Bandit 600 Carb advice

Before starting I have to admit Iv damn near got a full on phobia with regards to touching carburettors, I have in the past and nothing good came from it.

Iv got a bandit 600 (98) that I use as a daily all weather bike, acceleration wise its relatively quick but it tops out at a ton whereas previous bandits Iv ridden are good for about 130. This leads me to suspect it's been restricted using washers in the carbs (agree?). Question is how difficult is it to remove the carbs to take the washers out and more importantly to put the carbs back on? Is there any way of checking if it's restricted before going the carbs of route? Thanks.

Tank, Airbox, etc off. When you look down on the carbs, spot the 4 jubilee clips that hold them to the inlet rubbers. Loosen off the screws on them, when the clips can move freely stop loosening. The bank of carbs will then pull off (may need some gentle wiggling as you pull). If there are restrictor washers they will be sitting between the carbs and inlets rubbers so once the carbs are off it'll become apparent.

Reassembly is the reverse of the above, if the rubbers are old and stiff it may require a bit of wiggling to seat the carbs properly.

There are other ways to restrict a bike, throttle stop would be the obvious one, that should be easy to visually check for.

Is it definitely topping out at a ton? The bandit will do 120-something but that last 15-20mph will require a fair bit of road to get up too (and probably require you to be flat on the tank).

Other thing..... is it running standard sprocket sizes? Previous owner may have altered the sizes to gain acceleration at the expense of top end.

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Originally Posted by WR6133

Other thing..... is it running standard sprocket sizes? Previous owner may have altered the sizes to gain acceleration at the expense of top end.

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Wids of wordsdom 'specially this bit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WR6133

Tank, Airbox, etc off. When you look down on the carbs, spot the 4 jubilee clips that hold them to the inlet rubbers. Loosen off the screws on them, when the clips can move freely stop loosening. The bank of carbs will then pull off (may need some gentle wiggling as you pull). If there are restrictor washers they will be sitting between the carbs and inlets rubbers so once the carbs are off it'll become apparent.

Reassembly is the reverse of the above, if the rubbers are old and stiff it may require a bit of wiggling to seat the carbs properly.

There are other ways to restrict a bike, throttle stop would be the obvious one, that should be easy to visually check for.

Is it definitely topping out at a ton? The bandit will do 120-something but that last 15-20mph will require a fair bit of road to get up too (and probably require you to be flat on the tank).

Other thing..... is it running standard sprocket sizes? Previous owner may have altered the sizes to gain acceleration at the expense of top end.

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The sprocket sizes are a bloody good point which I hadn't thought of, il have to check them, another thing my mrs has kindly pointed out to me is that Iv grown up abit (read that as grown out in the waist) since I last rode one so maybe it is a combination of excess weight and sprocket set up for acceleration rather than top end rather than restricted.
Cheers for the sprocket idea though, I deserve a slap for not thinking of that :)

If you do need to pull the carbs off, I can offer assistance on the weekend (or maybe Friday evening), if needed.

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Originally Posted by WR6133

If you do need to pull the carbs off, I can offer assistance on the weekend (or maybe Friday evening), if needed.

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Thank you very much i may well accept your kind offer.

On”old style” 4-cyl bikes with a double cradle type frame and a T-shaped airbox (when viewed from above) it was always a major battle to refit the airbox trumpets to the back of the carbs due to the lack of wriggle space and the trumpets going stiff with age (oo-er). You can’t do anything about the lack of room, but the rubber trumpets can be softened if you take them off the airbox and soak them for a decent length of time in a bowl of really hot water. It won’t make it easy, just with them a bit more flexible they can be persuaded a bit more readily to re-engage with the carbs. Judicious use of flat-bladed screwdrivers and some lubricant (steady...) like WD40 will no doubt be needed. Never a job that I enjoyed....

bandit 6's and 12's are favourite for playing with and they are usually bullet proof, which is why they keep their values. I work with a guy who bought a 6 from a collegue 15 years ago and its still worth the same today.
the problem is, being easy to play with means its easy to f**k up.
sprockets are usually a second thought but occasionally do get played with, sometimes as a result of fitting raising or lowering kits.
could have restrictor kits fitted , there might even be a throttle stop fitted, mainly due to qualifying for cbt riding.
one thing is a possibility , being 20years old the diaphragms may be starting to perish, resulting in the vacuum that lifts them at full throttle opening wont stop them dropping. while the lids are off, (to check top hat restrictor as opposed to inlet disc restriction) gently pull the rubbers apart at the folds, any sign of daylight could be a problem.
finally, one problem was , later ones were fitted with carb heaters to prevent icing, if these are not working you could be back to icing again.
oldest had 3, youngest is on his 4th and his mate on his second. personally having worked on far too many in the business they are Suzuki's and I was Honda all the way.

Feel like stripping and cleaning a gs 500 carb £££ your way but you must have transport