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Value for Money
...And not just for money, either.
How do they do it for the money? I mean, we’re used to really cheap Chinese motorcycles now, but they are worth pretty much exactly what they cost – very little. Some are getting better, but some of them are also worth even less than they cost.
Take the new Suzuki Bandit 1250S ABS, on the other hand and you have a very sophisticated, well-built motorcycle.
The bike’s 1255cc liquid-cooled DOHC engine is a torque monster, aided and abetted by the Suzuki Dual Throttle Valve (SDTV) fuel injection which provides snappy response, smooth power output, low fuel consumption and reduced emissions. Effective engine management and emissions control systems allow the Bandit 1250S to meet tough Euro 3 and Tier 2 emissions standards.
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Cylinder bores are lined with long-wearing, tough Suzuki Composite Electrochemical Material (SCEM) cylinder-bore plating and even the piston rings are coated with friction-reducing chrome-nitride. A secondary balancer shaft smoothes engine vibrations and the liquid-cooled oil cooler helps keep the engine temperature down.
Suspension is by well-proven 43mm front forks and single rear shock absorber and both are spring preload adjustable. Fully floating 310mm twin-disc front brakes with four-piston calipers handle stopping on the front, with a 240mm disc rear brake with single-piston caliper on the rear.
And the bike now comes with ABS, once pretty much the preserve of BMW and other high-priced bikes. Yes, the big Bandit now has an antilock braking system that monitors brake lever input and wheel speed and matches stopping power to available traction. I’d always have ABS if I could (it’s definitely saved me once) and now it’s available on a bike with all of the above features and more – for $12,490 plus on-road costs.
How do they do it for the money?
If you were hoping for an answer to that rhetorical question you’re going to be disappointed. I don’t know how they do it for the money, but I do know that Australian riders have been taking advantage of the Bandit’s low price for a few years. Now, there is even more reason to snap one up. Of course Suzuki is not the only company to offer good value in new bikes, but the company deserves applause for producing such a technically well-balanced bike for such a low price.
Perhaps the flood of cheap Chinese bikes arriving on Australia’s shores is not such a bad thing after all. Perhaps we have the Chinese to thank for the way the Japanese (and some of the Europeans) are sharpening their pencils. I’ve always said it – competition is good for the customer.
You can also look forward to more bikes equipped with ABS, and soon. It seems likely that the European Union will be making anti-lock braking mandatory on many and eventually possibly all of the bikes sold in the EU. This in effect means we will get them here as well; few manufacturers will bother building more than one variety of bike if they can avoid it, so the Bandit is only one of the advance guards (Suzuki’s V-Strom also offers it now) of a lot of ABS models.
As for the Bandit itself, it’s a thoroughly good piece of work without being perfect. And the value for money is exceptional.
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