47 & First bike, first ride to/from work

[twinwillows]

47yrs old & finally bought a bike on 6 Nov 2009.. 1981 XS 1100 special w/27,600 miles. Rode it home on Sat.

Over the weekend I cleaned it up & mounted the taillight & bar the PO removed.

Tuesday I rode to/from work. About 80 miles round trip.

Ride went fine.. Beautiful morning/sunrise here in far west/southern Ill. Was a little weird riding home in the dark but I was careful & kept it to the speed limit going & coming - which was a good thing as a pickup truck blew past me on the levee road N of Wickliffe KY & he promptly got pulled over by a KY State Trooper.

Have to do something w/the horn button as the horn goes off @ random while riding.

45F this morning but I bundled up & rode anyway. Another great sunrise.

Thanks for the PDF for the manuals that are posted on this site.. The Owners manual has a ton of great info for a new rider/owner like me.


I need to figure out how to post a photo of the bike..

[Varnae]

fairly specific instructions can be found here

[CatatonicBug]

Welcome aboard! Glad you got it put together enough to ride it. If you haven't already, plan to take an MSF course in the Spring (they are not usually offered in the Winter). I did the same thing, and used the Winter to get comfortable with riding, then took the course in the Spring. I was glad I did, as I learned a LOT that you just don't learn on your own. These are heavy bikes, and all the additional skills you can gain will help.

Nice to have another Midwesterner in the mix. You're about 200 miles, or 3 hours from me! Not too far of a ride for a day trip. If you're ever in the STL area, let me know. I don't get to see too many other XSives around here.

[XJOK2PLAY]

Welcome, Twinwillows!

Read what you said about your horns... one thing you might check & keep in mind would be to see if the PO has changed the stock horns out for new automotive syle ones. Those sometimes have a bracket that is common w/ the ground side of the horns. Problem is, Yamaha runs the hot to the horns, and the ground comes from the switch. Anytime that switchleg becomes grounded, it'll make the horns sound off. DAMHIK... (since your new here, that's short for 'don't ask me how I know'.) Other than that, sounds like something's intermittantly grounding that wire...

There's also a thread that gives the definitions for all the shortcut expressions we use here at times.

We'll be looking forward to seeing some pics of your new scoot soon!

If this is your first bike, be careful. You might consider taking a rider's safety course before too much more saddle time. These things are heavy, and powerful. They can get away from you quickly. And hurt ya... and we don't want that!

As they say... Information is power. Learn all ya can. It'll pay off.

Take care, hope this helps, and ride safe!
Regards,
Bob

[trbig]

Gotta say this again.. Check your tires. These bikes are coming up on 30 years old. New "Looking" tires will blow out if they are old.. and yes I am talking from experience. The tire will have a 4 number stamp melted somewhere into the sidewall in a rectangle. The first two numbers are the week in the year the tire was made and the 2nd two numbers are the year. If the tire is more than.. say.. five years old, I'd consider changing it before riding on them any more.

Welcome to the site and be careful on the bike. They are fun... but kinda like playing with fire. They are unforgiving when you screw up.


Tod

[madmax-im]

Gotta say this again.. Check your tires. These bikes are coming up on 30 years old. New "Looking" tires will blow out if they are old.. and yes I am talking from experience. The tire will have a 4 number stamp melted somewhere into the sidewall in a rectangle. The first two numbers are the week in the year the tire was made and the 2nd two numbers are the year. If the tire is more than.. say.. five years old, I'd consider changing it before riding on them any more.

Welcome to the site and be careful on the bike. They are fun... but kinda like playing with fire. They are unforgiving when you screw up.


Tod

DOT date stamps are usually in an oval or circle...never seen them in a square..but I'll take your word on that... As for these bikes being heavy...well that depends on where you've been in the riding world...to me these bikes are alot lighter than some others I have ridden...but in the case of a new rider,first timer...well the XS is a bit steep for the learning curve...but not impossible to deal with...just know that these bikes do have alot of power even if they are 30 yrs old so go easy on it until you have learned what it s and your limits are...

[twinwillows]

Thanks for the welcome, advice on photos & safety. I'm going to take the safety class in the spring. My mechanic looked the bike tires over & said they are ok but the front could stand replacing.

I took the horn switch apart & hosed it out w/elec connector dryer/cleaner. It worked Thanks for the info on the horn switched ground.. That'd be a "fun" one to figure out the hard way.

[xs11lover]

47 and it's your first bike! Congratulations, you picked a good one.
I never had a bike until I was about 27. I was telling one of my buddies that I kept dreaming that I was on a black motorcycle running down the road.
He said maybe it's your brain telling you to go BUY ONE. So I did.

[twinwillows]

Rode in to work for the first time this week (rode every day last week) as it's been raining Mon - wed..

I found shocks & can't wait to get them here & onto the bike! This hard tail thing is no fun @ all.

Twin

[slow mo]

hi and welcome

well you came to the right place,sage advice, great tech help, ;;i hope you enjoy your stay here as much as i have learn and live,, take the course ;;take care ,,ride safe ,,slow mo!