| Here's some of the most
common questions asked. Some things might seem obvious, some
very obscure! Here at BanditMania we treat every query as
serious as the next, hey! we all started somewhere. If you do
have any questions, please send them in and we will be happy to
answer them. Ok! Hold tight, here we go........... |
- How do I ... ?
- Where can I find ... ?
- Why doesn't ... ?
- Will I ... ?
- What ... ?
- When is ... ?
- I have an
Acewell Speedo.....?
Q] Lift the back end of my bike?
A] Fit a Jack up kit. Make sure you go for one
that lifts the back end of the bike by about 30-35mm. If you go any
higher not only will you compromise the straight line stability of the
bike but your centre stand, if still fitted will not touch the ground
and the side stand will be too short! Be wary also of kits made from
stainless, aluminium or which have been chromed. The tie bars are a
critical part of the suspension and some materials are not strong enough
for the job.
Q] Turn my bolt on 1200 can into a slip on?
A] Adaptors are now available from BanditMania
to do just this.
Q] I've got an SV1000 can which is a 4 bolt
fitting not 3 like the B12. Can I make it a slip on can?
A] Yes BanditMania do both a 3 bolt adaptor and
a 4 bolt adaptor.
Q] Adjust the chain without sitting on the
bike?
A] Place the bike on its side stand. Leaning across the back of the
seat from the right hand side, put your weight down. This causes the
suspension to go down and the chain can be adjusted to your weight.
Q] Quicken the steering?
A] Drop the forks no more than 10mm through the yokes.
Q] Increase braking without spending a
fortune?
A] Put braided brake lines first of all. If you still need greater
performance then fit the HH rated pads. If you do fit the HH rated pads
keep a check on your discs to make sure they are up to accepting the HH
pads and have not started to warp. Depending on your style of riding
you may need to fit race style discs.
Q] Correct Fork sag?
A] Replace the fork springs with good quality ones and replace the
oil with 15 or 20 weight.
Q] Increase acceleration on my Bandit?
A] Remove the engine sprocket and replace it with a 14 tooth one. On
the New Shape Bandits this will alter the speedo reading and the miles
covered as the speedo takes its drive here and not on the front wheel as
the original shape does
Q] Stop the front of my seat scratching my
tank?
A] Get an old T-Shirt and glue it to the front of the seat. When its
dry carefully cut round it and refit to bike. You've now got a soft
barrier between the two.
Q] Take my header pipes off to send to BanditMania for repair? The bolt head is so weathered the key just
spins, is this normal?
A] Its normal don't panic!! Go for a run on the
bike to get it really hot then when you get back leave it ticking over
for 5-10 mins. You'll need a 12mm multi sided socket. Hammer this over
the bolt head and then attach the socket driver and slowly and carefully
start undoing the bolt a little at a time. You'll burn your fingers on
the exhaust but this is the best bet for removing the header pipes.
Remember patience is a virtue! You can help matters even more by putting
a lube on such as WD40 morning and night for about a week before you
attempt to take the exhaust off.
Q] Lower the ride height of my Bandit?
A] Be careful with just putting longer tie rods
in, although this will lower the back end of the bike you can be
compromising the way the bike sits on the centre stand and side stand.
You'll find a lot more effort is needed when putting the bike on the
centre stand and again when rolling it off which could lead to an
embarrassing situation of not being able to do it!!! With the side stand
you'll notice the bike sits a lot more upright. The only downside to
this being the scary and expensive chance that the bike could fall onto
the right hand side. What's the better
option? Probably a seat re-sculpture. You
don't need to have the coloured panels or piping if you don't want but
taking some of the foam base away will lower the seat exactly where you
need it and leave you with a cool looking tail end on your bike!!
BanditMania offer a superb service with all seat work guaranteed, and
with prices starting from only £55.00 (SV650) the price is right too.
Q] Some new header pipes at reasonable cost,
mine have rotted in the collector.
A] Why not have yours repaired? BanditMania
will cut all the rot off and re-weld with stainless so you should not
get a repeat performance!! The repair also comes back to you with
stainless header bolts, header gaskets and new stainless heatshield and
clamp. If you do want new pipes BanditMania can offer you Stainless or
Titanium Systems.
Q] Anodised levers for my 1200 K6 model?
A] Available now from BanditMania, also
available in carbon look and Gold.
Q] A service manual for the 400 Bandit in
English?
