Suzuki’s wild child grows up: The Bandit 1250 Grand Touring
There was a time, and it wasn’t all that long ago, when if you wanted to be a tyre-shredding, wheelie-popping, society-menacing hooligan, the Suzuki Bandit 1200 was the pick of the showroom. Cheap, hardy, and chock full of stump-pulling grunt, the Bandit gave many punters their first taste of air underneath the front wheel.
Well, just like Henry Rollins has given up punk-rock brawling and started doing speaking tours and TV shows, Suzuki’s big bad bandit 1250 has just been released as a sensible mile muncher. It’s a bit odd to see a full set of panniers and a top box on a Bandit, let alone the Garmin Zuno sat-nav system hanging off the handlebars, but that’s what you’ll get for the extra UK£1000 you pay for the Bandit 1250 Grand Touring. The GT also features a bellypan, which looks nice but is hardly what you’d call an imperative touring addition.
It’ll still have great gobs of power, and probably no shortage of attitude in the right hands - and it’ll likely be as easy and bulletproof to ride and own as the Banditos of old - but to me, “Bandit” and “Touring” go together like “Goldwing” and “Racing.” Oh wait, they’re doing that too…
Pic of the GT’s bar-mounted sat nav after the jump.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Will I be the first in the U.K to own one? I think so!
September 28th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
But how do we set up the suspension for touring, commuting with attitude? (If that isn’t an oxymoron)
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Where’s the Goldwing?