Your Introduction to the XS/XJ1100

[madmax-im]

Thought it would be interesting to see how everyone got their 1st introduction to these machines.
For me I bought a brand new '82 XJ1100 Maxim as a leftover in'83...the last one the dealer ever sold(new).I was totally ignorant to the lineage of these machines.I bought it because of the traditional looks..I was totally ignorant of the level of performance it had.I only discovered what a brute it was by chance.Being a conservative rider back then...I babied this bike and in the beginning I never revved it up over 3500 rpm's.Then one day a cager in a pickup truck would get off my butt so I downshifted from 5th to 3rd and revved it to 6000 and left the truck for dead.But at the same time it caught me off guard and I nearly crapped in my pants at the brute force this bike had.It still took me 'til 2007 to realize this bike's lineage coming from the 1st true liter+ musclebike to come to the USA...The mighty and venerable XS1100!
So lets hear of your stories

[DJinNH]

For me, it was back in my high school days. My dad and I went in halves on a XS400 but realized in no time that it was too small. In the Fall of 1980, we ordered a cherry red XS850 Special and that turned out to be a great bike.

Fast forward to 2004, I was severely injured on the job when I took a Black Hawk helicopter tire over my legs. Pretty brilliant, huh?

I had to retire from a job I loved and sat home isolated for the next three years hiding in my cave.

My buddy from back in my high school days kept doing what he could to get me back to living life again. He kept sending me ebay links of XS1100 Specials since he already owned a XS1100SH.

Finally, last Dec, I took the plunge as I worried if my legs and feet could handle it, especially at a stop light.

I bought the SG and SH off a guy in Conn and spent last winter buying up all kinds of parts, then in the Spring, went to work on the SG. I was just looking at it a few days ago at my buddy's house where I store them for the winter. I was so proud of how far that bike had come since this time last year.

Now on to the SH! Oh, and the legs and feet were fine this summer as long as I didn't push my rides over about 6 hrs.

Don

[The Lorax]

Had my intro just a few short years ago. found one sitting, leaning against a utility pole with a sign that said "make an offer". I offered him $50, seeing as the poor beast looked as though it had been set on fire and rolled down a hill (funny, it still kind of looks that way...). we agreed on $75 and I hauled it home in the bed of my pickup. a few hundred dollars and a bit of work later, she was running, not particularly well, but running. It got progressively better over the next few weeks, then a shift fork broke, siezed the trans and made a general mess that I spent the winter months cleaning up (complete engine and transmission rebuild). now it runs pretty good, I enjoy the time I spend on it and I will slowly address any other issues that come up and eventually , I'll have a good looking as well as good running bike (with a storied history to boot). have a nice day and ride safe

[bikerphil]

Well, it was 1989. I was riding a Suzuki GS550. While riding my underpowered bike about a mile from my house in Stamford, Ct., I saw a '79F for sale parked in front of a house. I went and got the guy and he wanted $800 for the bike. It was in nice condition except for the rusty Kerker 4-1's. He said he was selling it because his wife was prego, you get the drift. The bike had 7500 mi. on it and had a dead battery, but it was always garage kept. I jump started it and it started right up and ran pretty good, considering rust in the tank and not been started for 5 years. While it was idling, I proceeded to remove the battery and the engine quit. I said to him... "Oh, the alternator is no good, I'm going to have to replace it, that's gonna be expensive". He gave the bike to me for $600, I put a new battery in it, and of course there was nothing wrong with it except for the battery . I couldn't believe the power this thing had! I rode it for 500 miles and guess what. Yep, 2nd gear went out at 8000 miles. Not knowing about doing the fix thru the oil pan, I disassembled the entire engine to repair the transmission, as according to the service manual (jackasses). Waited about 2 months to round up all the needed parts and put her all back together. This was my beginning with working on the XS1100's. I still have that same bike to this day and it's a keeper for life. Wish I knew about the 2nd gear washer swap back then.

