Hank’s Bandit
Hank’s 195 Horsepower Bandit
“It’s Just An Old School Hot Rod”
Ask anyone what a hot rod is, and they’ll all come up with something similar: usually a 30s American coupe with a chopped roof and wide rear tires. But how does the term apply to motorcycles? Is it a chopper with a 2000cc motor in it? Or a 160 horsepower superbike that you can buy off the showroom floor?
Or maybe a compromise between the complexity (and performance) of a sportbike and the simplicity of an air-cooled motor.
That particular combination is the one that rang Hank Groh’s bell.
When Suzuki’s Bandit 1200 was announced as a European/Canadian model in the mid-90’s, Hank Groh took one look at it an knew he had to have one. So he ordered one from a Canadian dealer, and after sorting through a pile of red tape, he was the proud owner of the first 1200 registered on American soil. Sound a little obsessive? For Hank, the speed obsession began a long time ago.
It all had stared back in the early 50’s. As a wee child of five or six, Hank saw his first full-dressed Harley, and he was hooked. Motorcycles dominated his thoughts as a youth, so right out of hig school he got heavily involved in motorcycle drag racing. By the time he was 20 he was building motors on his was to becoming the track champion at a couple of east coast venues up and down the coast from Atco in New Jersey, down to Miami Hollywood at the southern tip of Florida.
Then he saw the light. The Honda CB750 arrived and it changed everything. It completely destroyed anything American (or British)… and Hank scraped together the dough for one. Naturally, this alienated him a bit from his coworkers at the Harley dealership that he worked at (and was sponsored by), but he had seen the future and he liked what he saw.
His switch from two cylinder hot rods to four seemed to be the right choice. Going into the 70’s he hooked up with a couple guys named Terry Vance and Byron Hines, who worked for RC engineering in L.A. They built some sick 1000cc versions of the CB motor that Hank used for his particular brand of evil. Hank continued with the naked breed of Japanese superbikes, but by the mid-90s those were getting pretty scarce. Thus we arrive at Hank’s first Bandit.
No sooner had he started to tinker with it and get some good results than another bike stole his heart. He switched to a Honda CBR1100XX for a few years, convinced that this latest, greatest toy was the key to nirvana. It turns out he was wrong, at least for him. He never got the same visceral satisfaction as he had with that first Bandit. Plus it was too technologically advanced and hard to work on for a tinkerer like Hank.
The Bandit was the best of all worlds: simple enough to work on and customize, yet powerful enough to really go stupid fast. And it had all the features he really liked: air-cooled, open-architecture tube frame, and a tank he thinks is one of the coolest ever made.
He just had to figure out how to get the most out of the big mill. Hank relates that he considers there to be two kinds of bike guys: the ones that try stuff out for themselves, and the ones that just parrot what they hear from others. He’s the former. Using his considerable mechanical knowledge he threw all sorts of parts at the Bandito Grande. 
The 1157cc mill was changed in a number of ways becoming a 1216, then a 1277, and finally to it’s current 1340cc configuration. During this evolution, he went through three different heads, three different sets of carbs, about a dozen cams, all on a quest for the for not only the most horsepower, but also an engine that was very “streetable” as well.
You might notice the billet piece and braided tube on the head. It’s a Carolina Cycle top-end oiler that adds another oiling circuit, to keep the very aggressive cams and cam springs cooler and well-lubricated.
Hank worked in a triangle of considerations while developing the Bandit. Power, handling and cosmetics weaved a complex dance sometimes compromising each other, other times dovetailing beautifully together. The larger and larger horsepower numbers attained necessitated some chassis compromises. Ever the drag racer, the Bandit had to be lengthened and lowered and given fatter rubber to harness all the ponies kicking out of the rear wheel. But most of Hanks riding is on the twisty roads of Northern New Jersey (and surrounding states), so there’s only so far he could go before the bike became a backroads beast. So the mods were kept to a conservative ¾ lower, and a couple inches of stretch.
