In June of 2001, I bought what I thought would be a very dependable bike. I have heard so much about how strong the GS750, GS1100 and GS1150 engines were. After doing some checking, I found that the Bandit 1200 used the renowned GSX-R engine design. Being I liked the looks of the bike and I knew from what I was told and read the engine would be a good dependable engine.
Well after I have put 1400 miles on my bike, I went on a short 250 mile ride with a friend of mine. When I got home and started getting the bike ready to be put away, I checked the oil. To my surprise it was below the low level mark. I thought this was odd, as I had filled it up before I left. When I filled my bike back up with oil, it took a smidgen over 3/4 quart of oil.
I figured it was a fluke and dismissed it for now. About three weeks later, I went on another short 260 mile ride. Check the oil level again before I left. On this ride, my friend asked me if I knew that my bike was smoking? I said no. So I asked how bad and he said pretty bad. So when I got home and started getting the bike ready to be put away, I checked the oil. Sure enough, I was below the low level mark again. When I filled it, it took another 3/4 quart.
So I called the dealer were I bought my bike from and told him what was going on. They started telling me that it may be my valve seals, or the head and some other things. They said they needed to do and oil consumption test first as well as some other tests. I told him that the problem was none of the things he stated, that the problem was in the rings. He told me that it was not the rings and I told him there was no way it was valve seals for the amount of oil I am burning and going through.
So after reading all the BS that members of Maximum-Suzuki were going through in getting theirs fixed, I gave Dale at Holeshot a call and ordered the 1216 kit. Just so you know that upon tear down, I found the #2 and #4 pistons had sticking oil rings.
Well I went on a really long ride of 415 miles on 4-13-02 and I have been on several short 250 mile rides since I have installed the 1216 kit and I am glad to say, that I really don't use oil any more. At most I will use 1/16 quart or less in 2000 miles.
Here are some pictures of the stock pistons. You can see the oil ring groove and the oil holes. The oil holes are bigger that the ring groove. The holes on my pistons, measured 2.4mm with my vierner calipers.
See how much carbon is burnt on the top of the piston from the oil it was burning.
The two pictures above, show the oil holes compared to the oil ring groove.
This picture of my calipers, shows the gap. That gap is 2.4mm.