great site

[Bigfoot]

I am a newbie here and am very impressed with this site. I just bought a xj11 and will be picking it up on monday. I can't wait. I was talking to a neighbor about wanting a larger bike and he mentioned that his son had a big bike in his garage that was collecting dust. I took a look and saw this beautiful bike with full fairings and bags. He told me that first gear was out. He didn't have the money or ability to fix it. I decided to take a chance and paid him the $200 he was asking. Went home and started browsing to see what I was getting myself into. When I came across this site I started reading some of the posts and am amazed at how knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly everyone is. I have been on some forums where this is not the case. When I bought the bike I knew nothing at all about it other than it was big and looked awesome. After reading about the bike on this site and what it can do, I am itching to get it home, get it fixed, and get it on the road.

P.S. anyone else here from Nebraska

[andreashweiss]

You will find lots of info on the second gear problem on this site.The xj seems to have this common problem ie trans troubles. It is usually second not first. Its mechanical it can be fixed. I have a big box of misc trans parts for xs/xj . PM once you get into it and find you need something. Good luck with your winter project Andreas

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there Bigfoot,

Surprisingly, the 2nd gear problem is more common with the earlier models, but my experience has been with the later models, that 1st gears seem to go first. I have fixed 2 XJ's with severe 1st gear skip, and my own 81SH lost 1st first, then 2nd shortly thereafter! Check out the tech tips, and you'll have that thing running fine in no time! Welcome!
T.C.

[Bigfoot]

Thanks for the replies. Picked up the bike today and it definately has a 1st gear problem. I will start tearing into it tomorrow. The bike is in pretty good shape, just seems to need some TLC. It has less than 10k on it. It didn't want to idle at first but after cleaning the plugs and putting in fresh gas with some seafoam I was able to get it started. Ran a little rough for about 10 minutes and then settled down and sounded great. The only other issues that it seems to have is the front brakes seem to be frozen and the fuel sending unit doesn't seem to work. A new front tire will be on the top of my list as soon as the transmission is fixed.