Do I change my brand new pointy for a Bandit?

Hi All

Now I have asked for opinions on the Bandit before and got a positive response but I ended up not bothering.
Thing is I now have a nice new K9 SV but I seem to be getting a lot of discomfort in my shoulders and lower arms when riding, I never experienced this on my curvey.
I’ve tried the normal stuff like gripping the tank more with my knees and not holding on to the handle bars too tightly but doesn’t seem to help.
What I'm wondering is would something like the Bandit be a bit more comfortable for my 80 mile round trip daily commute?
Bearing in mind I would not want to get a faired one.
Also do I really want to trade in a brand new bike?

Opinions please.

[Dave20046]

you tried the heli bars or whatever they're called. The comfier positioned bars? You'll lose loads of money trading in a new bike for another bike.

Baz - how tall are you?

Have you moved the levers round a bit so that your wrists are at less of an angle?

Originally Posted by Dave20046

you tried the heli bars or whatever they're called. The comfier positioned bars? You'll lose loads of money trading in a new bike for another bike.

Haven't tried different bars, do they make a big difference?
I know what you mean about the money loss. The way I see it if I did trade in I would either have to lose a lot of money or get an older bike.

Originally Posted by krhall

Baz - how tall are you?

Have you moved the levers round a bit so that your wrists are at less of an angle?

6 foot. Yea moved the levers already and that did help a bit but not completely.

I got rid of my SV for the exact reasons you put.And what did I get ....A Bandit.
The first thing you will notice is that the steering is a lot lighter,(unerving at first)because of the lack of weight thrown over the bars.Once you get used to that,I found that it can be turned much quicker at slow speed ,giving it a tighter turning circle.Wind blast can be a pain ,but I use a fly screen for long trips which does help alot.Having a fuel gauge is handy ,so is having a reserve tank with a reserve fuel tap.
The riser bars ,that replace the standard Sv ones,could produce the same result though mate.Alot of people on here swear by them.
I would see if I could have a go on an SV with those,and try them out,before you go down the "trading in" route

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by Baz

6 foot. Yea moved the levers already and that did help a bit but not completely.

Is your SV a naked or a faired? (clipons?) I'm 6'1" and I've got lower renthals on, after a full days riding (say 7am-5pm) on the hardy bikers most I got was slightly sore shoulders (caused no real discomfort) and my wrists started to ache a bit towards the end of the day. So if you went for the raised bars which are even higher than the ones I have I can see the problem being a lot less severe.

Originally Posted by Dave20046

Is your SV a naked or a faired? (clipons?) I'm 6'1" and I've got lower renthals on, after a full days riding (say 7am-5pm) on the hardy bikers most I got was slightly sore shoulders (caused no real discomfort) and my wrists started to ache a bit towards the end of the day. So if you went for the raised bars which are even higher than the ones I have I can see the problem being a lot less severe.

Bike is faired and totaly standard.
Sounds like new bars may be the way ahead hear.

[STRAMASHER]

The SV only gives me gip if I'm going slow.

The nekkid only gives me gip when I'm going fast!


Are you still running in the k9?

Just a thought, with the higher bars you will probabaly need new longer brake and control lines, the ones for the naked SV may do the job.

As for the Bandit, the bars are the same for both faired and naked models. Lots more comfortable but heavier. Certainly for me a more rounded bike if a tad less exiting than the SV, comfy at slow speed town traffic and on the open road. When I had my SV (and gixer for that matter) I was only really comfortable at speed.