My Bandit 1250 S/AK7 is finished

My Bandit 1250 S/AK7

I finally started on the naked conversion on my 07 1250S on Oct 21st, and just finished it up yesterday

Prior to the tear down, I took care of several things that needed to be done in order to fit the factory A model frame neck covers, which were to relocating the EVAP canister valve which is mounted on the left side of the frame behind the cowling, and my Fiam horn which I had mounted on the right side of the frame behind the cowling where the EVAP canister used to reside.

I mounted the horn to the aluminum cover plate that replaces the stock plastic ABS module cover below the battery box. The horn fits nicely in this area and is totally out of view when the plate is mounted. I then extended the stock horn leads back to the new relay location, which I mounted to the existing mount for my battery tender plug after making a the small mounting tab and splitting the round standoff spacer for the battery tender mount to accept the relay mounting tab.





I relocated the EVAP canister valve using a simple aluminum mounting bracket I made that mounts using the bolt that attaches the thermostat housing to the frame.


These are the new custom adjustable aluminum handle bar mirror mounts that I made to accept the stock mirrors, which work great as I had already road tested them quite a bit before the actual tear down with the cowling still mounted. They have a similar adjustable arm like my mirror extenders that I sell for the cowling mounted mirrors, and I like the view much better with the mirrors closer to me, and I had decided that even if I and wasn’t doing the naked conversion that I liked the way they looked better mounted to the bars and would have kept them mounted to the bars instead of on the cowling.




Here is the headlight I bought with the custom billet mounting adapters I machined for it and the custom billet headlight mounting brackets I made. I didn’t like the color on the bucket as it came, so I stripped it and powder coated it in semi gloss black.




I also pulled the forks off and removed the lower triple tree so that I could remove the nasty looking casting line that runs around the entire outer surface, and smooth it out and powder coated it semi gloss black to match the top triple tree which I had already done quite awhile ago. I also made up some new polished S/S pinch bolts for the lower triple tree that have a longer shank section on them which I polished so that now you don’t see the funky looking threads showing through the openings on the sides like the stock pinch bolts, and which looks a whole lot better, and I powder coated the custom aluminum front brake manifold on the lower triple tree in the same silver metallic, which was polished before. I also change the fork oil, greased the stem bearings and polished up the fork caps.




The cowling brace mounting bracket welded to the front of the steering neck looked like crap after I removed the cowling. So I machined up a lightweight aluminum cover that attaches to a simple aluminum mounting block that bolts to the cowling brace mounting bracket.





With the cowling removed a lot more of the radiator became visible, so I machined up some covers for the upper and lower radiator mounts.

The new A model speedo/tach lower case has a different location for the wiring harness connector from the US model lower case, so after carefully locating the where top cut the new opening for the connector, I used a heated up exacto knife blade to make the opening. I then machined up an aluminum filler plate for the UK wiring harness connector hole, and attached it with silicone sealant.

A tywrap secures the wiring harness to the speedo/tack mounting bracket and keeps the rubber cover on the plug up tight against the back of the lower case to help keep the connection protected. The speedo/tach mounting bracket also had to be modified by cutting off and unused mounting tab, which after I cut off and smoothed out, the bracket got powder coated in semi gloss black.


The frame neck covers required quite a bit of fiddling to get them to mount properly, as the top front mounting point is a round standoff incorporated into the covers with a little rounded barb on the end that just pushes into a rubber grommet that installs into an existing hole in the frame. With the standoff pushed into the rubber grommet, the back 6mm mounting screw just barely lined up through the hole in the rubber grommet in the cover and into the threaded hole in the frame.

Then when I went to install the lower front mounting screw, which is only a screw with no rubber grommet in the cover, which I thought was strange, as the screw is the only part listed in the Suzuki parts schematic, with no cushion at all between the cover and the frame, plus the hole in the frame was way over to one side of the hole in the frame neck cover on both sides.

So what I had to end up making to get the lower mounting bolts to line up to the threaded holes in the frame was to make two special 5/8” diameter x .09 thick aluminum washers which I milled a slot into from the center hole out towards the edge of the washers which allows them to fit down into the recesses on the covers while also allowing the screws to line up with the threaded holes in the frame. I then punched out four .06 thick x 5/8” diameter neoprene washers with a ¼’ hole offset in two of them to match the offset holes in the outer washers, and the other two washers with the ¼’ holes centered on the washers for the back side of the covers.

