My XS11 Progress Thread

[Bassman]

Hey all, this thread will be for showing pictures and telling stories about this process that I am about to start.

I have very little mechanical experience, so I sought out a project bike in order to learn as much as I can (I learn best by DOING!).

I found this bike on craigslist and it was advertised as "big, heavy, ugly and not running". I was skeptical of the picture because it showed a bike in an unassembled state and with an incredibly ugly pink leopard pattern seat cover. I called the guy up and set up a time to go and check it out.

I was a little bit nervous to see the kind of shape it was in, but was pleasantly surprised. The engine looked clean (to me at least) and the tires were fairly new. However, it was not a running bike, due to the fact that while the owner was working on it, the fusebox caught fire and melted! Assured that "it ran before the fusebox died" I decided to take a chance because, lets face it, there are a lot worse things to spend $225 on.

It is certainly a project bike for me. The PO was in the process of making it into a bobber, so the frame has been cut down and the seat is different, but something about this bike just screams awesome! My first goal is to get it running again, and then when I have the time and the money, to make it beautiful again.

So, without further adieu, here are some pictures (sorry if they are blurry, I am not the steadiest photographer):












The melted fusebox


The Extra box of goodies

[Bassman]

Pictures

Hopefully those pictures are visible...

I ordered a new fusebox from TC, so while I wait for that, I want to tackle redoing the seat. Does anyone have any tips for rebuilding the foam?

Thanks

[Rasputin]

Nope the pics are not visible. You have to go to Photobucket or similar site and save the pics there. Then copy and paste the [img] to here. Do a search and there are a ton of threads about postings pics to the site. Waiting patiently to see what you have is not my strong suit

[Bassman]

Hmm...I just checked back and now I see pictures! Is it just me or can everyone else see too?

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there Andrew,

I fixed your photos...not sure where you got those urls/links, but they had Picasa web, but when I copied the Properties of the first one, put it into a separate browser tab, it took me to your google photo site, I could then see your photos..I viewed them separately...not in a slide show, right clicked on each one, copied the LARGE properties URL...it's several lines long, you have to highlight/scroll down with the mouse button held down to reveal the full URL until you see the .jpg at the end, then copied each one, and replaced the links with the photos links, and they then showed up, so looks like they allow direct linking of the photos but it's a bit involved!

Now....as to the bike, at least the PO didn't HARDTAIL the end, so you still have the suspension in the rear. Yes, it should clean up fairly well. Do a search for a few of the bike photo threads in the members Lounge, you'll find several nice looking bobbers....so you might want to continue with the theme but just put in your personal preferences and touches. I actually like the bobber look when it's done well. DGXser and a few others have done great jobs on some!

T.C.

[Rasputin]

Cool TC now I dont have to post any pics properly I just need to wait until you come online to fix them. Just what everyone wants to see...Thank you!
Oh and by the way we all should just play stupid and we all can have everyone do it for us. Come on, a simple search would have told him everything he needed to know and more. This site is peeing me off as there are too many questions asked without so much a a simple search.
Sometimes when one requires some info they will do a bit of work to find it.
Biggest problem with this site in my mind is the search function brings too many or to random results. If the search function worked worth a damn we would have nothing to post about, so I guess that has something to do with it.

[DiverRay]

Bike is a good start, so now for my opinion..
The seat should not be that hard, start with 1/4" to 1/2" of DENSE foam, and then go with a softer foam for the shape. Use an electric knife to shape it.(carving knife for turkeys, etc.)
Get rid of the cover on the front of the frame. It's cutting down NEEDED cooling for the head and electrics under the tank.
Try to get a TKat fork brace. It's about $100, but WELL worth the money, though ANY fork brace will help.
If you have not had much time on a motorcycle, take a rider safety class BEFORE you take the beast out. And yes, it WILL be a beast, as it probably has more grunt than any other bike you have been on.
Oh, and don't forget, HAVE FUN!

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Ras,

Chill guy, he tried to post them, but he wasn't using Photobucket but his Picasa/Google site, and as I posted, it's a rather convoluted process to link the photos in here from there. They don't provide the IMG links for dummies that Photobucket does, and he already had that photo account and probably didn't want to open another one..ie. photobucket. So...I fixed the links, but I also informed him how to do it with his particular photo account so that in the future he should be able to post updated photos using his same photo hosting account.

As for searching, unless you've( a person...not YOU specifically) been here a while you may not have learned many of the XS specific terminology necessary to be able to get a quality search result. Also, because there has been many posts/threads on the same subject over the last 10 years, it can seem rather overwhelming when a person gets a multipage search result of threads on the topic they are needing help with.

And since many of us are of the "want it NOW" generation, they don't take the time to READ THRU 10 or 20 threads to try to find an answer to their specific problem, so they post a NEW THREAD, and there you go!

Like you said, if it wasn't for newbies, we might not have much to talk about. We've tried posting FAQ's and info in the STICKY threads to invite folks to peruse the tech tips and try searching the forums BEFORE posting a tech request, but it doesn't seem to help much. But then again, I have seen many "THANKYOU's" posted from folkw that have not actually posted tech requests, but have gleened the repair info they needed from the site, tech tips, forum posts, etc.!

Okay, enough rant/ thread hijack! Good luck with your work rehabilitating your machine, and yes, we will want to see PROGRESS photos!!!

T.C.

[BA80]

Cool TC now I dont have to post any pics properly I just need to wait until you come online to fix them. Just what everyone wants to see...Thank you!
Oh and by the way we all should just play stupid and we all can have everyone do it for us. Come on, a simple search would have told him everything he needed to know and more. This site is peeing me off as there are too many questions asked without so much a a simple search.
Sometimes when one requires some info they will do a bit of work to find it.
Biggest problem with this site in my mind is the search function brings too many or to random results. If the search function worked worth a damn we would have nothing to post about, so I guess that has something to do with it.

C'mon Doug. You were new to the site once too.

Why don't you just PM him and explain how the site works? The search function here is just like every other one I've seen and if you don't know the terminoligy it might not help at all. Try searching "coil things" (an actual thread) and see what comes up.

Ease up bro'.

[Rasputin]

Ok I realize I was a bit harsh on that last post. I guess maybe I am just getting tired of the same old questions and the same old answers. The same guys answer every question as if it was gospel and repost their pics etc just cause they know how. Seems to me that if new guys wanted to know they would learn how to do things and thus become the guru's of the future. Yes I was new once and yes I made more than a few posts that I could have looked through 2 million search answers to find the correct answer. My point is simply that the mods are doing far too much answering and the rest are scared to answer because they may be embarrassed to be wrong. This is a forum and their are no Top Dogs who can answer every question. All of us have had differing opinions on things, but I maintain that if someone is really interested in these bikes he will go the extra mile to find out what he needs. I think I need a break from this forum.

[Elevener]

Somebody buy him a midol.

[Bassman]

Well, not to hijack the thread or anything but I got the fusebox in the mail today and can't wait to get some actual work done on the bike tomorrow...I will post pics as I go!

[jwhughes3]

Forget about his bike...

Am I the only one who wants to know about the huge black bear in the background???

John


(not embarrased to be wrong)

[hamjam]

I just want to know if Bassman is fish or fender??
Oh there it is another point about the threads on here Hijacked in 3 postings seems average

[BA80]

Doesn't look like too much work, I've gotten a couple in worse shape before. The cardboard boxes full of parts looks familiar.

Too bad the PO hacked up the frame like that.