has been working over see's for a week or so but is back now, so should get sorted this week, got some frame paint left as well so should be able to get it on the bike by next weekend. Good work Mark, i like it.
Hi Guys, Got a 1995,MK1 600 Bandit which I am restoring. It's pretty much all standard parts except I have polished all of the ally bits and repainted the rest. The only other non standard items are colour scheme and low bars. Been on the Bandit forum for a few weeks and nearing the end of the main project. Might try to copy some of it over for those who are interested. Look forward to seeing some fresh projects with other makes and models. Here's a couple of snaps of my project.('') Before