A] At BanditMania we can now supply this for you for only £38.99 and
all bikes on CD rom for a fraction of the cost.
Q] The colour code for my bike?
A] Usually on a white sticker on the underside of the tank or in your
service record book. It's the last three numbers/digits. ie 33J = Pearl
Novelty Black
Q] A new heatshield that hides the join between
the intermediate pipe and the collector on the exhaust just near the
bottom of the motor. I've phoned my Suzuki dealer but its not listed as
a spare part.
A] No worries!! BanditMania manufacture one
and its stainless as well for only £14.99
Q] Does my 600 run rough and sometimes die on
me, especially in the cold and damp?
A] Carb Icing. Before you spend a lot on fuel
treatments check that ALL the carb heaters are working properly. With
them being situated open to the elements they too can corrode and rot.
Even with one down, it can give a problem. Run during the wet months
with Silkolene Pro-FST to help things along.
Q] Does my bike back fire on overrun?
A] Check the bottom collector box seal and the seal between the
intermediate pipe and silencer.
Q] Does the front end on my 600 feel lumpy?
A] Check and re-grease the steering head bearings, if they've gone
too far you'll need to replace them. They never get much grease on them
from the factory.
Q] Does my bike seem to wallow round corners?
A] Usually tired suspension. Replace the standard shock and the fork
springs, you'll notice a difference. Check your tyres and ensure you
have the correct psi.
Q] Need to re-jet after fitting a race can?
A] As a rule of thumb if the tuned length and positioning of the pipe
has not been altered then no, not usually. All bikes run better once
they've been tailored to their pipe.
Q] Be able to put bigger tyres on the 600?
A] Yes, 120 on the front and 160 on the rear. If you have the new
shape Bandit then stick to the 110 on the front.
Q] Be able to fit both a Hugger and an
Undertray to my bike?
A] Yes, but you will need to fit jack up ties
to give it just a bit more clearance otherwise you might find the two
clash if it bottoms out.
Q] Upside down forks can I fit in my 1200
without getting too technical?
A] The GSXR1100M forks will go in very easy.
The Bandit wheel will go straight in with the only thing you really have
to change is the steering stem from your original forks into the upside
downies.
Q] Can I do to help protect my bike while
riding through the winter weather and road conditions?
A] It doesn't look too nice but the best thing
is to waxoyl all the bolt heads that get furred up and the oil cooler
lines, all round the swing arm, the footpeg mounts. Come spring you can
just wash it off and you've saved a lot of mess.
Q] Is better, Powder Coating or Painting?
A] depends what finish you are after, but
powder coating is far stronger than painting although you do not
necessarily get the wide colour choice as you do with painting.
Q] Is the usual oil consumption on the 1200?
A] We've found that it does vary slightly but
the average seems to be between 500ml and 1 litre every 3000 - 4000
miles.
Q] Is a Jack Up Kit?
A] Suspension tie rods that go between the top swinging arm mount and
the shock absorber pivoting bracket. Usually jacks the back end up by
about 30mm and the seat height by about 10mm. If putting a jack up kit
in beware of fork sag.
Q] Are Jack up Plates?
A] Plates that attach to the footrest hangers
and by fitting these the position of the footpegs will be altered moving
the peg back about an inch and up about an inch. A longer gear rod
linkage will be needed too which BanditMania can supply.
Q] Tyres suit Bandits?
A] As a good all-rounder the Avon Azarro works well. For touring the
Bridgestone 020 and for serious stuff the Bridgestone 010. For everyday
enjoyment Dunlop D207 or the D208 range are very popular.
Q] Is the strange rattle that has suddenly
developed from the engine?
A] Before you panic, check that the header pipes are still tight into
the engine!
Q] The best time to contact BanditMania?
A] With the e-mail technology? Anytime, we'll be glad to hear from
you! Please be patient though, we sometimes get about 60 - 80 e-mails
per day!! If you want to phone us lines are open Tuesday - Saturday 10am-4pm. We close on Sundays and Mondays.
I have an Acewell Speedo.....?
Q] Will the ACEWELL work with my bike?
A] The ACEWELL computers will work with any bike that has a battery,
and many that don't.
You can attach to front wheel cable drives if available or use a magnet
and reed switch if not.
If you are replacing your stock electronic clocks (electronic drive from
gearbox) then check before ordering that the bike runs with the original
clocks disconnected as some new bikes have an immobiliser built into the
clocks and will not start if they are removed.
