My Custom XS11 Build (Photos)

[50gary]

Great job, keep up the good work. I love to see guys build their own bike.
Cheers, 50gary

[madbiker]

More pics. please and where did you move the electrical equipment thats under the seat to?
Madbiker

[GNEPIG]

Hey! Just cause I'm having fun with your pictures, that doesn't mean we don't want to see them.
We love your bike man, let's see what you've done next!

I promise I'll behave.

[Da-Bubble]

Oh I loved your comments. That's not stopping me just school. I did get a lot done saturday night. My buddy and I worked until 3am! I'm up late tonight studying for a German exam tomorrow. It's frusterating because it's so close now, but I can't get in a hurry. My motto has always been do it once and do it right.

The front fender continues to be a thorn in my side. After the first attempt when the paint bubbled, I sand blasted it and started over. This time eveything looked fine right up until the final polishing. About a million little white flakes showed up in the clear. It looks like its got dust all over it. I decided to sand the clear coat again and thought it was going away, but after nearly 2 hours of sanding, it came right back as soon as we buffed it out. It's not as bad and I might use it like it is but it's just diasappointing. I think God is telling me to run without a front fender for a more custom look!

Here's what it looks like right now. I couldn't resist throwing all the body panels on to see what it looked like!



I wrapped the frame rails in plastic wrap to keep from scatching the fender while mounting.

[50gary]

Outstanding work, keep it up. I like your attitude, "do it once and do it right" Cheers, 50gary

[webbcraft2150]

Nice job!!! Nuthin better than building your own and having a bike that will not look like every other one. Will most likely outperform the 12k rig also. My bro-in-law had a Warrior. The few rolls ons we got into, the XS will pull em and I had a slipping clutch and a full touring setup. He traded it off for a HD before I could get him in a serious, off the light run. Keep the pirctures coming!!!

[fredintoon]

I think God is telling me to run without a front fender

Nah,
God is telling you to build a temporary spray booth so you can take your own advice and get it right the first time.
God knows a bike needs a front fender to keep his blessed rain off the motor.
Nice understated rear lights.
What you gonna do about the licence plate?

[Da-Bubble]

Thanks Fred. I think I'm gonna leave the front fender alone for a while. It's a 5-footer as it is now. I'll strip and redo it in a few months. I just wanna ride!

I think I'm gonna mount the tag on the lower left shock bolt. If not there then I might use the left rear peg mounting hole since I'm not mounting rear pegs. I'm gonna make my own bracket. I was gonna buy one off eBay but I figured I'd better get my money's worth out of my little Hobart welder. I already bought the tag light. It's a license plate frame with 5 white LEDs recessed into the frame that shine on the plate. It looks pretty cool.

Well I'm off to the garage to do some more polishing!

See ya,
Scott

[81xsproject]

WOW. I know I am a little late in commenting, but your paint makes me excited all over again. Form day one, I knew what the ultimate goal was; Black everthing with a few shiny spots, and a silver powder coated frame. Seeing your beautiful paint job has made me remember what the original vision looked like in my head

[Da-Bubble]

It's ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!

Well it's been a while since I've updated this old thread. I finally got the bike all back together tonight. I've developed a new problem after having the bike dismantled for 6 months....Leaking petcocks and fuel in the airbox. I've done a search and I'm gonna try to blow out the vent tubes as well and see if I can fix the petcocks. Are there rebuild kits for the specials? ALso I remember that one of the petcocks leaked when I first bought the bike but it healed itself after having fuel in it for a while. Here's some grainy pictures I took with my cell phone. Please forgive my messy garage!






Still plenty of things to be done like fabricate the tag bracket, bleed the brakes, and of course fix my new fuel leak (I could have done withtout that!).

See Ya,
Scott

[prometheus578]

"Messy garage...?"

All I saw was one hell of a cool lookin' bike!

[50gary]

I like the dual headlights, I've got an FZR600 set-up for my old bus. Keep on trucking, looking great. Ditto on those so and so petcocks, I hate those things.
Cheers, 50gary

[John]

To answer your question on the petcocks...yes. There are kits available. Your local independent bike shop can order them for you, or there is an ebay seller named Georgefix who sells a lot of rebuild kits for anything it seems. He has good prices, and will not hose you on the quick shipping.

BTW, your bike looks nice. Looking forward to seeing you and your bike in June.

[Da-Bubble]

Thanks John. I emailed Georgefix to see if he'll list an auction for two kits. There goes another $55.

Do you have the Mac 4-2 exhaust on your bike? I mounted my Kerker pipe last night and it just doesn't look right on the bike! My Kerker is drilled so it's pretty loud/raspy. How does yours sound?

[John]

My bike has Jardine 'Spaghetti pipes' but Kat's bike & the Bagger have the Mac 4-2. Personally, I don't lilke the sound of the Mac's, but there aren't too many options for new pipes anymore. We have another set of Jardines for Kat's bike, and a set of OEM pipes as a back up. I really like the sound of the Jardines though. A little lower tone than the stock pipes.