What would you buy???

[exquized1]

Here is my new ride.

2014 Yamaha Stryker XVS1300c
Got in June of this year with zero miles



I just bought a chrome backrest with quick release and got blackout exhaust that matches mine. I'm happy with it!

[Bonz]

I have an uncle with a 2010 Vmax. I have posted on this forum in other places that I have never accelerated faster in my life in or on any land bound conveyance. The freaking thing will do 0 to 100 in 6 seconds. I rolled on in second gear from 30 miles an hour and hit 120 in about four seconds. I haven't erased the grin off my face each time I think about it in the years since.

[James England]

£15,750 here, new

[James England]

I could cope with one of these though........

[James England]

Oh my God.!!!Those are some beautiful bikes.I am so jealous,!!! What a job James.!!! Love your Bike.

Thanks! I sometimes get some grief about the projector headlamp assembly and the occasional comment that I should have left it totally standard. I can understand this for classic bikes and rigorously apply that to the XS11 bikes I renovated but the XJR's are common, inexpensive and not classics, so although this one was in mint original condition, I felt I could slip off the leash on it and just have a bit of fun with it. the result is a much lighter, faster bike that handles really well and is frighteningly fast..... plus, the XS1100 heritage is clearly there....

[tomcos67]

Oh my God.!!!Those are some beautiful bikes.I am so jealous,!!! What a job James.!!! Love your Bike.

[Bonz]

Yours is just one freakin' good looking bike. It came with the Ohlins on it then?

I like the yellow one, but not a spoked wheel fan.

I also have Daugherty Motorsports re-worked KYB shocks on the rear, custom valves (compression and rebound) and sprung for my weight. Put Sonic 1.0 springs in he front along with 15 wt oil, which made a great feeling front end to go with the improved rear manners.

Keep in mind, the CVK40 carbs are CV carbs. Like you, I would not run flatslides because of the fuel mileage and noise. The CVK40's have been on every ZX11 (ZZR1100 to you) and ZZR1200 made for over 20 years, so are a plentiful and easy acquisition. Because the ZX/ZZR bikes share the respective engines with the ZRX1100/1200, larger diameter intake boots from the ZX/ZZR are a straight across bolt on swap to any ZRX and a necessity to fit the larger carbs. So, in a nutshell the intake is automatically opened up with the boot swap when fitting the carbs. On the air intake side of the carbs, I adapted the intake trumpet plate from the ZX/ZZR airbox and shortened the individual intake trumpets, the mounted pods to them. Took some serious work to get the jetting dialed in, but man-oh-man it was worth every bit of time and experimenting. Some other guys had done it before me, but I came up with a couple things that hadn't been done before, so it is truly a plug and play conversion now.

[James England]

This is quite a pretty one, although not my own personal style. I looked into the spoked wheels but they are even more expensive than forged alloy ones. My Galespeed wheels cost £1400 but the spokes ones in this pic, made in Germany, are £2,400!!!! That's UK £'s...

[James England]

A man after my own heart, by the sound of your mods. I'm not sure re torque but Ill dig out the dyno printout and let you know. There's a lot of torque there though as it's hardly necessary to change gear most of the time!

Are you inlet manifolds restricted? The oem XJR1300 ones are....by about 30%. Dreadful! I fitted FJ1200 manifolds and had four adapters made from alloy because the FJ1200 ones are 5mm shorter. OEM on the right in this pic.....new FJ1200 one on the left



I too was wondering about flat slide carbs but I think the clattering at tickover might drive me mad.......


Here's how my bike looked when I first got it with 1800 miles on the clock. Yep, I know...some people would say I should have left it looking like that but they aren't rare here and I did find it a tad boring in appearance.....

[Bonz]

I am in heaven... Ahhhhhh... Ohhhhhh... The closet thing to that really would be the Bandit 1250S on our shores. My friend Dale Walker at Holeshot Performamce makes typical bolt-on parts to turn the 1250S into 130 hp, almost 100 ft/lb beasts with out internal engine mods. He says it's the best "Standard" bike engine he has ever worked with as far as a platform for improvement.

My '01 ZRX1200 is on a similar path to your XJR. Weight is down from a stock 540 lb wet to right around 500 lb wet. A majority of the weight reduction is from replacing the stock exhaust with an aftermarket full system. Also replaced the airbox with pods, less weighty brake disc out back, GSXR 4 pot brake calipers up front (replacing stock Tokico 6 pot calipers), replacing radiator shrouds with smaller brackets, GSXR radiator fan and lightweight custom fan bracket. Once the indestructible stock, original YUASA battery bites the dust, a Shorai or equivalent is going in the bike to drop weight well into the 490 lb bracket. I have also adapted downdraft carbs from a ZZR1200 onto the bike. Flat slide performance and 52 mpg. The ZZR and ZRX share the same everything other than downdraft heads on the ZZR (ram air as well), .5 higher compression pistons on the ZZR and more aggressive cams in the ZZR. Also have a +4 timing rotor that made phenomenal gains in throttle response, especially with the larger 40mm CVK40 carbs vs stock 36mm carbs.

