got a customers 78 XS1100

just got a customer from omaha bring me his bike today. brakes are froze up, also getting fuel in the oil. haven't started on it yet but man i gots to say shes beautiful! gots 20k on it i really want to buy it i haven't worked on any of the XS series yet so im sure ill have questions, and ill keep ya'll updated.

 

Nice bike! The reflection in the tank in the first pic made me think there was a huge dent in it haha 8O

I'm sure you probably know of this site but xs11.com could also be a good resource for questions on the xs

 

Yea it has the indents for your legs to tuck in like the Seca. And thanks I didn't know about that site accually!

Update, pulled the front calipers the pistons are frozen, leting them soak a bit then ill take the air compressor to em tommarow. Can't pop them out using the brakes themselves cause the master cylinder is shot also more updates tommarow lol.

 

Check out the final drive, there's a bolt on adapter you can get to switch to chain drive.

 

Why would you want to chain drive it?

 

A lot of people seem to want that option.

 

:lol: :lol: News to me mate. I'm a member of the XS1100 UK forum and a regular attendee at meets and i've not seen one chain driven XS in the UK.
I saw one at the international rally in Belgium last year on a German members bike.
There's a guy on the UK forum from Oz and he's got one, and a few of the lads on the USA forum have done the conversion.
Very expensive to do, just to have the option of maybe a monoshock and a bigger back tyre. A couple of the racers in the late 70's early 80's had them aswell.

 

Buddy of mine just picked up a 79 XS750, unique bike, deff like nothing I've ever ridden.

 

Is that the 3 cylinder?

And to answer waldos question, chain drive drops weight (these bikes weight a crapton) and increases HP to the rear heading home right now to start workin on her for the day.

 

If those were chain driven, they'd definitely be a little higher up on my wishlist. They're still awesome old bikes.

 

beautiful. lol got the pistons out of the front calipers, my customer is doing an entire brake overhaul. All new front lines (rubber) rebuilding calipers and MC. Going with the one piece stainless for the rear and rebuilding the caliper and the rear MC. Ordering all parts from Len. Also he said the valves were done about 2500 miles ago, so ima do a clearance check for him. anyone know the intervals for valve check?

so for the rear caliper i have to take the exhaust off its looking like so i can knock out the axle going back out to the shop now.

 

If it's anytying like the xj's it should be done every 5,000 miles

 

thats what i was thinkin! lol. update on the rear caliper, "NORMALLY" the axle doesn't come off to remove the caliper but since this ones piston is froze i might have to take the wheel off

 

As a newer member of the forum, you probably don't recall the repeated requests from members wanting to fit a larger rear wheel & chain drive to the XJ series, which can't be done, however, the XS1100 does have that possibility, that's why a company goes to the bother of producing the kit.
And this is one I did earlier (shaft drive)

 

You said a lot of people seem to want that option.
And i said it was expensive to do, which it is.
And another point is that very few people on the UK forum want to go down that route due to the expense and the fact that the shaft drive as we all know, is one of the plus points of the bike.
Just because a company goes to the bother of producing the chain drive conversion doesn't mean there will be much call for it.
And we were talking XS11's weren't we, not XJ11's.
You've done a nice job on that XS which i've seen in one of your threads.
So how come you don't go on the UK forum? Or do you use another name?
Have you ever been and had a chat with any of us at the Stafford Show, where we have a show stand every year in October?
And if you're interested it's the UK clubs turn to hold the XS1100 International Rally this year in June.

 

If that is a 78 they came with a cable that held the rear wheel up so that you didn't have to remove the exhaust to pull the tire. Not sure how they worked mine was missing when I got it.

 

oh wow that is amazing.....love the 2 tone!

the owner told me about that, he said he has that cable. and it was stored on the bike ima see how or if i can utilize it to free my caliper enough to pull it off tonight

i noticed the kickstart doesnt fold in and out, that it is stored on the bike behind the motor lol

 

can anyone give me a detailed description on how to use this rear tire cable thing, my customer has all the original tools from yamaha still in the original yamaha bag

 

got it from the XS11.com forums, awesome stuff! here is the link if anyone is interested.

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39739

 

That thing is really nice! Worth bringing back to life.

Once I had my 78 XS1100 cleaned up and dialed in, I had no trouble keeping up with my buddies on newer bikes. That is until we hit the twisties........