80 Bobber

[ShootersHoliday]

now I just noticed the Virago only has a single disc brake, where as the 11s have dual... Then I found this pic listed as an 82 Xs11 Midnight Special. Same wheels, dual discs, and appears to be similar forks

[cywelchjr]

now I just noticed the Virago only has a single disc brake, where as the 11s have dual... Then I found this pic listed as an 82 Xs11 Midnight Special. Same wheels, dual discs, and appears to be similar forks

The 750, 850 and 1100 XS specials used rather unique front brake calipers, and I'm not sure that any other models used quite the same thing (although maybe they did, that's why I say I'm not sure). But that would be the primary way. Many bikes that came with a single disk on the front were setup to be able to have a second disk added, with mounting points for a second caliper and rotor already in place both on the wheel and fork tube. This is one of the things that can make it hard to identify what has been done to a frankenbike, determining just what was swapped on, although an MNS wheel with special forks would make more sense than something from another model entirely, and would have been far easier of a swap.

[tcoop]

it could be from an XJ750


here is a link to a clear picture of the front
http://www.cycleclassifieds.us/user_images/6807127.jpg

[Eveready1100]

Just curious, didn't XJ's have 38mm forks?

Pics please, Shooter!

[Eveready1100]

And also some more info on the spoked wheeled bike in the thread a while back.
It's still a shaftie!
Story by Jonesy, the bike's original owner



G,day
Thought I'd like to share a few things done to the bike in picture
Wheels:
Front
lifted straight off an XS1 650 ? Axle, speedo drive and discs bolted straight on. memory is a bit hazy but I dont recall having to use any additional spacers or bushes to fit between original forks
I discarded the original Rim and spokes
Rear
A donor bike gave up its original back wheel which I took to with a 9" grinder to chop the hub out.
Hub was put into a lathe and turned down to get a nice grinder free finish.
Next some 8 or10 inch round stock aluminium was machined up in a lathe ( I looked at a lot of spoked hubs for design details) then into the milling machine with an indexing attachment to drill all the spoke holes. Each hole is also counter sunk for the spoke end to sit in
The hardest part here was counter sinking the inside holes so a standard drill was ground down and converted for the job.
The new aluminium hub was shrink fitted to the lathed up original hub and then for added security was scotch keyed in 3 places.
Something I didnt realise until into the project was the centre line of the rim of a standard mag wheel is offset to one side of the hub centre line by about 10mm's
A wheel lacing specialist assured me he could spoke up a rim to be off centre and he did
Front rim was kept original 19 X 110/90 and the rear was changed to 18 X 130/80 and kept the original rolling circumference of the 17 X 120/90[/QUOTE]

Full story here - http://xs1100.com.au/forum/index.php?topic=991.0

[natemoen]

G,day
Thought I'd like to share a few things done to the bike in picture
Wheels:
Front
lifted straight off an XS1 650 ? Axle, speedo drive and discs bolted straight on. memory is a bit hazy but I dont recall having to use any additional spacers or bushes to fit between original forks
I discarded the original Rim and spokes
Rear
A donor bike gave up its original back wheel which I took to with a 9" grinder to chop the hub out.
Hub was put into a lathe and turned down to get a nice grinder free finish.
Next some 8 or10 inch round stock aluminium was machined up in a lathe ( I looked at a lot of spoked hubs for design details) then into the milling machine with an indexing attachment to drill all the spoke holes. Each hole is also counter sunk for the spoke end to sit in
The hardest part here was counter sinking the inside holes so a standard drill was ground down and converted for the job.
The new aluminium hub was shrink fitted to the lathed up original hub and then for added security was scotch keyed in 3 places.
Something I didnt realise until into the project was the centre line of the rim of a standard mag wheel is offset to one side of the hub centre line by about 10mm's
A wheel lacing specialist assured me he could spoke up a rim to be off centre and he did
Front rim was kept original 19 X 110/90 and the rear was changed to 18 X 130/80 and kept the original rolling circumference of the 17 X 120/90

Full story here - http://xs1100.com.au/forum/index.php?topic=991.0[/QUOTE]

Props to him, don't think I am going to try and do it.

