I
’VEDONEOVER70,000milesin
th e 12 yearsI’veowned‘Bushy’(a
previous owner had written it on the
bottom of the number plate) and have
become so attached to it that I’m
not looking to change bikes any
time soon. Mileage has been a
mix of commuting and
pleasure, plus an annualtrip
somewhere abroad witha
bunch of mates who, likeme
are volunteer crew members
onSt DavidsLifeboat.In 2008
I dida big solotrip allaround
Europe— 4000 milesin three
weeksandit nevermisseda beat.
Therehavebeennomajordramas.
Around50,000milesI hadthevalves
checked,carbsbalanced,a newclutchand
a newbattery.Apartfromthat,regularoil
changeshavebeenthekeyto theengine
st ill having plenty of life in it. I also chuck a
bottle of Redex in the tank every now and
then to clean out the carbs.
Electrics have perhaps been
the biggest pain. It had an
aftermarket alarm/
immobiliser fitted when
I bought it, but that
started playing up so I
had it removed. It’s had
a few dodgy earth
connections and an
annoying, intermittent
starting fault — which turned
outto be a failure of the ignition
barrel—and the starter clutch needed
tighteningat 70,000. I once half-filledit
with dieselby mistakebutinsteadof
draining it, I toppedup withunleadedand
it ranfine—otherthansomewhitesmoke!
I’vealwaysusedMichelinPilotRoads,
startingwith2s thenworkingthroughthe
rangeto thecurrentRoad5s. I’mno expert
buttheyhaveallowedmeto getmy knee
down a few times on the hairpins of the
Pyrenees. And in the wet (I live in Wales,
after all) they seem to be pretty good.
It was a bit of an anti-climax going
around the clock as I’d been building up
for it for a while, but I’ve set a goal of
putting another 30,000 miles, to cover
100K myself. I live in St Davids, west Wales
which is classed as one of the ‘Four
Corners’ of the UK so my next target may
be the other three! But nothing beats the
feeling of heading off for a spin, whether to
the shops or over to Monaco...
‘It was an anti-climax hitting 100,000 miles!’
Robin Copley’s 1200 Bandit has rocked around the
clock without dropping a beat
Are you in love with your high-mile
machine? Email [email protected]
“At 60,000 I needed to refresh the rear suspension,
so I fitted a new K-Tech shock and replaced the
linkage bearings. It transformed the handling.”
“I get around 9k from
the front and 5k from
the rear, running
Michelin Road 5s.
I buy them online
and my local bike shop
charges £10 for fitting.”
“Asit’s oil-cooled,I change the oil
and filter every 3000 miles using
semi-synthetic Silkolene Super 4.
Fully synthetic makes the clutch slip.”
Bike 1998 Suzuki
Bandit 1200
Total miles 101,000
Rider Robin Copley
Age 54 Miles per
year 5800
“I’d been building up
to it for a while.”
114 | JULY 2019
HIGH-MILE HEROES
Celebrating the people and bikes that go the distance
