Awe Crap...

[songs4sale07]

Okay so for almost a year now I've bee running on the impression that my bike was a 1980 XS1100. Well I ran along blissfully ignorant to the small snafu until I read somewhere on here that the 1979 was the last year that Yamaha put the emergency Kick Start spot on the case. well I knew that I had seen one on my bike and just never thought much of it... so I double checked. sure as ****, little plastic tab that says kick starter on it. so I looked at the neck... and once again sure as ****... 1979. I know its not that big of a deal because they are basically the same thing. But now I need to know more about this kick start thing... I would like to be able to kick it if possible mithout having to split the cases. (I've had some charging trouble after rewiring the damn thing and am tired of push starting it when I run the batttery down) so if anybody has the actual kick pedal and arm and some tips n what I do and how to do it I could use some info on this. thanks Z

[exquized1]

My 79 special still has the kickstart stored in the bike. Its located on the right side under the battery tray. Has a wing nut that unlocks it from the frame. Look to see if yours is still there. I was surprised when I found mine. I had been riding the bike for almost 2 years when I found it.

[Crazcnuk]

I would recheck the neck, what MONTH in 79 was yours made?

Anything after 1/8/79 is, in fact, an 80.

The 80's do have the little plastic plug where the kickstart USED to go. The 78 and 79s have a splined shaft sticking out, not the plug.

[CatatonicBug]

Anything after 1/8/79 is, in fact, an 80.

Don't you mean 8/1/79? Meaning August first, 1979.

[BigRed]

Regarding your hard starting, do an advanced search for threads started by me; I've gotten lots of good tips and things to check from guys on here. You'll also find a thread where I asked about adding a kick start, and it turns out that you'd need to split the cases to install the guts of it.

[Crazcnuk]

That's what I said, the 1st of aug, 1978, 1/8/79!

Damn Americans....

[Ivan]

best way to tell the model is the first three digits on the ENGINE, because it may be a 80 with a 79 engine.

I have a kick start, I tried it once. I think I will stick with fixing the starting system.

[songs4sale07]

Thanks Guys.

I'm gonna hunt down Big Reds Stuff. There is just a plastic cap not an actual gear or anything like that and I don't want to split the cases until Winter when I can't ride. I'm gonna guess that My Motor at least is one of the ones that was made after August 1 (or 1/8/79 for those of you out of country) thanks again guys Z

[perurider]

Ha, My kickstart is there, I wondered what that wingnut was for. Thats two things I found I didnt know about my bike, the other was the tool case behind the batt, with a registration from 2004 in it.

[clcorbin]

That's what I said, the 1st of aug, 1978, 1/8/79!

Damn Americans....

I'm one of those "Damn Americans" and I fully agree with you! Who ever thought Month-Day-Year make ANY kind of sense was a moron at best.

[Guy_b_g]

I was in the military so long that 5 1/2 years later I still write the date day/month/year...(and still think 1700hrs when I see 5 o'clock come 'round).

[CatatonicBug]

There is just a plastic cap not an actual gear

That means it's an '80 or '81 motor.

I'm one of those "Damn Americans" and I fully agree with you! Who ever thought Month-Day-Year make ANY kind of sense was a moron at best.

It makes a lot more sense that way to me... When someone asks me what the date is, I would never say, "The eleventh of May". It's always, "May eleventh". It seems backward to write it any other way...

[DGXSER]

Yep military has always written the date day month year. But it is typically written out, as in 1-Aug-79. I don't think in military any more, but I recognize it when I see it. But still not get Cnuks date code.

[cywelchjr]

That means it's an '80 or '81 motor.



It makes a lot more sense that way to me... When someone asks me what the date is, I would never say, "The eleventh of May". It's always, "May eleventh". It seems backward to write it any other way...

I guess it's my years of military experience (7 years active duty, with a previous 14 as a military dependent and 3 years of JRROTC that makes it make sense for me. That said, that's mostly with the month spelled out, otherwise I'm more used to MM/DD/YYYY than DD/MM/YYYY (then again many programmers did MM/DD/YY before y2k and in the ins industry they actually often used only 1 digit for the year (they had y2k issues every 10 years)).

[fredintoon]

Don't you mean 8/1/79? Meaning August first, 1979.

Hi 'Bug,
only in the USA. Official Canadian usage is year/month/day while common Canadian practice is day/month/year.
That you had to spell it out shows how easy it is to get confused between days, months and years with low numbers and cropping the first two digits off the year.
Like 10/12/13. One chance in three of when that is.