The Suzuki Bandit 1250, the Last Real Bike

The Suzuki Bandit 1250 is probably the last remaining motorcycle to what naked-bikes used to be. The first Suzuki Bandit was created in a time when naked-bikes were more sport-touring than undressed superbikes, where comfort and long rides were more important than pointless engine power.

Don't get me wrong, the Suzuki Bandit 1250 still offers riders a powerful but comfy compromise to the hard-as wannabe competition. The Suzuki engine is the most flexible on the market, handling the city duties and country kilometers with absolute ease, and its impeccable throttle response at any revs and abundance of torque mean the rider doesn't have to work hard to get a lot from the motorcycle.

The Suzuki Bandit 1250 produces more torque, and over a greater rev range, than most other naked-bikes on the market. The Suzuki Bandit's power start from as low as 2000rpm and hits its peak only 1500rpm or so later, but the Suzuki Bandit 1250 will produce this level of grunt for the next 5000rpm or almost unabated, so you don't have to work the beautifully slick 6-speed gearbox.

The Suzuki clutch feel is lacking but it's a small complain. Feel at the front brake lever from the ABS-equipped Tokico calipers is sensational at just about any speed.

When the pace hots up, however, the walk link in the Suzuki Bandit is the chassis. What is perfectly balanced and supple around town and at moderate speeds becomes a little unruly with the motorcycle wallowing around when faced with big bumps on long bends at high speed. This could be a suspension set-up issue, as we did not touched the settings.

Our ideas about the Suzuki Bandit 1250's suspension, the front-end is too soft for sport riding with transfers through the chassis to the rear-end, which can make the motorcycle somewhat unstable. And the lack of any wind protection and subsequent buffeting isn't much fun. The Suzuki Bandit 1250 was nervous on corner entry at high speed but felt up there with the best at moderate speeds – at this point the Suzuki Bandit 1250 steered smoothly and with excellent precision.

If you after the real naked-bike spirit, the Suzuki Bandit 1250 is what you' re after, you'd be hard pressed finding a better mount that this motorcycle. The Suzuki Bandit 1250 is easy to use, right down to the simple analogue tacho/digital speedo, and pillion comfort is the best a two-wheeler can offer. IT has plenty of tie-down points and it's also one of the quieter and more fuel-efficient big bikes on the market, which is just one good reason why the Suzuki Bandit has a 13-year history. The price ticket for the Suzuki Bandit 1250 650,000 Baht.