New Member

I just registered and wanted to say 'Hello'.
I don't own an XJ, I actually came here from another site-sister(I suppose)to this one-XS11.com.
One of the members there let me know about this site and since our bikes are so much alike, I figured that I could learn alot here, like I have at XS, and meet other people with old Yammies.
I have a 79 XS11 and an 80 XS11. The 79 was my first one, but parts were so hard to come by that I started searching for a donor bike. I found the 80 and it's alot nicer than the 79, so that is the one I'm fixing-won't run, bad valves-and the 79-does run, not well, lots of little problems-will be the one to donate. Both of them are standards, not specials.
These are my first on road bikes-had dirtbikes 20 years ago. Yes, I know they're big, lots of torque, etc. I have been a professional driver for 20 years, have tons of training and the certificates to prove it. Not to mention that my boyfriend says I'll be bored with a 500cc in a week. I need more power and he would know better than I would. I wanted a Royal Enfield-he said no way-too puny. Okay! How's THIS!!?? I think he thinks now he should've got me the little bike :lol:
So, I have a machinist that I can't get in touch with, and a head sitting in the backseat of my car. Any suggestions? I only want a reliable, reasonable $ repair. Well, and I want it out of my car-smelly. If the trunk wasn't full of tools and my seat, plus other various motorcycle parts, I'd put it there.
By the way, I'm supposed to get in touch with Rikomatic here. I tried email but my server won't let it through. Can you guys let him know that Rikosaur sent me? Thanks!

 

Welcome aboard. Your boyfriend was right, the 500cc would have bored you fairly quickly. What needs to be done to the head? Got a burnt valve or do they just need lapping? It isn't too hard to find machinists that can do the work in reasonable amount of time. Just keep looking and one will pop up. To contact Ricomatic look for one of his posts and click the "PM" at the bottom. That will send him a "private message".

 

Howdy and welcome to you CarolynS, don't worry about not having an XJ. We swap parts off of XS bikes a lot. Nice to have spares available if ya know what I mean. I would make sure to visit any shop that was doing any work on my heads. If it isn't neat and tidy, keep shopping. You don't want a shop that doesn't take care of the "little things" (like cleaning up) to be looking after your head.
Best of luck to you!

 

Took the head to a mechanic recommended by one of the guys at pool. He said should run me about $400 to redo and another $200 to put it together, sync and set it up. Not bad. This guys reputation is great. Retired aircraft mechanic, likes to tinker, old Yankee. He's great.
I should be on the road in no time.
Still no RicOMatic...