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CONCLUSION....... "The Finale" to this BIKE for SALE
Here’s what happened…. (since this title issue seems to be a point of interest)
A week ago this XS11E was in Louisville, covered, but rusting away - frozen in the mud. No title, no plates. PO had gotten this bike in a trade, he had planned to fix it but never did. PO got as far as new spark plugs and new back tire. The real issues were the typical carbs, brakes, electrical etc.. Tour pack had been removed by PO but he had all the bags, trunk, frames and hardware for the bike. Was being offered as a $450 'parts bike'. Once again really need to thank Old_Skool for the info to make the save.
I spent a whopping $20 at Georgia DMV to get my Registration & Plates. As jetmechmarty has explained before; here in GA a police officer can verify the VIN. I started at DMV on Monday to get the proper form and get the bike into their system. Then Tuesday - towed the bike to find an officer who graciously helped me. (They take their breaks in church parking lot near by so an officer was easy to find). I actually read him the VIN and pointed out that engine stamp & steering head stamp and Federal emblem all matched. He then radioed in and ran VIN through National Lost & Stolen vehicle data base. Then he ran Wants & Warrants on PO from my Bill of Sale. Then he ran KY DMV check. As jetmechmarty has stated, bikes prior to 1981 (machines that do not have 17 digit VIN #’s are not in the primary database). Bike & PO & KY were clear so the officer filled out the form. So far so good! Then, I called Progressive to add the bike to my policy. Progressive can direct input Proof of Insurance into the GA DMV database (sweet to be here in GA without all the goofy bureaucracy hassles some states create for their citizens), so on Wednesday I went back to GA DMV to get the Registration. While there is considerable RISK with no title bikes the PO story seemed believable + I got lucky. Here is the result after washing off the dirt & mud
:
“The Good – The Bad – The Ugly”
Well so far, there is no “Ugly” that I can find. Seems structurally sound and appears to have been a well maintained machine up to maybe 6-8 years ago.
The Bad: The bike had been sitting maybe 8-9 months so upon initial inspection I found gas in the oil. About 3 quarts of gas to be exact. Drained out 1 ½ gallons oil / gas mix. Got new oil filter and 20-50.
Bike starts fairly easy with full choke with #1-3-4 pipes getting hot but #2 is only warm. Idles fair since #2 not good and #1-3-4 probably marginal too. Obviously with leaking fuel into crankcase there are carb issues with upstream petcock issues. I started bike 4 times and had enough fresh gas to run for about 60 seconds each time. Motor sounds good. No bearing knocks or funny noises. Compression checks out about 125-130-120-140 maybe a bit more. Front brake is in Perma-ON mode. With motor running pulled in clutch lever and went into 1st gear AOK.
The Good: Bike is in overall quite nice condition. It has some rust here n' there. The Trunk & Bags are good but need painting since PO started to strip the paint off one bag. The mechanical stuff is all fixable. Spark plug threads in quite good condition. It does need a lot of hours work, some investment $$ and some TLC. With some effort I hope to have this roadworthy by June. If all goes well I may take to XS North
in Halliburton.
So, That's a Wrap on this Bike for Sale.
Jeff
Here’s what happened…. (since this title issue seems to be a point of interest)
A week ago this XS11E was in Louisville, covered, but rusting away - frozen in the mud. No title, no plates. PO had gotten this bike in a trade, he had planned to fix it but never did. PO got as far as new spark plugs and new back tire. The real issues were the typical carbs, brakes, electrical etc.. Tour pack had been removed by PO but he had all the bags, trunk, frames and hardware for the bike. Was being offered as a $450 'parts bike'. Once again really need to thank Old_Skool for the info to make the save.
I spent a whopping $20 at Georgia DMV to get my Registration & Plates. As jetmechmarty has explained before; here in GA a police officer can verify the VIN. I started at DMV on Monday to get the proper form and get the bike into their system. Then Tuesday - towed the bike to find an officer who graciously helped me. (They take their breaks in church parking lot near by so an officer was easy to find). I actually read him the VIN and pointed out that engine stamp & steering head stamp and Federal emblem all matched. He then radioed in and ran VIN through National Lost & Stolen vehicle data base. Then he ran Wants & Warrants on PO from my Bill of Sale. Then he ran KY DMV check. As jetmechmarty has stated, bikes prior to 1981 (machines that do not have 17 digit VIN #’s are not in the primary database). Bike & PO & KY were clear so the officer filled out the form. So far so good! Then, I called Progressive to add the bike to my policy. Progressive can direct input Proof of Insurance into the GA DMV database (sweet to be here in GA without all the goofy bureaucracy hassles some states create for their citizens), so on Wednesday I went back to GA DMV to get the Registration. While there is considerable RISK with no title bikes the PO story seemed believable + I got lucky. Here is the result after washing off the dirt & mud
:“The Good – The Bad – The Ugly”
Well so far, there is no “Ugly” that I can find. Seems structurally sound and appears to have been a well maintained machine up to maybe 6-8 years ago.
The Bad: The bike had been sitting maybe 8-9 months so upon initial inspection I found gas in the oil. About 3 quarts of gas to be exact. Drained out 1 ½ gallons oil / gas mix. Got new oil filter and 20-50.
Bike starts fairly easy with full choke with #1-3-4 pipes getting hot but #2 is only warm. Idles fair since #2 not good and #1-3-4 probably marginal too. Obviously with leaking fuel into crankcase there are carb issues with upstream petcock issues. I started bike 4 times and had enough fresh gas to run for about 60 seconds each time. Motor sounds good. No bearing knocks or funny noises. Compression checks out about 125-130-120-140 maybe a bit more. Front brake is in Perma-ON mode. With motor running pulled in clutch lever and went into 1st gear AOK.
The Good: Bike is in overall quite nice condition. It has some rust here n' there. The Trunk & Bags are good but need painting since PO started to strip the paint off one bag. The mechanical stuff is all fixable. Spark plug threads in quite good condition. It does need a lot of hours work, some investment $$ and some TLC. With some effort I hope to have this roadworthy by June. If all goes well I may take to XS North
in Halliburton. So, That's a Wrap on this Bike for Sale.
Jeff
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