First REAL ride on my XS1100S!!

[Hammerhead1st]

So my friends and i decide to clean the machines out by taking a 200 mile round-trip from Perry to Watkins Glen and back. I discovered I generally HATE superslab riding. We decided to take the side roads home, was a much nicer way to go.

The trip was awesome, with a beautiful 80 degree day and a slight breeze meandering up through the valleys.Bike ran terriffic, with the exception of the high-end miss at 5 grand and up. We cruised along at 75 like nobody's business. At 75 in 5th gear the 1100 cruised along firing on all 4 cyls and purring like a caged lion. Oh yeah, life was good for a moment. The Glen was great, and we saw about 300 other bikers out for a cruise, including my fellow Red Knights (Have been in contact with my local chapter)...which was cool since I am also a volunteer firefighter. Everyone waved, we had a righteous good time.

BIke broke down 4 times on the ride home, none of them major issues. Twice I had to adjust the Fuel/air, and once I had a wire break in the headlight (happened to be the main power wire to the ignition), and once I had a plug wire arcing into the head. Other than that, I had such an AWESOME time! Can't believe I didn't get into the whole motorcycle thing a long time ago.

We're already planning the next trip...maybe to Ohio for the Vintage bike show...

[Hammerhead1st]

SOOO after MUCH fooling around...

Got a wild hair up my arse on Saturday and decided it was time to do a carb tearoff and cleanout...AGAIN!!

So glad that I did too man...the 11 was running so much like poop and I couldn't figure it out...new plug wires..SOLID non-resistor cores and the factory boots, resealed the coils basically airtight, went through all the wiring, looked good, except where my new plug wire was rubbing on the gas tank, so I padded that spot with some rubberized electrical insulation (Electric utility company standard issue), everything looked great. ONly thing left to do was pull the carbs and get to it. SOOO,

after much huffing and poo-pooing, I got to it, ripped the darned things off again, and pulled every part out that I could. Discovered my pilots are 42.5's. Couldn't find a good clean spot on the mains to read them, but decided when I can afford it, I'll hafta suck up a jet job.

Numbers 1&2 were packed...PACKED with crud in the bowls, had to literally dig it out with a screwdriver and rinse with carb cleaner. 3&4 were clean in the bowls but the pilots were both CLOGGED at the tip! cleared the obstructions, cleaned everything up, and put 'em back together. BUT, I refused to put em back on the bike till I got some inline filters. ALso pulled the petcocks...OMG they were nasty. Did a quick flush of the tank and headed to Wal-Mart...heaven for redneck backyard mechanics on a budget.

Picked up a couple of Fram inline filters and some Indian Head Gasket goop from Permatex. Pulled the intake boots and liberally treated them to a beautiful new brown coat of goo. Did you know it takes FOREVER for that stuff to dry???

Thin coat on the intake ports themselves, second coat on the boots, and while they dried, I painted the headers with some hand-me-down Stove-Black 1200 degree paint. OOOPS...make sure you have enough to do the WHOLE project, ok? I now have one awesome looking black set of headers, pipes, tails, and one set of headers that are half-painted, and rusty half-chrome pipes. UGH! I need a bigger allowance.

Put it all back together, threw the fish-tank air line up over a tree branch in the backyard and printed out the sync tips from this site. Using those tips, I went out back with a friend and sync'd her in good on the first try. Fired her up, and she sat there and PURRED!!! Idled at 1700 like it was just off the showroom floor man.

Tossed the seat on and called another friend with a Sukzuki crotch rocket so he could follow me on my test ride. Rode 5 miles out of town and had to contain myself from fits of giggles as the awesomness of this bike came to life right under me. Managed to keep it under 80. For 5 miles.

At the stop sign 5 miles outa town, my friend said it was sounding righteous and was a drastic improvement over what it HAD been. I agreed. I then proceeded to clock 6 grand and dumped the clutch. As the front wheel came up, the back wheel was squealing (with delight, I presume), and inside of a quarter mile I was showing 110mph with a gear to go. Decided that was enough for me, rolled back out of it and got legal just in time for a Sheriff patrol to be going the other way...note to self: Clean shorts once home!

In the next town I stopped for some smokes and my friend told me he was doing 130 on his crotch rocket (a 1200) trying to catch me during my little "experiment" with horsepower. COuldn't help but grin...all the way home!

SOOO...

She's running like a champ, I'm loving it, and my other half PROMISED me she'd ride with me nxt wknd when the kids are all away. I'm feeling some Watkins Glen action again...

[prometheus578]

"Glad to hear you've got it all taken care of."

With that much crap coming down the line, sooner or later you're gonna need to pull the tank, have it cleaned and sealed.

[Hammerhead1st]

In the works already...

Just hoping to make it till this winter, when I plan to do a complete teardown. Frame paint,engine colors, the works...At least, that's the PLAN

[DeanR]

What's this I hear about "Watkins Glen action" ?

[Hammerhead1st]

Ahhh the Glen....

I live n hour's ride or so from the Glen, and it's a great destination for a Saturday or sunday ride. My other half hasn't been to the Glen as of yet, and I'm hoping to get her on the 11 for a ride there next Saturday afternoon. We don't have any kids every other weekend, so we try to plan our jaunts accordingly.

I guess its a little more than an hour, its about 100 miles from here. But sticking to the back roads makes a great ride. I want to show my other half Montour Falls and the park at the south end of the lake in the Glen. Are you close by?

[Hammerhead1st]

AHEM...

Heh heh heh...I now see you're right in Spencerport. Small world sometimes, eh? We're only about an hour from you due south.

[DeanR]

Grew up about 10 miles from the track. Watched guys like Jackie Stewart, Mario Andretti and many others from Formula 1 days right up to the present. Have had the XS on the track a couple times for a few laps - way cool !!
Don't expect there's much water falling in Montour at the moment, but it's a nice stop when there is.

[Hammerhead1st]

Not much water...

But still a beautiful site for a quick pic with the missus...

Last week there was enough water coming down to make a real nice backdrop, just a trickle. Even spied a small painted turtle cruising for minnows in the pool

Just finished detailing my brake rotors, fresh flat black with royal blue inside each hole. Looks ok for a Rat-ster...

[mitch]

Idle

Im hoping you brought that idle down to about 1000 RPMs. 1700 is too high and will make it hard to put into 1st gear. Glad you got her purring right enjoy !
Doug

[Hammerhead1st]

Yes I did...

GOt her purring at idle around 900-950, just enough to lobe a little bit but not enough to chug.Sounds great with the 4-2 and sidepipes

[Hammerhead1st]

Headin out for a 3 or 400 miler today...

Ridin with some friends to my brother's house in NE Pa. It's about 165 miles, so with touring action down there and the ride back, we should tack on about 400 miles. Weather looks great, got a nice place to crash out, and SWMBO is going with. FINALLY got her talked into it! WOO HOO!!!

[planedick]

Homesick

Makes me homesick hearing about the rides around Watkins Glen and such. Originally from Woodhull, (I know, you never heard of it) and I miss all the good country roads that I used to ride in NY & PA

[greyranch]

good job!

Hi Hammerhead,good job on sorting out some of your gremlins.Hard to work on these bikes with a budget in mind.Glad to see some do it yourselfers figure things out! Next time I am up your way (my dad has a cottage on at Waneta Lake),I will give you a yell.Brad

[DeanR]

Sure have Planedick, just off old Rt 17 !!