Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127723
1996 Suzuki Bandit GSF600S albeit a small "cafe" fairing, but a fairing nonetheless. Conforming to style, Suz uki ins talled a rectangular hea dlight rathe r than the circu lar head light s found on the Euro models. In case you're won dering, no, the new Bandit isn't powered by th e same motor formerly used in the short-lived GSX-R600 or the current RF600 (wishful thinking, though), but it is propelled by the same reliable and already proven air / oil-cooled engine that has been driving the popular Ka tana 600 for many years, so the new Bandit's powerplant isn't just a punched-out version of the old 400 engi ne . Suz uki chose to go w it h th e m ore user-fr ie n d ly Ka ta na m oto r for a cou p le o f rea son s, m ost notably to keep ove rall cost of the bike down, and, as mentioned, si nce it h as been aro und for quite some time, it has alrea dy proven itself to be a worthy and easy-to-maintain mill. But before th e Katana eng ine was bolted into the Bandit's frame, it did receive some significant fine tuning to give it more zap, more bottom-to-mid zap to be precise. First of all, the Bandit is, from our - as well as Suzuki's - best recollection, the first Suzuki street bike to come with Keihin, instead of Mikuni, carbure tors. There are four of them, 32mm constant velocity mixers that are slightly smaller than the 33mrn Mikuni's used in the Katana . The smaller bore size, combined with longer intake pipes, he lp increase intake velocity and cylin- . der charging efficiency. Increased thro ttle response has be e n achieved by mo unting the carbs eight degrees more vertical for a straighter intake tract. The ex haust system used on the Bandit is significan tly different than that used on the Katana, which uses a steelco ns tructed fo ur- in to-tw o sys tem, (Above)The new Bandit 600S is Suzuki's latest "sport-standard" street bike. It is powered by an air/oil-cooled, In-line, lourcylinder engine, which is closely based on the Katana 6oo's power plant, (Below)The Bandit has a very relaxed seating position , much more so than RF600 and the GSX600 Katana. ' By Kit Palmer l ....... l-i 0.. -< 26 ou 've probably heard about it, and you might have even seen photos of it, but the new, 1996 "early release" Bandit 6005 from Suzuki is finally here, and don't think for a moment that it is just an old Bandit 400 with bigger pistons and rings. While it might look similar to the underpowered and undersprung Bandit 400 , which never really enjoyed much success here in the U.S. du ring its relatively short th ree-year sti nt (1991-'93) in Suzuki's street lineu p, the 600 is a completely different an imal, and - getting stra igh t to the point - a much better one at that. American Suzuki recently introduced the Bandit 6005 in Northern California, where some of this country's best twisty roads exist and are - better yet - plentiful, making th is the ideal loca tion to debut the "retu rn" of the sporty Bandit, which has al ready been doing time in Europe and Japan. However, the U.S. version is slightly different than those seen elsewhere around the world where the "naked" look is the current fad and fairings, as a res u lt, are being removed and used as decorations for garage walls, but this isn't the case here, at least not yet. Americans still like their fairings, and Suzuki dealers all over the co untry were constantly reminded of th is while trying to sell the fairing-less Ban d it 400. As a result, the Bandit 6005 come s to th e U.S . fairing-equi p ped,