A little tell of a tale

[Elevener]

Storytime. I got out of bikes when my son was born. He grew up so I decided time to ride again. I looked and came across a XS1100. Now when this bike came out I was into other bikes and rice didnt exsist to me. My last rice was I believe a 1973 TX750.

I read all about this bike here. Heard all the handleing storys. Shoot I thought the bike cornered just fine! ( keep in mind last bike was a raked. extended hardtail). So I did all the mods to help what I thought was fine, forkbrace, progressive springs.
I rode this bike almost every weekend to memphis and back. Loved it!

Earlier in the year I decided to get another bike. Now I like old but wanted newer. So along came this old school new bike, Tube frame, air/oil cooled inline four. 2005 1200 bandit.

So as I rode it to memphis and back and even to texas I convinced myself the yamaha was more comfortable. After over 5000 miles on it since march I decided the yamaha needed ridden. Felt bad neglecting it.

So after riding the bandit this morning I dug the yamaha out of the shed. Man its heavy ( extra 100 lbs). The bike fired right up! ( it should after all the money I threw at it)

I have a dirt road before the pavement. Man it felt weird! Hmmm. Got on the pavement, this bike is like driving a car without power steering! Geez the front end is heavy!
Everybody asked me which bike was faster, I always said I dont know. Would have to run them beside each other. Well let me tell you the 1200 bandit is way faster.

I will never sell the XS because I would lose to much and I love looking at it. Maybe its time to try one of the sets of clubmans I got for it.

Long story short. If you want to keep loving your XS totally dont get another bike!

[Jerry]

Well, I bought my Concours in '09. Still old-school; carburated in-line 4, shaft drive, monoshock rear suspension. Still think the XJ is more comfortable due to the handlebar adjustments, heel-toe shifter, Diamond custom seat, lowered mini-floorboards, some other improvements I had done over the years. Still have the XJ, but it is waiting on minor repairs such as steering head bearing replacment and caliper rebuilds.

No doubt the Concours is an improved bike, better brakes, longer range fuel tank, new this year Russell Day-Long saddle (Great improvemnt!) and I've been adding other goodies such as SS brake lines, MCL peg lowering kit, Rifle windshield, handlebar risers, and Givi luggage rack. Still, the basic "sport - touring" riding position is less comfortable for me than the far more upright position of the XJ. I tried a Bandit, very nice bike, but I couldn't see me going 500 - 600 miles a day on one for extended trips.

By the way, Tkat can make handlebar risers for your Bandit...he rides one so equipped and had another for sale that he made risers for as well.

In my case, ging to a newer bike ('06) made me realize just how good the XJ can be, which is why I am holding onto it with plans to fix it up and put it on the road again. I still take it out occasionally for a back-road ride, its not registered currently, and I enjoy firing it up and heading out. It has character.

[foreda]

Old school

Elevener
You obviously have boy looked at the pics under my signature! My FZ1 is kinda like your Bandit, the Warrior is my cruiser but I still like riding all of my 11's! Guess I just like old stuff!

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there Elevener,

What you might want to consider doing to your "G" to lighten the steering is to put a set of Special TT's on it. IIRC, it's what Fredintoon states he and the sidecar gang do to help with the heavy steering encountered on the "hack" rigs.

He warns about the reduced trail being unsafe!? I think that mod converts the trail from 6" to something like 4.5 or 5". I've measured mine after I learned that the front end had been "accidentally" modded by my front end collision years ago, and my trail is down to about 2"! The steering is very light, if not downright twitchy, has a penchant to want to oversteer the line! This past spring Ray(Rman) got to ride my bike, and was pleasantly surprised at how light the steering was.

Also, you might want to rethink about the bars.....you don't want to put on bars narrower/less hand separation than your current bars....will be less of a fulcrum increasing the heavyness of the steering.

I can't afford a newer bike, so I guess I'll keep my XS another 30 years!
T.c.

[xsroadrunner]

Seeing as I'm the original owner of my XJ...other bikes have come and gone but the XJ has always had a place in the garage/shed. Since '07 however i broke the mold by getting a '95 ST1100...after i did that fully faired LD touring spoiled me. The XJ will do the daytripping and the ST anything longer than that. I doubt i'd ever get rid of the ol' Maxim but the ST is light years ahead of it in every category except for vintage cool factor which the XJ has in spades.