to buy or not to buy - noob

[sjk6000]

Hi All
i've wanted an xs11 for a long time. One's now available. I don't have time to look at it but am happy to take on a project. What's the worst case scenario if i get this thing?
Cheers, Steve

[Stralya]

Well, I'm only 19!!!!!!!



But I had fun.

Dan
Near death.

[sjk6000]

...meanwhile, back at the post

: )

[79XS11F]

LOL LOL LOL that's funny.


Worst case is that the bike can not be made to run and you part it out on ebay. Best case .. just needs a tune up, carb cleaning and a few odds and ends.
Rob

[Crazcnuk]

ANY bike can be made to run, so WORST case, you get to rebuild an engine, rear drive and everything else...

Best case, you run some carb clean, put new spark plugs, change all the fluids and go cruising.

And, although everyone here seems to be compulsive about carb cleaning, try a tune-up first.

[sjk6000]

Thanks Crazcnuk
Exactly what i thought. Trouble is that ebay did the hanging at the last minute trick and the bike went (tho under the reserve price). Am hassling the guy to let me have it.
"give it to me give it to me now!"...etc
Ta!, Steve

[mro]

Got a call from a guy in Valejo few minuets ago.
Supossed to be on his way to buy my 80G.
If he does show up he gets to ride it home or anywhere else he may want to go...


mro
did offer a guy a non-runner honda I have.
Has not got back to me yet.
I'm making room for _-_-_

[TopCatGr58]

Hey SJK6000,

Where are you located. A fellow Xsive on the YAHOO group just posted about having to sell his machine, living in Moline, IL!? Not sure if this is close to you or not!?
T.C.

[79XS11F]

Originally posted by Crazcnuk
ANY bike can be made to run, so WORST case, you get to rebuild an engine, rear drive and everything else...

Best case, you run some carb clean, put new spark plugs, change all the fluids and go cruising.

And, although everyone here seems to be compulsive about carb cleaning, try a tune-up first.

Agreed .. any bike can be made to run so long as the required parts if needed remain available and ideally at a reasonable cost. However one must weight the cost of making it run with the cost of just getting a different one in better condition. There are some very nice bikes out there and some very poor bike out there. If buying sight unseen you don't know what your getting.
Rob

[fredintoon]

Hi Steve,
Even if you pay too much for the bike and too much again to fix up all the stuff you find wrong with it and then discover you bought a bike with a bogus title, that's all good learning experience and you will be the better for it.
The worst case scenario is that you buy an XS11 with a good motor, worn tires, dodgy steering and bad brakes, can't resist the temptation to take a ride and convert yourself into a smear of forensic evidence.

[fredintoon]

"although everyone here seems to be compulsive about carb cleaning, try a tune-up first."
Hi Craz,
I've only been riding for half a century and I'd really like to know, HTF can you "tune up" a bike if the carbs are dirty?

[Crazcnuk]

In my experience the carbs RARELY ever need to be removed and cleaned. In fact, in over 30 years I've done it twice.

Once on the GT and it made no difference, carbs not the problem, and on this XS1100.

Jury is still out as to whether it did any good at all, and if it did, it wasn't the cleaning, it was setting the floats. The bike runs exactly as it did before, other than setting the idle mixture, except it MAY be burning less gas.

So, to answer your question, if you put dirt in your carbs, you can't tune. but most the time, in my experience, the carbs are NOT dirty and a tune up will do the trick.

Of course, I use only the finest quality Alberta gas!

If you do a search for carb cleaning here you will find that a large portion of the posts report the bike running worse or having more problems AFTER the first 1 or 2 cleanings. Some take years to get the bike back to running after cleaning.

[egsols]

Re: Battle of the west

Fred, Craz, you've both got good points. Its been my experience that the carb problems don't stem so much from dirt but from the shellac formed when the bike sits for an extended period of time. Every set I've had to work on so far had that lovely old gas smell, be it Alberta Premium or Ontario Regular, after a while it all goes bad.

I've also found that the reason a lot of "clean/rebuilds" don't seem to help much is that a jet or passage is missed during the process. If they are all gummed up the same they will probably work with each other, but once 95% is clean that other 5% throws the whole system out.

Thats my 0.02 worth (just under in USD but getting real close)

[Crazcnuk]

Problem is, I've dug bikes out from under wood piles, or pulled them from garages where they've sat for years. Sometimes I've started them with the gas that's still sitting in them.

My bikes sit all winter, every year, outside. Never had a problem. I run some carb cleaner through, with the gas, and off I go.

My GT sat for at least 5 years before I got it, It has run maybe 40 minutes in the 5yrs I've had it. I can run out and start it on the gas that was put in it two years ago. It's carbs were green inside where the gas had evaporated out. Cleaned them 2 or three times. Made no difference at all. Found out the problem was in the points.

Unless you get a lot of dirt in the gastank, or there is no provision for filters ar screens, not much gets in there.

That being said, I know that the gas for warm climates seems to be a lot different than what we use out here. Or if you go to places like Mexico or many other countries the fuel can be very dirty. We had fun with the diesel for our sailboat in some 2nd and 3rd world countries.

I am not saying it can't happen, just don't run out and rip your carbs apart until you've looked at all the easy fixes first.

[egsols]

Yeah, I definitely agree that ripping carbs apart just cause the bike doesn't seem to be running right isn't the smartest thing. The PO of my bike told me he had spent the last year and half taking the bike to different shops to get it running with no results. I picked it up on a Saturday and was riding Sunday. Petcocks reversed, fuel lines running to wrong ports, vacuum run from advance unit to fuel shut off, timing set 26 degrees at idle. It was just simple stuff but easily overlooked if you don't start with the basics.

I'm just saying, that a lot of times I will see guys try to rebuild something and for some reason, be it inexperience, ADD, etc. the job isn't done as thourough as it should have been and thus they think it wasn't worthwile doing.

BTW, must be this Ontario gas cause it doesn't seem to take long to go off and its a B#$% to clean.