If there was one place Hank feels like he went too far one direction, it’s the rear tire. The 200-series Michelin is not only a bit too wide for optimum handling, it also required moving heaven and earth to make it fit back there. But he did. In the end he kept the fat meat centered and cleared the chain by a combination of custom wheel spacers and sprocket shims. It took months to figure it all out.
Perhaps the most distinctive modification on the bike is the Ducati 916/996 monoposto tail-section.
Hank fell in love with this piece and after inspecting one on another bike, with it’s cam-and-spring mounting system, he became convinced that he could adapt it to his machine. It went on pretty easily. He had to weld on mounting brackets front and rear, and hide all the electrics which were previously hidden under the bulkier stock cowl.
The seat is an aftermarket unit by Sargeant, that Hank reports is a huge improvement over the stock Ducati seat.
On the subtler side, Hank converted this Bandit from a fairinged version to the naked bike you see here. To do this he made the headlight brackets and mounted the light off of a Honda Hawk. He spent some time getting the look of the front end right, and to get the gap to a minimum between the gauges and light, he dropped the gauges by ¾ inch.
On the practical side,
the forward-mounted pegs were added to give the rider another choice for foot position. Hank’s got some plastic and titanium aftermarket parts in his body, and it’s the only way he can enjoy a long ride.
So after three years of twiddling with the formula, hank thinks he’s done. Perhaps just adding some black powdercoat to a few more parts. It’s his ultimate hot rod. That said, he said he’ll likely sell it within a year and start his next project. A true Hot Rodder is never finished.
Text and Photos by Billy Bartels
Originally published in Road Bike
OWNER… Hank Groh
HOME …Augusta NJ
BUILDER
YEAR/MODEL…1999 Suzuki Bandit
TIME TO BUILD …3 years
COST TO BUILD…$13,000.00 plus the initial investment
CHROMER…none
PAINTER…Bob’s Auto Tech
ENGINE..Suzuki Bandit…195+ HP STD and 108+ lbs TQ using Powermist Race Gas
DISPLACEMENT…1340 cc
PISTONS…JE 13/1 to Carpenter Race Engine specs, JE cylinder sleeves
HEADS…OS Ferrea valves, Bronze valve seats and valve guides, HD Carpenter valve springs,Titainium retainers,and a lot of CNC port work by Carpenter Race Engines, Berlin NJ
CAMS…Yoshimura Stage 2
RODS…Crower
CYLINDER STUDS…HD by Orient Express
TOP END OILER by Carolina Cycle
CRANKSHAFT…stock, micropolished
CARBS… Keihin FCR 41 mm
AIR CLEANER ..K&N dual oval
EXHAUST..Akropovic…4-2-1
IGNITION…Dyna 2000 with Dyna coils and Taylor wires
TRANSMISSION…undercut with stock gears
FINAL DRIVE…EK 530 chain and Sunstar sprockets
CHASSIS..stock Suzuki Bandit
FRAME…modified sub frame
RAKE …std
STRETCH…std
FRONT SUSPENSION…Hyperpro Springs and Racetech Gold Valves; front lowered ¾”
SWINGARM …Stock arm with custom extensions to allow 0” to 3 ½” axle adjustment and custom lowering links
REAR SUSPENSION ..Hyperpro Spring; rear lowered 2”
FRONT WHEEL…17” X 3 ½”
REAR WHEEL…17” X 6 ½”widened by Sandy Kosman
FRONT TIRE ..120/70X17 Michelin Pilot
REAR TIRE..200/50X17 Michelin Pilot
FRONT BRAKES…6 piston Tokico with Ferodo pads
REAR BRAKE…std with Ferodo pads; custom brake stay
FENDERS..996 Ducati rear cowl
ACCESSORIES
HEADLIGHT …Honda Hawk 650 with custom fabricated mounts
TAILLIGHT..Ducati 996
TURN SIGNALS..Yamaha
FUEL TANK …Std with Pingle dual feed gas valve and fuel filter
HANDLEBARS..Std
SEAT..Sargent
HAND CONTROLS..Std
MIRRORS…Napolean
FOOT CONTROLS Std with Buell pegs
TAG BRACKET…std
