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  • Howdy..

    Hey all, I'm Rod and and new to the XS11 forums. I recently was looking for a old bike, a beater to chop up and make into a little bobber type ride. In my search I came across a 1981 Yamaha XS1100 Midnight Special. According to the ad it sat for 20 years in the garage without being touched. The gentleman that owned it said it had been properly prepared for storage and explained all that had been done. When I went to look at it the battery was dead and he wouldn't allow me to put fuel in the tanks to see if we could fire it up. He was worried the 30ish year old and brittle fuel lines would start leaking and soon turn into a big mess he wasn't prepared or wanting to deal with. The bike looked almost mint though. Soo on a bit of a risk I shook hands with the fella and greased his palm with my hard earned cash. A few days later I replaced the brittle fuel lines, fixed the leaking petcocks and it fired up and idled like a fine tuned machine should. Well almost..... it was a little rough and needs some tuning done which I'm starting to get ready for. If I can get my ass off the seat and hand off the throttle long enough to get anything done. I would love to show some pictures on here but not still figuring out how. I'm no computer whizz that's for sure.
    Any info or tips regarding this gem of a bike would be greatly appreciated. I recently found a set of used Mac4-1 with taper cut cans on Craigslist that I am going to replace the stock pipes with. The stock headers are that black chrome and in nearly new condition so I want to preserve them. The mufflers unfortunately are not in the greatest condition. Although the bad parts are hidden on the back side and mostly not visible. Even the tires are like brand new despite being at least 20 years old. They still had the little nubs all over when I bought it. They haven't even lost a lb of air in the few months I've owned it.
    Any way I'm looking forward to learning as much as I can about this old ride and NO I won't be chopping it up and turning into a bobber. If I could figure out how to post pics you'd see why.
    Talk to ya all later
    Rod
    81 LH

  • #2
    Hello Rod and welcome to the forum. I'm fairly new myself and also have an 81 midnight. Sounds like you gotten yourself a very rare barn find. The way I know to get pics on is to set up a photo bucket account and post the link to the board. Thank you for not chopping up a great bike .there are not very many left.
    81 LH in process
    09 vstar 1300
    only allowed 2

    Comment


    • #3
      Just to add, a nice condition Midnite Special is NOT one to chop and wack up. Find an XS11 that's more in need. In other words.........bad choice.
      81H Venturer1100 "The Bentley" (on steroids) 97 Yamaha YZ250(age reducer) 92 Honda ST1100 "Twisty"(touring rocket) Age is relative to the number of seconds counted 'airing' out an 85ft. table-top.

      Comment


      • #4
        Welcome to the forum...Pls do not chop up what is a rare bike...
        1980 XS650G Special-Two
        1993 Honda ST1100

        Comment


        • #5
          Hi Rod.

          Glad to see you here! I'm the guy you bought the Mac pipes from. I'll post the pic you sent me so we can let the guys here live vicariously. Can't wait to see this gem in person.

          Rockchucker's MNS in all it's glory:

          [IMG][/IMG]

          Cheers
          Marcus
          Living to EXcess.
          1978 XS1100E Canadian, Cartridge emulators, NOS heavy duty fork springs,
          Showa rear shocks, ACCT, Jardine 4-2 spaghetti pipes.
          1979 XS1100F Canadian, stock exhaust. Top end rebuild in progress.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Orange4 View Post
            Hi Rod.

            Glad to see you here! I'm the guy you bought the Mac pipes from. I'll post the pic you sent me so we can let the guys here live vicariously. Can't wait to see this gem in person.

            Rockchucker's MNS in all it's glory:

            [IMG][/IMG]

            Cheers
            Marcus
            That is freakin sweet...I'm glad you arent going to chop this one...
            1980 XS650G Special-Two
            1993 Honda ST1100

            Comment


            • #7
              must have been a realy nice barn
              81 LH in process
              09 vstar 1300
              only allowed 2

              Comment


              • #8
                Whew that would be in my living room. What a beauty
                82 XJ1100J
                81 Venturer
                Newly acquired Aches N Pains collection

                Comment


                • #9
                  81 midnight

                  Wow-what an awesome find! I wish my 80 was that clean! It's fun to ride but you may want to think about the tires. I just changed my front one last year and man I couldn't believe the difference in handling from the original one. The rear was changed a few years before that-corners great now.
                  1980 MIDNIGHT1100 RIDER.
                  TRACY

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Tires are definitely one of the first things to be replaced. In the spring for sure. I have some tuning issues to take care of which I want to get bout of the way first. It's a little erratic at times. My buddies 89 venture royale walked away from me pretty easy and that doesn't seem right. I think the carbs need a good cleaning... even though it was stored without fuel maybe it's possible there are some jets and ports with debris or varnish in them. It apparently only had 15,000 kms on it so I'm not sure if valve clearance or cam chain will be out of adjustment much bit I will start there anyway before moving on...
                    81 LH

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Hi Rod,
                      Welcome to the world of XS11. You have certainly found a real gem.
                      I am glad to hear you appreciate what you have and plan to look after it.
                      Phil
                      1981 XS1100 H Venturer ( Addie)
                      1983 XJ 650 Maxim
                      2004 Kawasaki Concours. ( Black Bear)

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Thanks Marcus for posting the picture. I will figure it out and post more.
                        I will be making my way out that way again with the blke fore sure. Soon as the holidays are done and have some dryer days.
                        Thanks everyone for the compliments on the bike. Although I wouldn't mind a bit having it in the living room in sure my wife would object. I don't get it really... Haha
                        81 LH

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Don't

                          do a thing to that bike. it is eye candy , I've a number of bikes that are more worthy of your ambitions. What would you like ? };-) PM ME
                          Thanks, Don'e
                          76 XS650 C ROADSTER
                          80 XS650 G Special II
                          https://ibb.co/album/icbGgF
                          80 XS 1100 SG
                          81 XS 1100LH/SH DARKHORSE
                          https://tinyurl.com/k6nzvtw
                          AKA; Don'e, UD, Unca Don'e

                          Comment


                          • #14




                            I put the little bags on it so I can run some errands and such. More excuses to ride. They are made with genuine pleather lol. They will eventually be replaced with nicer leather bags. Maybe a windscreen at some point . Something simple .
                            Last edited by Rockchucker; 12-22-2015, 11:14 AM. Reason: added a desription
                            81 LH

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Orange4 View Post
                              Hi Rod.

                              Glad to see you here! I'm the guy you bought the Mac pipes from. I'll post the pic you sent me so we can let the guys here live vicariously. Can't wait to see this gem in person.

                              Rockchucker's MNS in all it's glory:

                              [IMG][/IMG]

                              Cheers
                              Marcus
                              Kinda' what I figured now seeing the picture of it. Leave it alone and don't screw with it..........especially in that condition.
                              81H Venturer1100 "The Bentley" (on steroids) 97 Yamaha YZ250(age reducer) 92 Honda ST1100 "Twisty"(touring rocket) Age is relative to the number of seconds counted 'airing' out an 85ft. table-top.

                              Comment

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