New XJ1100 in the family

[bkush]

Well guys (and gals?) I did it. I bought the XJ1100 off of ebay and instead of having it shipped to my house from Idaho, I made it an Adventure and drove out to Idaho and picked it up myself.

I could have definitely had it shipped cheaper, but I've never been west of the Mississippi before, so it was worth it! I got to experience 60mph headwinds going thru Iowa and South Dakota, white-out conditions in 2 Montana mountain passes, the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood (what a dissappointment!), and some of the prettiest country I've ever seen...

I was worried about my truck (96 Dodge 1500 4x4, 88,000 miles) but she just purred along without a hickup... 1,980 miles out and back!

And, the best part is that now I have another, running, XJ1100! It needs some cosmetic work, of course, but it runs strong! I forgot how fast these darn things are!

I'm sure I'll be back on here, for advice on fixing this or that...

See ya,

Bill

[DiverRay]

Bill;
When it's running properly, it will be time to come all the way out west. A road trip on the bike to CA , OR, or WA. Summertime trip across I-90, South on 1 and 101, go home I-10. Send everyone a note before you start, and you will have a lot of people willing to ride along, one stretch at a time.
That is the kind of riding the Eleven was built for!

[strom]

Congrats! Keep the rubber side down!

LP

[bkush]

Okay everyone, the fun begins! I've ordered new carb manifold boots, a new exhaust, and new exhaust gaskets. First thing I noticed about the new bike are the large cracks thru the manifold boots going from the carbs to the cylinders. I can actually feel the air being sucked into the boots with my bare fingers! This can't be good for the motor. I'm having a problem just getting it to idle and stay running. It wants to idle somewhere below 1000 rpm, and it sounds like a (GASP!) V-twin when it idles at that speed!

Also, the curent exhaust system looks like it was hammered together by Dr. Frankenstein, so it has to go. I think (please correct me if I'm wrong) that the 82 XJ1100 came with the turn-out pipes, not the straight megaphones?????

Bill

[John]

The original mufflers were slash cut actually. Look in the owners pics on the left side of the page here. You should be able to see what they looked liked.