[ossjughead]

Well in may of this year i finally went and got my licence and then i was on the lookout for a bike being so big i wanted a 1000 and up bike well after spending a week looking for a bike i got a e-mail from a guy asking about my car i had for sale and asked if i was interested in trading for a bike???? lol well i said yes i am what do you have and he said its a 1982 yamaha maxim 750 well i was going to say no cause i wanted a bigger bike but told him i would go look at it. The next day i went to look at the bike and walked up to it and seen right below the guages 1100 i didnt say anything to the guy he started it and i took it for a ride and it went like hell after going home and checking on the net and figured out it was a 1100 maxim i called the guy and asked him what he wanted for the bike he said $800.00 for it and i was asking 1500 for the car so i told him give me $1000 and it was a deal so the next day i took my bike home.

P.S. the car i traded him for was given to me from my MOM lol so the bike cost me nothing

[exquized1]

My first Xs11 came as an accident. A friend from work told me there was a 1100 shadow sitting for sale in the next town over. He said the guy told him 400. So me and the swombo dove out the right after work to look at it. to my surprise it wasn't a shadow but a real cool looking bike. The guy told me he wanted 11 hundred for it and I told him I was told 400 by a friend and had the cash in hand so he sold it. It was a steal and has been a good bike for the most part.

[barberad]

Had my first intro on the back of my fathers '81. Change the time to a few years later and I was "barrowing" the beast. If you could imagine a 14-15 year old kid that weighed 120 lbs side sadling one of these monsters at a red light, that would be me. The bike was set up for my almost 6'4" step father, so I could not even touch the ground on tiptoes with both feet
I got deep into honda's and duel sports for a lot of years and when I got here to Utah knew I wanted an older classic bike. When I found my maxim, it was being negleted by a kid the same age as the bike with four kids, a young wife and no motorcyle endorsement on his liscence. The timing chain adjustment plug had been missing for years so this thing was coated in oil and road dirt, not to mention one of the K&N filters was missing and the PO had no idea how long it had been missing. Aside from needing the first gear fix, some major polishing and the standard routine maintenence the bike is pretty much the way I recieved it.
Dan

[tarzan]

I had a 1946 gmc pickup that needed total resto.It was in rougfh shape.My buddy at work got wind of it and wanted it.So he worked on me about it for a bit and I finally said what the heck.He had this cool old motorcycle that needed some work.He brought it to work( he lives about 50 north,I had never seen it)in the back of a pickup.It had two flat tires ,the brakes were locked up,lots of surface rust,throttle cable froze up.You get the picture.I had already made the deal.He had told me about its problems laughingly before this.I thought he was BS'ing me.I saw it and thought,what a piece of sh@%$!But it was a 80 Special and I liked it anyway.It turned out after the carb rebuilds,new tires and a good cleaning and a few other things,it had awesome power and was a blast to ride.I ended up selling it while making a job change,thinking I might need the money.Sold in 2004
Last year I saw a 80 special on craigslist in an estate sale with 588 miles on it,$400.Thought it a typo.Called the gal who lives in NY,it was her uncles bike(he died,hence estate sale.It had sat since 1983.I raced over and bought it.After I sold my first one ,I just wanted another.

[fredintoon]

It was Norm's fault

Norm phoned me, sez:-
how's your XS650 going on the sidecar I sold you?
Great around town but it sucks on the highway.
If you have a grand to spare I have a better tug for you.
OK
So a petty derelict XS11SG showed up in the back of Norm's pickup.
Get this pig running and your rig will go like sh1t offa shovel sez Norm.
The way I can justify paying a grand for a non runner works like this.
Purchase a basket case XS650 for $100.
Sell it as a runner for $1200
Buy an XS11 for $1,000 and I get a free XS11 and $100 profit.
Sometimes I lie so well I can even fool myself.

[Montreux_Blue]

The way I can justify paying a grand for a non runner works like this.
Purchase a basket case XS650 for $100.
Sell it as a runner for $1200
Buy an XS11 for $1,000 and I get a free XS11 and $100 profit.
Sometimes I lie so well I can even fool myself.

It's all about making the numbers and it looks like you came out ahead on that deal!

[planedick]

Neighbor moving

My neighbor was gonna move from SoCal to Michigan and didn't want to take his '79F with him. He said he bought it to commute 120 miles/day to work. He said he got it 2 1/2 yrs ago with 6000 mi on the clock and it now had 42000. It wasn't a looker, muffler on the left side rusted in two and held together with aluminum angle and hose clamps. Engine had 150 lbs compression on all four cylinders, but 2nd gear was unusable. He wanted $650, but he let me have it for $300 and a little foam RC plane worth about $50. After repairs and a set of slip on mufflers I sold it for $1000 and bought the Pathfinder fully restored for $2000. I know for sure it will outlast me.....

