Still looking for a Blade but found a cheap project earlier today which was only 1/4 mile from home. Been sat since 2011 without an MOT. £500. Painted plastics faded but generally in good order. Needs a rear shock and a battery, brakes stripping and cleaning and maybe carbs cleaning due to being sat. Well worth a shot for that money I think. It should put a few quid into the Blade fund when it goes.
Cheers Joe. I owned its exact twin way back (although a 99) and was probably the most fun bike I have ever owned whilst not being too intimidating. It was jacked up, larger rear tyre, -1 front sprocket and rental bars. It would wheelie forever I also have the new MT10 so it's not really going to compete with that wild child!
It is tidy, new chain, good tyres, no rust in the tank, wouldn't start with a fresh battery so probably needs the carbs cleaned so I'll balance them the same time and the brakes need stripped to free them up as they're all dragging and the correct battery fitting. Rear shock gone too which was another MOT fail. Probably a grand total of £100 spending. However, I really do need to keep a cool head and not spend on stuff I'd LIKE as I would it if it were being kept. I'd like original indicators for it tho with the rear tail being original. Just found a chainguard in the garage which was one of the original fail points on the MOT, so not a lot of work really. A couple of days work tops. Even the forks look ok. Helps that it's been kept in a dry garage on the side of a new build house for the last 7 years. Mileage is 30k.
Exuptoy Why don't you just break it you will triple your outlay rather than spend time and money repairing something you will just sell anyway. Ride Safe Joe.
Cheers for the suggestion mate but I actually enjoy the work and recovering a a nail from the scrapyard. I have done a CBR1000F, 98 R1, SV650N and a Triumph Daytona T955i and the most money I have made was on the R1 and was only around £300 ish, BUT I rescued them all and enjoyed doing them AND got to ride them for a few months when finished. Actually covered 1500 miles on the R1 and loved it. My attitude is, if the outlay can be pretty much recovered then that's a good savings plan with more return than the interest in the bank.
Minus the labour costs that he never includes! Good buy..you will have to keep us updated with pics mate.
The £1300 from the £200 CBR1000 (spent £1050) went into the £750 SV which I spent £300 on and it fetched £1350 (part ex of a CBR125F for £600 and sold for £1050) which went into the R1 for a Grand, spent £1150 and sold it for £2500, picked up another CBR125F for £550 and sold it for £895, Triumph T955i £1250, spent around £250 and sold for £1600. All little profits but over 3 years fixing and riding bikes and the mini stuck my daughter in essentially a free car.
I will do matey, unfortunately heading back offshore this afternoon for two weeks so it’ll be a little bit befire I can get stuck in. I also got a 1500lb Hydraulic lift yesterday for £40 in part exchange with an old caravan motor mover I sold for £120 so I think I’m gonna make a few frame cradle brackets so I can utilise it and get the old girl up in the air. It a bit of a lump, should be a superb addition to the garage. I also got an old NHS bed frame with 12V actuator for free from the same guy so I think that’ll come to build a full size bike lift. Those beds must be rated for 200kg so that’s be fine with some heavy duty steel frames and a steel bench top.
Nice to see another Bandit being restored, like you I picked up a cheap Bandit to fix and flip (A 1200 in my case) but became addicted and now have four!
I should add, that Robinsons Suzuki are a superb supplier of spares, many parts are now in the vintage parts scheme and are cheaper than some pattern parts, also great online parts fiche. https://www.robinsonsfoundry.co.uk/...uki-parts-finder/gsf-bandit.htm?vehicle_id=15
A 90’s one up until 97 maybe? Already have a new MT10 but I like a project and usually do one per year. In honesty I should have kept my 98 R1 that I did two years ago. Sold that last January. Your Bandit looks mint.
I also try and do one a year, We did a CBR600F last year and also sold my long term Urban Tiger project at the end of last year as I fancied a change and bought the Street Triple. My son also gets involved, and it’s nice to do something together, I make sure he gets a drink out of it, although we don’t make much money on them, we just enjoy the process and saving them. We’re currently looking for this years project, it needs to be another 1990’s sports bike, the problem is that I’m bit fussed about originality, finding them unmolested with original uncut rear mudguards, big indicators and original exhaust takes a bit of time but we’re on the tail of something which hopefully we’ll do a deal on shortly.
You sound like a man after my own heart, I sold my Urban tiger and now have speed triple ! Though there have been a couple of Kawasaki's in between. and like you I like a restoration to be as standard as possible. My blade was a 2 owner bike, which had stood many years in a damp garage, but was all standard.
