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Hi,
I live in Oakland, CA. Recently acquired in Cupertino - right near the Apple computer hq - my first Yamaha XS1100 Midnight Special.
My goodness, what a gorgeous bike.
1st owner used to tow the bike behind his camper with his wife and ride around wherever they were staying.
2nd owner recently picked it up wanting a quicker ride (other car a caddy). Just found the '78 KZ i think it was a 900 or 1000cc which he really wanted - said, "it was the bike that started it all back in it's era and class - the MNS was the peak." He was also just about to have all the gold painted over!! Phew. I saved it from a "modern" look.
I've had it for couple months now and have put a good amount of road under the wheels. So far, very stable and consistent behaviour. I was waiting to write until I got to know the ride. Tach just rolled over 38K. No Spring chicken, but certainly no lady! Couple of small scrapes and scuffs along the rear gold bar, rear coils, fender, tach/speed covers and other areas you'd expect on a 25 year old, but otherwise looking quite nice.
check_it_out!
came with the original? windsheild, which I kind of like. The hippo hands are the ones with the snaps, but I have the ones you have to remove the mirror to fit. I think I might use them - a little bigger.
Has a Kerker oil cooler on it. I was thinking of removing it, but realized it might be a good idea with the hotter black paint and the bikes of the day being known (I am told/have read) for upper end lubrication delivery failures. So I'd like to keep it, but it's silver. Only other cosmetic thing I am doing to the bike is getting black fork covers (the gaiter ribbed type of it's day) cause the silver chrome of the stanchions just doesn't match the gold/black look. Anyone make gold stanchions? The Kerker is silver too. Once I add the boots, it'll really stand apart.
I just restored to tank badges to gold as well. PO didn't have the golds, owners manual, any of that, just the bike. Great bike. I /paid/ for it, but a great bike. Changed the oil, plan on fine tuning the carbs, replacing the middle, final drive gear, brake fluids and it otherwise has new tires, polished up really nicely last weekend and purrs like a kitten on cold mornings. Not that we should be having too many of those for a bit now...?
I have one sad story. I was seeing my Dr. - up in Benicia, real nice drive up around there. Somewhere between arriving at his office and getting home I lost the (dread) rubber tip for the choke.
It slipped off once before.
I /knew/ I should have put a drop of glue in there...
The internet looks pretty grim for solutions (eXtreme, bike bandit) and my local dealer laughed at me on the phone. Any idea where I can get something to replace it, or to manufacture something similar? I have a can of plasti-dip...
Thanks!
-Patrick Kennedy
p.s. Some questions about referencing the bike. I am assuming it has the same carbureation and eletrical configuration of the 1980 SG Special? Or should I take a closer look? Any other things to be wary of - fork angles, tire sizes, spark angles, btdc, tdle rpm? etc etc etc Thanks!!
I live in Oakland, CA. Recently acquired in Cupertino - right near the Apple computer hq - my first Yamaha XS1100 Midnight Special.
My goodness, what a gorgeous bike.
1st owner used to tow the bike behind his camper with his wife and ride around wherever they were staying.
2nd owner recently picked it up wanting a quicker ride (other car a caddy). Just found the '78 KZ i think it was a 900 or 1000cc which he really wanted - said, "it was the bike that started it all back in it's era and class - the MNS was the peak." He was also just about to have all the gold painted over!! Phew. I saved it from a "modern" look.
I've had it for couple months now and have put a good amount of road under the wheels. So far, very stable and consistent behaviour. I was waiting to write until I got to know the ride. Tach just rolled over 38K. No Spring chicken, but certainly no lady! Couple of small scrapes and scuffs along the rear gold bar, rear coils, fender, tach/speed covers and other areas you'd expect on a 25 year old, but otherwise looking quite nice.
check_it_out!
came with the original? windsheild, which I kind of like. The hippo hands are the ones with the snaps, but I have the ones you have to remove the mirror to fit. I think I might use them - a little bigger.
Has a Kerker oil cooler on it. I was thinking of removing it, but realized it might be a good idea with the hotter black paint and the bikes of the day being known (I am told/have read) for upper end lubrication delivery failures. So I'd like to keep it, but it's silver. Only other cosmetic thing I am doing to the bike is getting black fork covers (the gaiter ribbed type of it's day) cause the silver chrome of the stanchions just doesn't match the gold/black look. Anyone make gold stanchions? The Kerker is silver too. Once I add the boots, it'll really stand apart.
I just restored to tank badges to gold as well. PO didn't have the golds, owners manual, any of that, just the bike. Great bike. I /paid/ for it, but a great bike. Changed the oil, plan on fine tuning the carbs, replacing the middle, final drive gear, brake fluids and it otherwise has new tires, polished up really nicely last weekend and purrs like a kitten on cold mornings. Not that we should be having too many of those for a bit now...?
I have one sad story. I was seeing my Dr. - up in Benicia, real nice drive up around there. Somewhere between arriving at his office and getting home I lost the (dread) rubber tip for the choke.
It slipped off once before.
I /knew/ I should have put a drop of glue in there...
The internet looks pretty grim for solutions (eXtreme, bike bandit) and my local dealer laughed at me on the phone. Any idea where I can get something to replace it, or to manufacture something similar? I have a can of plasti-dip...
Thanks!
-Patrick Kennedy
p.s. Some questions about referencing the bike. I am assuming it has the same carbureation and eletrical configuration of the 1980 SG Special? Or should I take a closer look? Any other things to be wary of - fork angles, tire sizes, spark angles, btdc, tdle rpm? etc etc etc Thanks!!
Just for reference, the Midnight Special came with chrome-finish tank and sidecover emblems, not gold. The other models had gold-finish emblems, but not the MNS. This was just one of those little things Yamaha did, but nobody has ever found an explanation for. 
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