XS1100 or XS 650 as cafe project?

[justaddwada]

When I was 15 I was over at my grandmothers house, and my dad pointed in the backyard at an old rusted cafe racer with plants growing through it and said "that was my old bike when I was your age". Ever since then I've wanted to build one for myself. I have two old motorcycles suitable for the project. a XS 650 Special II or a XS1100 E.


-Which would be better to put money into?
-Has it been done reletively cheaply in the past?

I own both bikes, and have maybe 800 to dump into the bike. Is this a realistic budget? The 1100 needs a little more work. Of course, building a cafe racer, I want it to be fast, but more importantly I want something that will be fun to ride and cheap to modify.

Thanks guys.

[mason79]

depending on the condition, i think 800 can go a long ways, if you do all the work, all the wok, but be warned, when did you not finished a bag of potaoe chips?

[Pat Kelly]

The 650 will have better handleing that the 1100. The 1100 will be faster.

[79XS11F]

I my opinion the 650 special is just not the right style for a café racer. When I was younger I had a XS 500 twin done over in full café and it was a light and fun bike. The style was right for the project. That is of course just my opinion. That being said bigger bikes just blew my 500 away unless the entire road was a real twisty bugger.
Myself .. as big as the 11 is I would do it. There's lots of parts for them out there. The engine is very reliable and easy to work on. Spend some of those dollars beefing up the frame and you will have a nice bike.
Rob

[JWSanders]

I'd have to advise the 650 as well. Still plenty of new aftermarket parts available. Mike's XS has a lot of new (not NOS, but truly new) parts that would make the final build sooooooo much easier than an 11 would be. Reasonable prices, too.

Go for it!!

[fredintoon]

Go 650

I have both of those bikes too.
'80 XS11 Special & '84 XS650 Heritage Special.
I'd say convert the XS650 rather than the XS1100. Yes the XS1100 has appalling amounts of power but a café racer ain't about going in straight lines,
it's about ear'oling round corners and for doing that the XS650 has the XS1100 beat.
Bumstop, clip-ons, rearsets, gas tank off a Standard anna paint job should cost a lot less than your $800 budget, but unless you have a seperate budget for new grippy tires, buying those'll take up the balance.
Or you could blow the entire wad on a custom stainless steel 5 gallon knee-dent style tank from Scotland.
Fred Hill, S'toon.