[Pat Kelly]

My E:
2001. A co-worker said she was moving and had a bike for sale. There was this rusty, faded, sad-looking POS leaned against the (outside) wall of her garage. Knew nothing about XS1100's until then. I road-raced 400cc in the early 80's. Had no intrest in larger bikes as they didn't handle anywhere as good as my Honda Hawk.

My LG:
2005. Another co-worker said he was thinking of selling his bike and he had said I got 1st offer.

[TopCatGr58]

I first had gotten a Yamaha 305 twin 2 stroker in my last year of High School, in shop more than out. Got a NEW '74Yamaha TX500A twin 4 stroker for HS Grad in '76, precursor to the XS series, rode it for 5 years, and took it with me when stationed in Japan, '81-83. Shortly after arriving there, I was shopping off base, saw this hot looking Yamaha in a Bicycle shop, was an XS850 Special triple, got it for $500, rode it for 1.5 years while there, all over Japan, Kyoto, Mt. Fuji, etc..

I had been looking at getting a Harley FLHR or some such, really liked the sportster look, but got bad sticker shock!! A coworker that was going to be returning to the US had bought an 81 when he first arrived, but never registered it, just fired it up every month, rode it around the small yard he had on base. He wasn't a very tall/big fellow, had wife, 2 kids, and also had a Honda CV-500, figured he'd kill himself on the Yammie if he ever got it back to the USA, so he sold it to me for the same Navy Exchange Price he paid 2 years earlier. I got it with 15 miles on the clock. I knew the 850 was a great machine, didn't know the lineage or exactly what I had gotten, just knew it was a liter+ machine that I thought I was ready for!!


Shipped it back with my household goods in '83, and had it ever since. IT's gone thru some morphing, but it's still running well.
T.C.

[79XS11F]

My first XS11 was a 1978 model that I acquired new in the box in 1980. I had been riding an 1978 XS500 that was just not dong it for me anymore. I sold it to my brother and used the cash as a down payment on 1979 750 Special. I felt at the time that the next logical step was to a 750 and they did not have any more standard 750 models in stock. So I put the 750 special on lay-a-way over the winter. When I went to finish the deal in the spring of 1980 the sales manager, who knew I preferred the standard model styling, told me he had found a 1978 XS1100 in the box in the warehouse that he could sell me. It worked out to be $200.00 less then the VERY POPULAR special model bikes and as we all know it was 250cc bigger. I was not sure at first due to my lack of experience with bigger machines. I had seen the 11s around and knew they were fast. With prodding from my brothers I closed the deal on the 11 and took it home that spring. I babied it most of the time not knowing if I could handle it but the day did come to discover the bikes power. My girlfriend of the time was riding a 500cc 2 stroke Kaw at the time and she challenged me to a race of sorts cause she really felt her bike could beat the 11. I guess she didn't know I was babying it bike ... Well she was very fast off the line as most 2 strokes are and I even wondered if I was going to catch her on this big bike. By the time I hit 2nd gear I knew I better do something or risk the embarrassment of loosing to this smaller bike and the girlfriend to boot. I cranked it and WOW what a wake up call!!! The front wheel came up for a moment and I was looking at her in the rear view mirrors when I hit 3rd. The rest is history but many moments on this bike are forever burned into my mind. That's why I re-entered the sport on an 11.
Rob

[blackchop2]

well i actually started out 30 years ago riding. i bought my first motorcycle at age 12 for $50. earned from paper route. could only ride it up and down the alley behind my house. it was a 1970 kawsawki 160cc enduro.

then on from there i went to various other bikes bigger faster some stock some chopped.


then one day i was happened across a low miler stock great condition 1978 xs1100. went to look at this bike . i didnt realy care for all the square looking parts on it. but when i took it for a ride i was hooked instantly.

eventually wound up selling it before a long distance move in order to have more cashflow for the long move from one state to another.
but could never get the power and the ride that 78 xs11 had. knew that i had to somehow get me another xs1100 one day.

so i did about 5 years later. and here i am.