Ensure that any speed limiters built into existing clocks on Japanese
import bikes are bypassed - check forums how to do this.
Q] Which ACEWELL should I buy for my bike.
A] There are two main styles of ACEWELL, 2xxx and 3xxx - choose a
style that matches your bike, then choose the warning lamps and
functionality to match your requirements.
Q] I see that some models of ACEWELL have a
fuel gauge, how does this work?
A] You connect the ACEWELL to the original fuel tank sender unit in
your car / bike. We have a sender available on the digital speedo's page
if you do not have a sender at the moment, but cannot guarantee it will
fit into your tank, you may need to adapt it.
Q] I'm using the magnet and sensor speed
pickup, and when my speed gets to approx 30mph, it suddenly jumps to
about 50mph and behaves erratically.
A] You've got your pickup wrongly installed - the magnet should
cross the body of the sensor, not travel along it. Ensure that the
sensor travels along the thicker of the two moulding lines on the sensor
body.
Q] I'm using a cable drive converter, how do I
calibrate the speedo.
A] Before fitting the Acewell, it is necessary to find how far the
vehicle moves with a single turn of the speedo cable.
Mark the tyre and ground, and push forward 1 wheel revolution - measure
the distance travelled in MM.
Put a piece of tape on the end of the original speedo cable to produce a
flag, push the bike forward 1 wheel revolution again, but this time
count the number of revolutions of the speedo cable.
Divide the distance travelled, by the number of rotations of the speedo
cable, and enter this number into the acewell.
e.g. If the bike moves forward 1700mm and the speedo cable turned 3
times, then enter 567 into the C screen
Q: I'm not sure if my speedo is calibrated
accurately, how's the best way to check?
A] Get a GPS / Sat-nav, put it in instant speed display mode, strap
it to your bike / mount on your dashboard, and drive at say 60mph.
If the Acewell reads higher than the GPS, then reduce the number in the
C Screen, if it is reading too low, then increase the number. If you set
the unit up according to the instructions you should find that it is
just about spot on.
Q] How do I setup my Acewell?
A] Full instructions are given with the unit on purchase. Press both
buttons together when the unit is switched on, this puts the Acewell in
programming mode. Move through the options with the right button and
change settings with the left - very similar to setting the time on a
digital watch!
The C screen sets the distance travelled per revolution of the cable
drive or front wheel
The R screen sets the red line for the revs.
Q] My revs seem to be much higher or lower
than what I know the engine is running at.
A] You have the number of cylinders set wrong - many bikes use what
is known as wasted spark, try changing the settings on the SPC screen
between 0.5 / 1 / 2 / 3 to see which works best for your vehicle.
Q] My rev counter jumps all over the place and
doesn't give a steady reading.
A] The signal strength is too high or there is too much
interference.
Disconnect the sensor wire at the engine and see if it still jumps
around. If it does, check that it doesn't touch any HT leads, and try
replacing the yellow wire with a length of Co-Axial type cable (small
diameter shielded) Connect the outer mesh to the chassis / frame /
ground wire, and use the inner wire as the sender - ensure that the
least amount of wire possible protrudes from the mesh.
There are 2 ways of sensing the revs, either connect to the wire between
the coils & CDI (Electronic Ignition) / points or wrap the sensor wire
around the spark plug lead. - Try both methods
If you are wrapping the sensor wire around the spark plug lead then do
not strip the insulation from the wire, and try various number of coils
between 2 and 10 to see which gives the best reading.
If the spark strength is too high, you may also get strange readings,
try inserting a 1 Meg ohm resistor between the Acewell and the sensor
wire (and then both pickup methods)
Depending on the vehicle, you will find that one of the above will do
the job..
Q] On my Acewell the bar chart rev counter
flashes twice per second, why?
A] You have incorrectly set the redline for your rev counter.
Increase the number on the R screen in the menus to the correct redline
value. The rev counter will then flash only when the redline is passed.
Q] My bike doesn't have a battery, can I still
use an ACEWELL?
A] Yes you will need to order the battery saver as well.
Q] How do I fit the temperature sender
supplied with ACE-32xx / ACE-39xx?
A] The sender will fit straight into some water / oil bolt holes, if
not, an adaptor is available to measure water temperature by going
inline in your radiator hose. See the accessories section of the digital
speedo's page for more details.
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