over my head. . . wayyy over

[madmax-im]

Boy it just kills me how people say these bikes are "top heavy" thats a load of BS IMHO...You want top heavy? Try the original Venture Royales even my ST1100 is more top heavy than my XJ or for that matter any XS11 is or ever will be...Once you've ridden either of those then you'll see the XS/XJ isnt top heavy at all...Its just a matter of perspectives

[LoHo]

If you have the skills and knowledge to get her running well, you are ahead of the game.

There are very few aftermarket goodies available for these bike. Almost any customizing will require modifying parts from other makes. As a college kid, you'll probably have to do that piecemeal.

Lots of folks buy these bikes due to price, then try to make them into the bike they really want, like a Harley. Chain drives, cut frames, HD fenders, fat tires, just about anything one can think of, will have a thread somewhere on this list.

Good luck!

[yamahansolo]

If you feel its top heavy opt foe the gold valve cartridge emulators.it feels like the front end is 100 pounds lighter!
Very nice special there!
Once it looks good you will dwdinatly have a head Turner. I get asked about mine all the time.

[motoman]

I agree 100% with Ben. I had the chance to throw a leg over a 81Special after I had synced the carbs last weekend for a friend here. Always have ridden my Venturer and the ST and haven't been on a Special for almost thirty years. Now, havin' ridden Feejer 1300's and such with lots umph and hard acceleration, that Special was extremely quick, and lite to handle, besides setting strattle it was way lower than either my Venturer or ST. Having always liked hard accelleration and doing quarter mile stuff with muscle cars eons ago, I can very easily see where someone not a "seasoned" rider WILL get themselves in trouble on one of these scoots in Special or Maxim 1100 configuration.......and not from speeding either. I'm at 5,000ft. and that Special was scary-quick!......sea-level HAS to be a hoot. My Venturer is less than 50lbs. lighter than my ST and some 140lbs. heavier than an XS Special!.....have physically weighed them all. The handling(no leading front fork on the Venturer), ride and accelleration is TOTALLY different on the Venturer packing the extra weight. Even though it came from factory with progressive springs front and heavier 5-way dampening/spring adj. than the Specials or earlier Standards, it is totally a different handling bike than the Specials.

[TheDudester]

thanks for all the great tips and info. this site is definitely one of the best communities i have found. everyone is so helpful and polite.

i have noticed that i am way further from the ground than the cruisers i was raised around. when i took it out today i noticed my legs are almost to short. . . it was weird because that hasn't happened since i was 12 and dropped my aunts shadow. which brings me to another question; what are my options for getting a different seat? like did motorcycle companies run things like car companies did? could i pull parts from different models that were similarly yeared and get them to fit? because, frankly, i don't like the seat shape. i think it should be deeper.

[TheDudester]

finally a pic

i got thinkin i was asking for help making a babe magnet from a project i picked up but you guys don't know what the project looks like. . . i assumed bikes were like cars again and if you've seen one you've pretty much seen them all. i noticed how wrong i was flippin through the photos on here.

so here is my bike, the paint is fairly new it was just done by a novice with a couple spray paint cans. . . its pretty cool though. the paint changes to all the way from that color to a blood red depending on lighting and angle.



sorry about lack of angles but as i said earlier my camera broke so i just snapped this with my cell phone and threw it up so you guys can get a basic idea of what i got. . . and when you get that idea can you clue me? in cus i thought bikes were like cars in the fact that you say "oh ya i have a 67 ford truck with a two tone red and black," and everybody knows what it looks like

[natemoen]

that rear tire looks like it sat flat in the dirt for quite some time with that white moldy spot on the bottom. Might want to think about changing that out too.

other then that it looks like a pretty clean example of a standard model. Very nice looking stock exhaust. Definitely take care of that and keep the rust away!

as to the seat about all you can do is take the seat to an upholstery shop and have them cut the foam down and then re cover it.

[fredintoon]

- - - other then that it looks like a pretty clean example of a standard model. Very nice looking stock exhaust. Definitely take care of that and keep the rust away! - - - as to the seat about all you can do is take the seat to an upholstery shop and have them cut the foam down and then re cover it.

Hi Nate,
it's either my aging eyes or the dude's phone camera but I can't tell; is the discoloration on the lower back end of the muffler road dirt or a nasty gaping hole?

[cywelchjr]

That paint color is the same color I painted my XS400. It's a nice looking paint if you take the time to do a good prep job and a good job of doing the painting and take your time and follow the instructions exactly. It's a duplicolor three part paint kit that works quite well. It comes in 4 flavors, 3 that are full color changing and one that's a very interesting frost affect paint job. My XS1100 is done with the purple/green version of the same paint. Someone/something messed up the right side this week though, so a repaint just became even more important. And it's NOT gas resistant, so if you want gas resistance you need to put 2 part clear over the top after it's cured.

But you can do the whole bike with the color changing paint with this system minus the 2 part clear for about $60, where doing it with 2 part products would be several hundred at a minimum.

[TheDudester]

the pipes are rusted out. . . I'm gonna chop them off even with the suspension spring. i just want to get a better saw. . . something that's easier to keep it strait and level.

the rear tire isn't messed up. the previous owner spray painted it white and did it like an idiot and got over-spray all over everything.

[yamahansolo]

It looks like your grab bar in on basackerds I rook mine off but it was going the oposutw was as yours... I can't wait to see the finished product. If you was the seat recovered cheap go to eBay and search. Its Like 40 bucks and easy to install.

[79XS11F]

If you really want a head turner, return the bike to as close to stock as you can. That will turn heads.
However, start by making the bike safe and reliable. Unless you have deep pockets and a lot of time on your hands, a restoration will take a few years of work to complete.
Rob

[TheDudester]

well i thought you guys were kidding about the bike turnin heads stock but i just took it out to make sure i had the clutch cable adjusted perfectly and a cop pulled me over and when he came up on me he said he didn't pull me over for the lack of a plate he just wanted a better look at the bike. . . hopefully that attention translates to other people besides cops

and i didn't even notice the grab bar . . . i just said "i need a new seat" and than turned my attention to the exhaust and forks.

[BA80]

XS1100s are the original crotch rocket of their time and with the engine and suspension properly tuned will still hold their own now. They don't have all the plastic and fiberglass ground effects but are works of art in steel.

With the help you can get here and some tenacity on ebay,craigslist, and others you can restore it to it's original grandeur and yes, it WILL turn heads.

And, as a perk you will have a mechanically dependable sport, street, cruiser to boot.

[DGXSER]

You want to be carefull with that exhaust. All of the baffling is really at the fatter end. So cutting it off will net you basically straight pipes.

Exhaust are pretty tough to find for these beast, stock ones cost more than some bikes. A good alternative, is to get a set of Harley mufflers used. The stock ones sell cheap because 90% of the owners ditche them before mile 1. And they fit and give decent performance one you cut off the stock pipes that are welded onto the colectors.