Next up is to swap in ZZR cams at the next valve inspection, add the ZZR igniton module to change the timing characteristics for the better, and then a set of ZZR1200 pistons with a thin cometic head gasket for a 1 point bump in compression. That will be almost 150 hp at the wheel with close to 90 ft/lbs torque. I have those parts ready to go over the winter.

What was your torque at the rear wheel when you dyno'd it? That is what I look for as much as hp when it comes to a big UJM bike like the XJR and my ZRX.

[James England]

a few more pix

Here's a few more pix... I'm aware the bike is not everyone's cup of tea but I like it. The projector headlamp provokes either adoration or downright hatred!!! It certainly is loads lighter than OEM. I was trying to take a heavy bike and transform the handling and performance as much as possible. Since it's relatively new (11 years old now), it didn't seem such sacrilege to do it, especially after the rigours of restoring two XS11's......









Braced swinging arm

















and, of course, the XJR's mum.....

[James England]

'Those Ohlins shocks on the back?

That is a pretty bike! Nothing prettier than an old style air-cooled lump. I see it has an aftermarket exhaust, what kind of power does the bike make in stock form, and what does it make now? Any other engine mods you have done? I am curious also if the bore and stroke are the same as the FJR 1300?

I've done loads of mods to the bike and spent quite a lot of money on it but it's my hobby and worth it to me

I reduced the weight by 30kg by doing the following........ fitting forged alloy wheels, carbon fibre exhaust cans, single-skin stainless headers and collector box and link pipes (ceramic-coated in satin black), replacement of every single fastener with titanium...if you can see a bolt, screw or allen bolt, it's titanium. Titanium hollow front axle. Titanium header clamps and studs. Armstrong wavy brake discs (about 1 lb lighter each than oem) . Window engine casings. Ditch OEM headlamp and brackets (which weigh loads). Lithium battery at 900g instead of 4.5kg. Titanium clutch parts, visible through the window casings. Removal of the AIS exhaust emissions system. Cartridge oil filter modification which reduces weight by 1.5kg and makes oil changes easy. Much reduced weight front sprocket guard by Coerce, Japan. Fork brace by Coerce too.

Performance-wise I did the following..... fitted full bore inlet manifolds instead of the restricted OEM ones, grey Dyna coils, iridium plugs, Dynojets in the carbs, advanced ignition timing by 4 degrees, airbox and filter mod to allow better flow, ditched OEM exhaust.

I fitted an oil cooler thermostat so that the engine reaches operating temperature more quickly. Also an oil temperature gauge which runs from a sensor in one of the pre-drilled holes in the sump pan waiting for goodies to be connected up. The thermostat means the engine warms up to 180F in 7 miles instead of 15 miles so my theory is that maybe there will be less engine wear due to cold oil. The gauge is a Stack electronic one which calibrates itself every power-up.

I fitted 'Intiminator' race cartridge emulators in the forks and also the interestingly-named 'Vibranator' handbar inserts which reduce bar vibration. the rear Ohlins are the cheapo version that come as standard on the bike but they do the job.

I had the bike on a Dyno to check everything was OK after doing the carbs. It produced 130bhp at the rear wheel but that was when it had the OEM four into two exhausts on it. Since then, I fitted the cans which are 2" with removable baffles and he reckoned that would increase it a bit.

I removed all the OEM stuff that was heavy eg the grabrail which was about 3lbs in weight.

The bike handles like a 650 in terms of weight and it really is immensely fast.

I'll dig up some pix and post them.....

[Bonz]

'Those Ohlins shocks on the back?

That is a pretty bike! Nothing prettier than an old style air-cooled lump. I see it has an aftermarket exhaust, what kind of power does the bike make in stock form, and what does it make now? Any other engine mods you have done? I am curious also if the bore and stroke are the same as the FJR 1300?

[James England]

Nothing screams next generation XS1100 more than this bike....the XJR1300

i'd agree with that. The Xjr is similar to the XS and developed from it. Here's mine, modified a lot...

[Tenorman]

Thanks....

Well, I don't have the xs1100 anymore...

After I was done with all of the work, I gave it to my son.

It turned into a great roadworthy bike...and we ride together just about every good weekend.

I can still ride it...I just have to beg!

Tenorman