cb900 hornet or bandit 1200

[OLD MAN BJ]

Thanks Timorang,
I cant do anything until I sell my car which im putting on trademe shortly. However, Im more inclined to go the Hornet way for the reasons you outlined.
Actually, just yesterday, I was talking to a courier who has a hornet and in 11 m onths has put up 42000 km. He has had zero problems, but he did get his seat altered in Auckland. Considering that, it says a lot to me about the reliability of the bike. One other small point I noticed, although the bandit is the bigger of the two bikes, the honda has more leg room for a pillion. Anyways, cheers for your input.Will keep you informed.

[Kendog]

I may not be able to give an objective view between the two bikes as I have only ridden the Hornet, but I will try.........

Buy the Hornet

I love this bike as I have said on here a few times. In fact it is loved so much we had to buy a second one so we can have one each

Objective opinion ends.

[pritch]

I may not be able to give an objective view between the two bikes as I have only ridden the Hornet,

Me too.

As far as reliability goes mine has done almost 25,000K
in fourteen months, and it hasn't needed so much as an oil top up.

[yevjenko]

here's a vote for the bandit. I've had my bandit here for 2 years and never had to do a thing to it engine wise, not even the carbs. i haven't even serviced it yet. put about 10,000 k's on so far.

had a bandit in the uk that i rode through winter and never had any problems with that either.

Having ridden KenDog's hornet (one of them anyway) i would say i prefer the bandit for the comfort stakes - it's much better on bumpy roads that we have down here.

In the end though, it comes down to personal preference

Ade

[marty]

ride them back to back, over the same course - it's the only way to really tell which one is best for you. i rode 11 bikes over the same 40km course one day - cbr1000rr, v-rod, duke 900ss, vtr1000, vfr800, tl1000, blackbird, cb1300, gsx1400, gsxr1000 and a busa, and came away with a clear winner.

[Gontour]

Regarding your concerns for pillion passenger, I have a Corbin seat, and it makes all the difference, (According to my 5'10" pillion), I also think the Bandit has more readily available Upgrades, as you WILL want to upgrade something, as the bikes are both on the cheap end of the scale and suspension etc reflects that IMO, purely depends on your style of riding though. Whatever you pick, I'm sure you will have no regrets.

[OLD MAN BJ]

OK Guys,
Im no expert on Jap bikes, so I have a question for you. I have read on various tests, reviews etc etc that Honda seems to get the nod for the best quality Jap bikes, but they never give any examples of what they mean. So if thats true, what exactly are we talking about here. Is it the paint finish, the chrome finish, the electrics, the reliability? or all of these things. I have looked at new Suzukies , Yams etc and they look good to me. Is there a particular where I should be looking?

Cheers John

[imdying]

Look at some second hand examples, say 5 years old. See how long those similar finishes stay similar.

[Zapf]

attention to details perhaps?

[Lou Girardin]

Pixie did 100,000 km's on his '96 Bandit, apart fron stone chips it looked fine. Still had a shine to the paint and the alloy still looked good.
It's how you look after them.

[terbang]

Marty has the best idea. Get out there and ride em all and buy what (1) suits your pocket (2) Suits your riding style (3) appeals to you the most.
When it comes to Jappers the manufacturers are all much the same it is the variety of styles and models that you need to choose from. The Busa won out for me as well and was about the only bike I found that did a better job (for me) after the 1200 Bandit .

[wil2]

as far as paint finish goes the hondas finish is always a bit better. i had a brand new yamaha fazer (fz1) 9th february last year and the paint literally flaked off the tank, i had a new one under warranty, it was down to prep work. apart from defects such as that it is how you look after them. i have always fanaticlly cleaned my bikes becouse of all the salt on the roads in the uk.

[pritch]

but they never give any examples of what they mean.

You must be reading the wrong magazines :-)

They will talk about one brand having paint of the absolute minimum thickness. Fasteners on the same brand turn "furry" almost overnight. Another model of a different brand must be kept indoors because the finish will deteriorate very quickly outside: paint is suspect, all metal parts liable to rapid corrosion.

Interestingly they don't uaually make these comments in the road test of the latest model. These comments tend to come out in comparisons of previous year's models, or articles on what to watch for when servicing or buying an earlier model.

One model on which I was quite keen was described as having an abbreviated front guard. This allowed water to spray part of the ignition system which then corroded, eventually bringing the bike to a sudden and complete halt. Rather off-putting.

The aforementioned are all as I have seen them reported but I have omitted the brand and model details so as not to offend their devotees...

[terbang]

Rode with a bunch of blokes recently (on me old bandit) and one of them was on a 900 Hornet. It looked like a nice bike, didnt seem to give its rider any grief and did its job well. However the impression I was left with was that it appearde to be dead boring and was more suited to commuting where the Bandit certainly has that Hooligan factor that makes it fun to ride.

[skelstar]

I would agree re: a bit boring looking. I think there is plenty of scope for making a Hornet quite individual though. You just have to go to www.hondahornet.co.uk (Hornets nest) to see what you can do. Also www.919.org is a good reference site. Add a monster/Buell M2 screen and a belly pan and they look more like a muscle bike.