New to XS11, repair questions

[CodyLane]

Ride report is as follows: This bike takes a bit of manhandling at slower speeds but once it gets going it is so much more nimble than I thought it would be. It really digs into the corners with ease and is extremely stable on the freeway. Never had any wobbles or weirdness from it. Truly a suprising experience from such a monster of a bike. Just put some new spark plugs in today and cleaned the POD air filters. Looks like it was running a bit rich. Soon to clean the carbs and maybe synchronize with a homemade apparatus. Also need to get around to fixing my slipping gear problem. It's gonna be a b@stard by myself. Starts off just dandy in 2nd though.

[WMarshy]

Just remember, the longer you wait to do the 1st gear fix the more abuse your clutch takes starting in 2nd, and we all know the clutch isnt very bullet proof either.

[crazy steve]

Ride report is as follows: This bike takes a bit of manhandling at slower speeds but once it gets going it is so much more nimble than I thought it would be. It really digs into the corners with ease and is extremely stable on the freeway. Never had any wobbles or weirdness from it. Truly a suprising experience from such a monster of a bike.

That would be typical of a bike with a bit too much trail. Too much trail increases steering effort and gives you a bigger turn radius, but does give better high-speed stability. Too little trail is where danger lurks....

'78E original owner