Final Drive Transplant _ Kudos 2 Chop!

[papanovember]

Outstanding!

I just finished the FD mod last week and it is awesome! I did the 1179cc Wiseco kit this past winter and I am running Mikuni RS carbs. I took it out for a ride last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. WOW! I have a 79F with a 17 inch rear and my bike is set up for touring. I am planning to ride to New England(Maine, Mass, and maybe Nova Scotia) in mid-April. I can't wait. It is like a whole new bike.

[Crazcnuk]

I have a friend with a 78 750 in his driveway....

Wonder if he'd notice...

Actually, maybe he'd trade, give the little bike more oomph. Anyone try the swap the other way?

[Codger]

Did the swap- can't say enough about it- its all good! I finally have that overdrive 5th that makes those long hauls seem alot shorter. Kudos to all involved in bringing this mod to light.

[xschop]

reverse swap

hey CRAZY, The XS11 FD will bolt right up to the 750(just have to pull off the 750 rubber seal).....sorry if I have given away the 750 launch secret

[ExcessiveBiker]

MaxiChop Mod

The MOD is in and the verdict is Guilty to too much fun. The FD mod seems to NOT have any downside. Almost a month and 1000 miles without any problems.
The new 1100 is almost too civilized for words, it's quieter, less stress, easier to shift and better gas mileage to boot.
Old #s 60 mph at 4100 rpm
New #s 60 mph at 3600 rpm
This gives about a whole extra gear for the road. No more screaming engine at 70 mph.
Thanks to Chop for the idea and Maximan for the directions and bushing. Looks like Max could start a small bis. in the bushing dept.
If you have not done this yet, stop thinking about it, DO IT. 750 FDs are getting more expensive.

[pggg]

Here's my take on this XS re-gearing business. Did LOTS of experimenting ya know!

Yellow line - stock gearing on a Standard model Eleven. Best performance. Bike's always lively and responsive in all gears. Whips most street vehicles on hard take-off. Leaps forward like a scalded cat in all gears like an XS11 should. Power band always a mere blink away.

Green area - Best compromise for performance, economy and relaxed cruising. 3700 - 3800 revs ideal.

Blue area - Still good but 5th is just starting to lose oomph and 1st getting a tad tall.

Pink area - Getting very borderline on instant performance, you need to start tap-dancing on the gear lever to get any immediate pull in the higher gears. Top gear roll-ons are weak(Harleys'll whip ya!) You need to 'take it easy' on take-offs(pita) coz 1st gear is getting dodgy and fragile. Bike's losing 'character' swiftly..

Red area - Ratsh#t 1st gear performance, murder on the gearbox, plastic jappo 250's and 400's blow ya into the weeds on take-off, 1st gear will self-destruct swiftly, the bike becomes a n annoying 4-speeder with 5th useless for real world riding and only rarely used as a non-performance overdrive. No power band at all and won't rev out to anywhere near peak horsepower. 4th becomes a far superior gear to cruise on. Basically an all-round pita, with all XS11 character vanishing...

[xschop]

easy

Hey pggg. I haven't had any gear clunking or grinding or "OUT OF NOWHERE NEUTRALS" NOT A ONE, since this gear change. And I don't drag race the blue streak either so I am not worried about frying first gear... GAS is getting expensive here (for our style) and I don't want to pay the Arabs anymore than I have to.... I am averaging 45-47mpg and that's with a 16" rear tire and I don't baby her once I'm going.....So just let democracy rule and see what people think....I've got 2200 mi. so far

[John]

I can still lift the front wheel if I want to, but I rarely did it before the mod, so why start now? With the gain in mpg, I'm more than happy with it. I got 40 mpg on a ride last week. I've got well over 2K miles since the mod, and there have been no problems yet. If I do have a trans problem, I'll let ya know. Hell, it went bad back in the early 90's long before the big bore, and even longer before the FD swap. I had a machine shop undercut the trans gears when I was doing the big bore, so I could get all the new ponies to the back tire, instead of having them bouncing around inside the crankcase.