I also made up two more .09 thick aluminum washers with ¼” centered holes to go on the back side of the covers against the mounting holes on the frame, so that when it was all assembled I had rubber washers on each side of the holes in the frame neck covers, with aluminum washers on each side of the rubber washers with the mounting screw going through all four of the washers and into the threaded holes in the frame. This ended up working great, but I was very disappointed that the mounting points did not line up better than they did, but their both mounted properly and cushioned with rubber at all three mounting points. I also machined up two custom aluminum washers for the two rear frame neck cover mounting screws











I’m really pleased with how the project came out, and I love the look of it, and I took it out for a short test ride yesterday afternoon, and the first thing I noticed was how much quieter the engine and bike sounds compared to the noise and buzzing that came from the cowling, and so far the small sport screen seems to do a pretty good job at keeping the wind off of my chest, but I plan to take a longer ride this weekend to check it out some more. The other thing I also immediately noticed was how much lighter the bike feels when maneuvering it, and after 5 years, it’s like a got a brand new Bandit.

Re: My New Bandit 1250 S/AK7 is finished

Looks great and a great report on all that you did on it.

Re: My New Bandit 1250 S/AK7 is finished

Stretch30 said:

Looks great and a great report on all that you did on it.

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Thanks Stretch.

I do need to make two new aluminum wind screen mounting brackets so that I can move the wind screen back about 3/4" so that the front of the headlight cutout is back about flush the back of the trim ring, which will also allow me to pivot the screen forward a little more towards vertical and not have the front of the headlight cutout on the screen stick out past the front of the trim ring which it is flush with now, and it will look better with a bit more of the trim ring sticking out past the front of the headlight cutout on the screen.

Re: My New Bandit 1250 S/AK7 is finished

Looks great and excellent work! Confirmed my suspicions regarding quietness...I'll bet that thing sounds like a finely tuned machine while in the seat going down the road...I' sure it was nice to get rid of the culprit of the buzzing noises.

Keep us updated!

Nice job!

Very good work indeed

Very nice ,have you tried it with no screen at all ?

Thanks guys.

Tasi,

No I haven't rode it without the screen, and I may just the heck of it, but I think it looks so much better with it than without it. I am going to play around with the height and the angle of the screen to find the sweet spot for it.

I did make the new mounting brackets for the screen which moved it back about 3/8", which looks a lot better, as it was sticking out past the front of the trim ring about 1/4" and did not look good to me. I'll post up a picture of the repositioned screen so you can see the difference.

Nice job! Now that I see the side covers I wish I had ordered them with my naked parts. They look great.

Well done!

UncleSalty said:

Nice job! Now that I see the side covers I wish I had ordered them with my naked parts. They look great.

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Yes, the color matched frame neck covers really look nice and are a big part of the look, and even thouggh they were pricey I'm glad now that I sprung for them.

Any chance you could update these pics? I'm very curious!

c2c4c said:

Any chance you could update these pics? I'm very curious!

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I had some problems with Photo Bucket a little while ago, and I've made a bunch of changes to the bike since the first pictures Im posted up, and I'm also waiting on a new Puig wind screen to arrive early next week to replace the first Puig screen I bought and ended up not liking, so as soon as I get it mounted I'm going to be taking a bunch of new pictures which I'll post up.

My Bandit 1250 S/AK7 updates

I’ve done a few changes to my bike since converting it to a naked model, with the first being powder coating the custom headlight mounting brackets I made that I originally did in silver metallic sparkle in semi gloss black. I also machined recessed pockets into the back side of the mounting arms to accept polished S/S inserts that show through the slots and which match all of the other parts on my bike which I have done the same treatment to. I also took the chromed headlight trim ring over to the chrome shop and for $10 I had them strip off the chrome, and then I powder coated it to may the headlight bucket.




I was not happy with the look of shinny gloss black Puig Top wind screen I bought, even though it does do a pretty good job and deflecting the wind off of my upper torso. So I replaced it with a Puig Naked screen in red which really goes great with the candy sonoma red factory paint, and works as well as the black screen at keeping the wind off of my chest.