[ShootersHoliday]

Full story here - http://xs1100.com.au/forum/index.php?topic=991.0

Props to him, don't think I am going to try and do it.[/QUOTE]

yah, that seems like a bit too much work to me... So, here are the pics as promised. The gauge is sitting on the front forks at ride height.

I did a rough measurement on the rotors. it looks like they are about 10.5", the forks appear to be 1.5", which specs out to 38mm. But, I'll try and get a proper measurement this weekend as mm must be precise.












And yes, the ugly guy is me, and at least it makes the bike look better!



and a wee preview....

[crazy steve]

Well, those are definitely OEM XS 'standard' triple trees, so those are 37 mm forks. As to what they're off of, I'd say a Virago or smaller XJ bike are very likely. Those aren't XS or XJ11 forks for sure....

I won't be much help in identifying them, as I'm not all that familar with those bikes. As to whether or not these are a good 'fit', hard to say. You'd really need to find out what they're off of, then see what differences there are in the top trees (center-to-center distance the same?) to determine if the axle spacers are right, or can even be made right. You'll need to do this if any fork/brake parts are needed in any case.

You still have the issue of wrong geometry with the stock trees and the leading-axle forks.

[fredintoon]

- - - yah, that seems like a bit too much work to me... So, here are the pics as promised. - - -

Hi Shooter,
yes, the forward axle mount with Standard 'trees will give you less steering trail but don't sweat that until after a good long road trial. You may get to like the livelier steering. TC's tale of unknowingly riding GodZilla for years with a collision induced frame rake reduction (which also reduces trail) is well worth your research.
There's 2 ways to go with the swirly front/straight rear spoke thing.
1) See if a straight spoke XS650/750/850/1100 front wheel will bolt up to the forks & disks you have.
2) Swap in a swirly spoke rear from a late model XS11 or an XJ11.
OK, 3 if you include "live with it"

[ShootersHoliday]

Hi Shooter,
yes, the forward axle mount with Standard 'trees will give you less steering trail but don't sweat that until after a good long road trial. You may get to like the livelier steering. TC's tale of unknowingly riding GodZilla for years with a collision induced frame rake reduction (which also reduces trail) is well worth your research.
There's 2 ways to go with the swirly front/straight rear spoke thing.
1) See if a straight spoke XS650/750/850/1100 front wheel will bolt up to the forks & disks you have.
2) Swap in a swirly spoke rear from a late model XS11 or an XJ11.
OK, 3 if you include "live with it"

I like #2, as I don't really like the swirlys. As for #3, I can't leave anything alone, and the mismatched wheels is killing me...

The "lively" steering was interesting doing a cone course this morning. Its definitely responsive, but a bit "twitchy" as well...

I'm doing about 200 miles tomorrow, so that should yield a good road trip sample.

I came across the GodZilla post, but will have to find it again and do a proper read.

[fredintoon]

The "lively" steering was interesting doing a cone course this morning. Its definitely responsive, but a bit "twitchy" as well...

Hi Shooter,
the pics show you riding with no fork brace or front fender. The twitch may come from that lack; the brace and the fender both help to stiffen the forks.

[ShootersHoliday]

Hi Shooter,
the pics show you riding with no fork brace or front fender. The twitch may come from that lack; the brace and the fender both help to stiffen the forks.

Yah, I did actually put the front fender back on for the road trip this weekend. Did just under 200 miles, and she felt pretty good. Ironically, the rear being hardtailed felt much better than the wander of the frontend.

Although I never got her above 65, it ran well. The speed limit out there is 75, but hell, I'm not in a hurry.

I am going down to a cycle graveyard this weekend in an effort to find different forks. If that doesn't net me anything, I'll pick up the fork brace.

[ShootersHoliday]

one thing on this pic I meant to point out. The set screw on the center isn't there. I imagine it should be?

And, on adjusting these forks. How do you dial it in? I don't see a "tick" or anything to set the numbers to. There is a setting from 1-4, but I can't see where to actually spin them to

[fredintoon]

one thing on this pic I meant to point out. The set screw on the center isn't there. I imagine it should be?

Hi Shooter,
oh yes, a missing fastener can spoil your whole day.

[Eveready1100]

Judging by the four position fork caps and the air balance fittings just under the top clamp, I'd say it's definitely a set of forks off an XJ 750/ 900. Maybe the whole front end complete.