[planedick]

Top end...

The only difference I can see is that Pathfinder won't go past 120 MPH in 5th gear. If I really want to go faster I can just shift to 4th and it's like it used to be, goes right on up well past that place where my "yellow streak" takes over, usually around 140 MPH. Since I just rejetted the carbs back to stock yesterday, I really don't know how much better the mileage will be. I had been running those "drilled out" mains I put in there when I was struggling with it. Even then the mileage went from 30 MPG to about 34 MPG.

Some people just are too negative to enjoy anything.

[mason79]

hey pppg, does the scenerio you illustrate pertain to a stock good running xs 1100,

don't the power band move around depending on the:

state of tune,

the aggregate net value of modifications,

load and weight of rider and or passegers,

elevation,

aerodynamics difference between naked and faired

condition of drivetrain

and not to mention the real world riding seat of the pants vs. narrowly focused dyno type accessment?

just curiuos...

[MAXIMAN]

Mod with a 17" wheel

I hope this doesn’t “upset” anyone. It seems I have a God given talent for doing that. So this is all I will post for a while. Still I am so pleased with the results I must share the news with the brotherhood.

One of our very own ..Bohn Frazer of KC…drove to my place yesterday to do the 750 FD mod. Bohn has a bone stock …full dressed…’80 Special XS1100SG. He went to a 17” wheel couple years ago for rev reductions. So we installed an XS750 drive on his machine. About 2 hrs later we started riding and I am so pleased to report even with the 17” wheel the bike runs like a top. It launches perfectly and has plenty of roll-on torque at most any speed. At first I feared it would simply be geared too tall. But it appears I was yet again proven wrong concerning this issue. The Eleven simply has so much bottom end it doesn’t really effect it.

As a matter of fact Bohn accidentally launched the bike from a stop sign this morning in 3rd gear! The big Eleven simply over powered that gearing and kept rolling. I could not believe it didn’t choke.

As you know with my bike and a 16” wheel I went from 5000 rpm at 80 mph to 4400. Bohn is spinning about 4200 rpm at 80! At 60 mph he’s a hair over three grand. Not sure if he’ll keep the 17” wheel. He’s going to put 500 miles on it and see if he likes it. If not he’ll go back to the 16”.

However you may not want to go this far because there is no data on how the bike will perform (clutch, mpg wise) over the long haul. I’ve got about 1500 miles on Zilla so far with no problems.

Have a nice day brethren …and please …no hate mail…just spreading news.

[HobbyMan]

Its good to hear from you. I am trying to pick up an 850 FD as we type.

[John]

Max!

Glad to see you back on the forum. Any chance we will see you this weekend? You know you're welcome. Man, with a 17 inch wheel, the fuel milage will probably be over 45 mpg. Hmmmm....Do they make a 17 incher with curved spokes ala the XJ1100

[pggg]

Yeah guys, small changes do make big differences, Planedick I'm not 'negative' at all, just being straight up, no BS. Don't rely on the XS speedo to be accurate, if the revs are sitting over 3 1/2 grand, you won't be havin' problems. Of course the XS's flat torque curve hauls the beast forward without straining the pistons but you're still losing bike lengths compared to stock, not a big deal there tho. I had mine geared at 3 grand@100kph and was easily doin' 20mph to 110mph in 3rd. Feels like a big ole automatic.

Thought back then it was the best thing since sliced bread, but eventually realized it just isn't a good all-round ratio for every day riding. There's simply no point in gearing up too tall coz you're not gaining any advantages while gaining some real disadvantages.. I'm gettin' an easy 40 - 45 mpg sitting on 3700 - 3800@100kph, and by the sound of it, those 750 units are delivering a very similar ratio. I'd be happy with that. Go too tall and problems arise...

[DeanR]

Cody, Also happy to see your recent post. Have missed your insights and useful info. Need to ask if you have any bronze spacers left. If so I would very much appreciate one. Your PM mailbox is full. Please let me know and hope to see your posts continue!! Many thanks...
Dean