I also machined up some new full wrap around radiator end caps that I made using some 2” x 2” x 1/8” square aluminum tubing and a slimmer looking cover for the top radiator mount. I milled through slots into the sides of radiator end caps them and installed polished S/S strips to show through the slots, as milled ball mill grooves on the front faces of the caps. I also mapped out the locations on the new covers for the 3 hose spigots on the backs of the end tanks, and I then powder coated them in a new powder I bought to try out called black diamond metallic, but which actually came out looking like a dark charcoal grey instead. At first I wasn’t sure if I like it, but after looking at them for awhile on the bike I actually began to like the contrast between it and the black, and the color also goes good with then red paint.





So I decided to powder coat some other parts on my bike that were in semi gloss black with this new color to give the bike a little more contrast in colors and break up all of the black a little. So I stripped foot peg brackets and foot pegs, throttle body end covers, ISC valve cover, swing arm pivot caps and my custom license plate light cover and shot them in the new color. Before powder coating the license plate light cover which had 3 ball mill grooves milled into the face, there was enough material thickness to allow me to machine off the ball mill grooves and mill 3 through slots into the face and insert a piece of thin polished S/S to show through the slots.

I also powder coated my polished valve cover, as it turned out to be a dirty casting that never really came up to a nice shine like the engines covers did which can happen with some castings. So it got with the same silver metallic sparkle powder that’s on my rims, handle bars and gas cap trim, and this stuff has to be seen in person to really appreciate just how much it pops when its in the sunlight, and it looks really good.

I also machined up some custom billet caps for the fork preload adjusters and some new lower aluminum stepped washers which were already part of my rigid handle bar mounts, but now they also cover up the nuts for the handle bar mounts by having a recessed hole in the bottom to accept the 10mm flange nut and a 14mm socket.


I machined up a plate that attaches to my rectifier relocation bracket that covers up the TPS on the throttle body, and milled slots in it and placed a thin piece of polished S/S behind the slots to match all of the other slotted parts on the bike.


I also machined up an aluminum plate that covers up the nasty looking area on the rear lower motor mount area on the right side of the bike.


The new passenger foot peg mounting brackets cover plate with hidden mounting screws I machined up.

Its an asolute top job .To think mine came naked and is in the shed covered
in dust and spider-weds (moving house) makes me feel i must clean it .

I carnt go for the red sreen but thats just personal tast .I do have a dark
tint one (same) you can have ,free .
Dont you get dust or rain over there it bloody spotless .

Tasi said:

Its an asolute top job .To think mine came naked and is in the shed covered
in dust and spider-weds (moving house) makes me feel i must clean it .

I carnt go for the red sreen but thats just personal tast .I do have a dark
tint one (same) you can have ,free .
Dont you get dust or rain over there it bloody spotless .

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Thanks Tasi, and you'd never think by looking at it that it has 46k on it.

Beautiful. I'd like to do that with mine. The naked never sold here except in the 650 guise.

Those blue electrical crimped connectors look wrong with your work. Black heatshrink over the top looks better and also adds extra protection. Have you thought of offering a naked conversion kit?

Very nice MM. I like the red windscreen. I hope you never stray from the Bandit. We have all learned a lot from you !!

MM, absolutely beautiful!

That is a very well sorted bike. All of your extras make it look so nice.

What are those extensions on top of your fork legs MM?

Yogi 1250 said:

What are those extensions on top of your fork legs MM?

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Those are billet covers I made for the preload adjusters, and they givce the forks a whole new.

kewwig said:

Beautiful. I'd like to do that with mine. The naked never sold here except in the 650 guise.

Those blue electrical crimped connectors look wrong with your work. Black heatshrink over the top looks better and also adds extra protection. Have you thought of offering a naked conversion kit?

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Thanks Carey.

The blue crimp on spade connector are a very good brand that I've been using for years, and I've never had any problems with them as far as corrosion as I always apply a little dielectric grease to the terminals, I also always twist the wires and solder the ends before inserting them into the connectors and crimping them, and as far as sealing them up where the wires go into the connectors with shrink tubing, the connectors are still open on the other end, and it's behind the side cover as well protected from the elements.

MetrickMetal said:

Those are billet covers I made for the preload adjusters, and they givce the forks a whole new.

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Thanks MM

... I wondered if you had been machining some fork leg extensions so you could fit adjustable clip-ons

Topnotch work; my kind of bike. Kudos.