when/if my xs ever dies.....

[beechfront]

I'm getting one of these:

[Dragonrider]

What is it?

[beechfront]

bmw r1200 GS

[sixtysix]

BMW R1200GS, the part that scared me about the BMW's was the price.....MSRP for this is $15,490 in the USA.

Specs.....
Type Air-cooled/oil-cooled flat twin four-stroke
Bore x stroke 101.0 mm x 73.0 mm
Displacement 1170 cc
Horsepower 100 bhp @ 7,000 rpm
Torque 85 lb-ft @ 5,500 rpm
Compression ratio 11.0:1
Valve gear DOHC
Valves 2 x 36 mm intake / 2 x 31 mm exhaust
Valves / cylinder Four
Engine oil capacity 4.0 quarts

[GNEPIG]

... B.M.W... Big Money Waisted.. cool bikes but cost way too much.
the cost of parts and service for these are higher than everything else

[fabriqueprecis]

Beauty

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That has to be one of the main reasons I'm putting my XS back together - I looked at new bikes and I honestly have to say that I like the looks of the XS better than any of them. Guess that's why I'm here

One bike that has caught my eye though is the FJ1200. I guess that was the XS-II in a lot of ways. Still air cooled, still comfortable, but more competent all around than the XS (?) Anybody got any experience with these?

[beechfront]

for me, the main appeal of these bikes is their ability to perform well off-road. something my XS just does not do well at all.

range is also a huge drawback of my XS. the farthest i have ever gotten on a tank with my special is 144 miles and that was running on fumes. i can go about 115 miles comfortably. the 1200 GS with its 5.3 gal tank should clear 200 easily, and the 1150 adventure will get up to 300 with its 8 gallon tank. so no need to carry xtra fuel with me.


weight:

xs1100 -- ~580 lbs
bmw -- ~450 lbs

the center of gravity on one of these bikes is also going to be much lower then our XS's.



don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my special. but it just isn't the right bike for the type of trips i like to take.

[fabriqueprecis]

XS cult

I actually backed into owning an XS. I knew zip about bikes - test rode the XS and thought "that'll do" - offered the guy $1400 of the $1500 he was asking and I owned a motorcycle! Rode it for a couple of years with no troubles at all and then, through a complicated series of events, ended up parking it for 20 years. Now I'm getting it out of mothballs and I find that it has a "cult" of fans. Seems kind of strange given some of what I've learned about the XS on this site - the bike seems to have its share of flaws.

[TopCatGr58]

I thought it looked like an oversized ENDURO!? I guess you could call it the SUV of motorcycles! If I lived where I could ride OFF ROAD, I think I would prefer to have a real dirt bike, and a separate Street machine for touring! But hey, whatever works for ya!

Hey Fabrique, I was looking closely at Harleys (Sportsters) but got severe sticker shock , then I fell into my XS11. I had been riding a Xs850Special Triple in Japan for 1.5 years while stationed there, and a fellow sailor had bought this 81SH 2 years earlier, parked it at the apartments, never registered it, only put 15 miles on it, then got scared of it(he had a CV500 that he had brought with him to Japan), so he sold the 11 to me for same price he paid 2 years earlier. I drove it for 9 years when I got back to the USA, but then 1st/2nd gear crapped, parked it for 9 years. Got back into it after my father passed, that was 2000.
T.C.

[fabriqueprecis]

Basket case resurrections

Some of the basket cases that have been resurrected on this site (like Swamp Thing) indicate a level of motivation that goes way beyond sticker shock. These bikes took a LOT of time and money to build - time that could have been spent riding a new/newer bike. Why lavish all this attention on an XS11 and not something else? With a Harley, at least there is the chance of getting your investment back. XS11's seem to be worth nearly as much parted out as running! When I get my XS up, I'll have an old bike I can't find new parts for, that no bike shop will service, that doesn't stop, accelerate or handle like a modern bike, gets lousy gas mileage, on and on. This is what I'm hearing, anyway. I used to have a blast on this bike, and my wife and I used to go on dates on it so I don't really care much about peoples' negativity, but I would like to know - are there any "good" reasons for doing this?

