How tell difference between Special & Standard

[geneborg]

How do I tell whether I have a special or a standard? I am looking for a seat and that is the question asked. I have several bikes and have swapped seats and the only difference seems to be whether the seat and the grab bar fit? Will the seats interchange other than the interference with the grab bar? I have the following bikes in various stages of completion: '81SH (4RO-); '79SF (3H3-);
'80LG (4H3-); and a '80SG (3J6-).

[cywelchjr]

How do I tell whether I have a special or a standard? I am looking for a seat and that is the question asked. I have several bikes and have swapped seats and the only difference seems to be whether the seat and the grab bar fit? Will the seats interchange other than the interference with the grab bar? I have the following bikes in various stages of completion: '81SH (4RO-); '79SF (3H3-);
'80LG (4H3-); and a '80SG (3J6-).

Those should all be specials of one kind or another. Generally specials have the teardrop tank and round gauges and standards have the squarish tank and square guages. There are other things as well but they don't seem to be as concrete as far as I can see.

[latexeses]

Try this out for size...

Serial Number and Model Identifications/colors
US Models:
Year Model Serial # Color(s)
1978 XS1100E 2H7-000101 Macho Maroon
1979 XS1100F 2H7-020101 Magenta Red, Indigo Blue
1979 XS1100SF 3H3-000101 Carmine Red, Black Gold
1980 XS1100G 3H5-000101 Diamond Silver, New Ruby Red
1980 XS1100SG 3J6-000101 Black Red, New Ruby Red
1980 XS1100LG 4H3-000101 New Yamaha Black
1981 XS1100H 4R1-000101 Indigo Blue
1981 XS1100SH 4R0-000101 Black Blue, Cardinal Red
1981 XS1100LH 4W1-000001 New Yamaha Black
1982 XJ1100J 10M-000101 New Yamaha Black, New Ruby Red

[latexeses]

Just in case you go on a multi-national buying spree, you might want to copy these down....

Non-US Models:

Year Model Serial # Color(s) Countries
1978 XS1100 2H9-000101 Macho Maroon Europe
1978 XS1100E 2H8-000101 Macho Maroon
1978 XS1100E 2H9-100101 Macho Maroon Oceania
1979 XS1100 2H9-020101 New Pearl White Europe
1979 XS1100F 2H7-110101 Indigo Blue, Magenta Red Canada
1979 XS1100F 2H9-110101 Magenta Red Oceania
1979 XS1100SF 3H4-000101 Black Gold, Carmine Red Canada
1980 XS1100G 2H9-130101 Diamond Silver, New Ruby Red Europe
1980 XS1100G 3U7-000101 Diamond Silver Canada
1980 XS1100G 3X1-000101 Diamond Silver Oceania
1980 XS1100P 4H9-000001 White Others
1980 XS1100SG 3U9-000101 Black Red, New Ruby Red Canada
1981 XS1100H 3X0 New Yamaha Black Europe
1981 XS1100H 3X1-003101 Black Red Oceania
1981 XS1100H 4T1-000101 Indigo Blue Canada
1981 XS1100LH 4W2-000001 New Yamaha Black Canada
1981 XS1100RH 5N5-000101 New Yamaha Black Oceania
1981 XS1100S 5K7-010101 New Yamaha Black Europe
1981 XS1100SH 4T0-000101 Blue Black, Cardinal Red Canada
1982 XJ1100J 11G-000101 New Yamaha Black, New Ruby Red Canada
1982 XS1100 2H9-140101 New Yamaha Black Europe
1982 XS1100 Police 5H4-000101 New Yamaha Black, White Oceania
1983 XJ1100K 11G-010101 Sparkle Red Canada
1984 XJ1100ML 11G-100101 Blue Black Canada

[geneborg]

Serial Numbers vrs Special or Standard

How does one then determine from the serial/vin # that the bike is a special or standard?
Where has the XS11 specifications page gone? It does not come up when I go to the old address.

[thewiz]

another very apparent difference is ..

that a Special has a leading front axle (on the front of the lower fork leg) and the Standard has the front axle right at the tip of the lower fork leg.

[DGXSER]

Try This Link

http://xs11.com/faqs/17-differences-...odels-faq.html

[cajun31]

If you will look at latexeses post you will notice that some of the model numbers end with for example just a G and they you see SG and LG. The G is the standard, the SG the chrome version of the special and the LG is the midnight special. All of the G models were produced in 1980. Each other corresponding year was handled in similar fashion.

[Big Daddy Funk]

Serial/colour matching.

Am I correct in assuming that the original colour of the bike is not referenced in the serial number? Does anyone know where to get original paint match info? The local dealer is no help with this at all. Thx Rick

[John]

Your best bet would be to take a painted part to an automotive paint and body supply and see if they can match it for you. If you do a search here, you should find a thread by Randy concerning the paint he used on his bike.

[oseaghdha]

Your best bet would be to take a painted part to an automotive paint and body supply and see if they can match it for you. If you do a search here, you should find a thread by Randy concerning the paint he used on his bike.

Tried that.
I got a STD tank I want to repaint.
Took in my side cover, so he could scan it.
So the guy comes up with a Dupont color and tells me it's going to cost about $150 in materials alone to paint the tank!

Gak.

[John]

That sounds about right if you are using a two part paint. When WK painted her FJ11, it cost over $300 for everything needed to lay the paint down.
Have you thought about Duplicolor's new "Paint Shop" line? Everything necessary to do the entire job. I don't know what colors are available though.

[Big Daddy Funk]

Temptation

I got a price of $300.00 to do the tank and side covers (base coat/clear coat) in gloss black. Seems pricey to me. I'm tempted to do it myself but with no booth the dust is a serious problem. Thx Rick

[DiverRay]

$300.00 is a good price! IF the painter is using a two part clear coat, it WILL be fuel proof. Doing it yourself is also fun, so long as you DON'T have problems with the primer and base color.
I made a paint booth out of plastic sheeting, and house furnace filters. I used a good fan as an exhaust fan, and wore a Very Good breathing mask/filter system. The two part paint can KILL in even small quantities!

[thewiz]

Price of materials is ridiculous ..

tells me it's going to cost about $150 in materials alone to paint

these days .... 'specially in CA. If it's a chemical product and it really works, you probably either can't get it in this state or have to pay through the nose for it. Geez ... treehuggers rule here.

The exception might be the new waterborne automotive coatings. Less VOCs, water is the main solvent and MUCH easier on the heath of the person doing the spritzing. I guess these paints have all kinds of advantages over the solventborne coatings of my painting days.

Just had this one painted last week ... according to the paint store, the waterborne pearl red metalic was 90 bucks a PINT!