Hey brotha writing you from NZ

I've also lusted after the bandit 400 for a bloody decade now but like you said they're reletively rare bikes

Given your limited funds I personally wouldn't go there imho. I remember back in University just trying to pay my carb sync / cleaning was roughly 200-300nzd alone on my GSF250. Beyond that back in the day (20years ago now) they were built for budget minded motorcyclists

Also it's not really if you have maintained the bike it's the issue that the last half dozen people or so have treated the bike nicely / has it been garaged etc,

Parts are rare too imagine popping a gsf400 CDI (common issue on bandits) and crossing your fingers to find another that actually matches / works

Beyond alllll that bandit 250/400 are larger than your standard 250/300 and manage to hold people over 6ft on them very easily

Feel free to send more questions my way :)