[TopCatGr58]

Okay,

Due to my stupidity, I allowed mine to get severely neglected by weather sitting outside for 9 years. I felt I had already gotten my $3k worth of riding out of it during that time. So... when I decided to resurrect it, I looked at the possibility of getting a new machine....YUCK! Very high insurance, loan payments, and so much electronic gobbledygook, I wouldn't be able to barely change the plugs!! I needed to do the Big Bore kit to get new pistons and clean rust free cylinder walls, so that's where a lot of the rebuild $ went! Then adding up what it would have cost to have a mechanic do the work....egads! So...doing it myself allowed me to actually save $$ both in labor, and also provided me the learning oportunity to be able to work/fix it essentially no matter what was to possibly go wrong later! And I enjoy the feeling of satisfaction of doing a job well, and doing it myself!

These machines are fairly unique, they are not V-twin Cruisers, not Crotch Rockets, but a genre all to themselves, I don't like being a clone or riding one....I consider myself a bit of an individualist, and riding the XS11 allows me that feeling!

Now as for performance, the brakes are quite adequate, who wants to do a STOPPIE anyways? And it's true that they can't run as quick as a Sport Bike, just like a Cobra Mustang may not be able to outrun a VIPER, but for about 1/25 the price, the Mustang's lots of fun! The speed limit is 55-75, and I can get there in about 4-5 seconds, plenty of grunt for this "mature" rider! And if you saw my DVD I made about the '03 VJMC rally run in Ga, Tenn, the tail of the dragon, you'd see that it handles good enough to scrape the pipes and centerstand in the twisties! And 30mpg isn't bad, heck it's 1-1/2 times better than my best SUV!!

Well, that's some of my "Good Reasons" to resurrect an XS11!! RIDE IT!

[fabriqueprecis]

Stoppie

As I understand it, a stoppie is where you put the front brake on so hard that the rear wheel comes up off the ground If that is correct, it should be called a crappie, because that's what I'd be if it ever happened to me!
Thanks for the insight - I heven't really ridden enough bikes to know what's so "Special" about the XS. I just always had a lot of fun on it! Man, when the UPS guy gets here with my parts I'm gonna run out to the curb to meet him! I haven't felt like this since the day before Christmas when I was a kid. That in itself is worth something!

[Targetman]

fabriqueprecis, I had an '85 fj1100 for three years, until I was hit on the freeway in '96. Now I have a '79 xs1100sf.

I like the xs alot, don't get me wrong.

But compared to the fj, it's not even the same experience.

I've heard people say that the xs1100 handles well. I'm not that impressed with the handling on my bike, it may be my missmatched tires though. It did improve alot with the addition of a homemade forkbrace, But trust me, If you get the chance to drive an fj, you will see a big difference.

The fj's do have the same problems with 2nd gear, (something to watch out for if you go looking for one).

I would probably look for an fj again if I couldnt revive the xs.

[Ken Talbot]

Good reasons for spending so much time and effort on a 25 year old motorcycle?
For me, it has a lot to do with nostalgia and remembering drooling over the first
Japanese 4 cylinder motorcycle I ever saw at the local dealership. I feel very proud
to own and ride not just one, but four of these motorcycles that hold a special place
in motorcycle history as the following extract from the January 1978 issue of
Cycle magazine explains:

[fabriqueprecis]

Good reasons

Thanks, Ken. I have to agree that there is a lot of nostalgia driving my XS resurrection project. I was just curious about how much non-nostalgic merrit was in the bike from an engineering and performance standpoint. I really like the fact that the bike uses no anti-freeze, which is nasty stuff for the environment. If the XS works so well air cooled, why are all the new bikes liquid cooled? Just curious.