New owner questions

[Crusty Snippets]

Just bought an XSEleven Special with 47,000 kms on it. Has Vettor fairing and matching bags and top box. Had a useless set of bars that I changed.

Do both fuel taps need to be turned on? I am thinking one should be on until it runs out of petrol, then the other turned on and fill the tank.

How far up should the oil level be looking through the glass?

Is the drive shaft and rear end separate for oil?

Has anyone used the kick start lever? I do not have one but the shaft is there to put a kick starter lever on.

I will need to change the rear shocks ( useless ) and front forks ( pitted ) and the carb manifolds ( cracked ) but we are mobile.
This will be my rainy day and winter bike, as well as for two up riding.

Uncle Crusty

[natemoen]

Just bought an XSEleven Special with 47,000 kms on it. Has Vettor fairing and matching bags and top box. Had a useless set of bars that I changed.

Do both fuel taps need to be turned on? I am thinking one should be on until it runs out of petrol, then the other turned yld on and fill the tank.

How far up should the oil level be looking through the glass?

Is the drive shaft and rear end separate for oil?

Has anyone used the kick start lever? I do not have one but the shaft is there to put a kick starter lever on.

I will need to change the rear shocks ( useless ) and front forks ( pitted ) and the carb manifolds ( cracked ) but we are mobile.
This will be my rainy day and winter bike, as well as for two up riding.

Uncle Crusty

Yes both petcocks need to be on. One feeds 2 carbs and the other feeds the other 2.

Oil should be around mid way up the sight glass with the bike on the center stand and NOT on the sidestand.

Middle drive, shaft, and rear are all their own fluids. The grease zerk is basically worthless at tubing the shaft. Gotta pull it apart to grease it.

Kick start lever might be there. Look on the right side under the toolbox. There might be a little wing nut. The wing nut holds the lever in.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with the bike!

[crazy steve]

Congrats on the bike!

In order, the answers are...

1. Yes. One petcock feeds only two carbs, so both need to be on. These are vaucuum operated (automatically off if the motor isn't running), but are notorious for leaking. Do a search for 'octy' and 'petcocks' to troubleshoot.

2. There's a cast-in mark on the sidecover...

3. Yes. Changing fluids means draining/refilling each. The middle drive and final drive both use 80-90 gear oil, not motor oil.

4. I've used mine, but only when I had to (low battery). The original lever was an 'emergency only' deal, and fitted under the airbox. Some guys like to prove their manhood by fitting XS850 kick levers permanently, but not me...

As to your manifolds, if they're not cracked all the way through (rare), you can coat them with 'plastigrip' (tool handle goo) to make 'em look better.

[slow mo]

hey crusty

welcome to xs11.com the best place to be! ask all your questions here Nate or one of the rest of the members will help you,,if you look threw the site there are lots of tech tips and advice on how to do and what to look for ,,an xs11 with 47 thou is a find ,,good luck and ride safe ,,slow mo!

[DiverRay]

As your bike is a SPECIAL, NO, YOU DO NOT NEED BOTH PETCOCKS ON TO RUN. I noticed both answers are from owners of STANDARDS, and they DO need both on. As long as the "octy" is still installed and working, you can run on just one side. There is an "off", "on", "prime", and "reserve" on the petcocks. Run in the "on" only, and save "reserve" and "prime" for emergencies. If the bike starts running rough, switch on the other petcock. You CAN run a little low on fuel if you are pulling a hill with only one side on.
Welcome to the site!

[natemoen]

Ah I didn't even think about the octy! Even when I had my special tank I didn't use the octy. Shoulda noticed that though. Sorry

[fredintoon]

Hi Crusty and welcome,
what they said except for the gas taps.
Remember that your newly acquired bike has had 30 yearsworth of dreaded POs.
Any one of which could have messed with the gas taps.
So:-
If it's never been messed with the bike will run on either one of it's taps and the gas turns on and off automatically.
If someone has ditched the Octopus Valve the taps are now manual only and you have to remember to turn them on and off.
Without the octy it can take one or both taps to run the bike depending if the gas lines have been linked across or not.

[Haarstad]

someone should explain the petcock thing to me a bit better, and what is the octy? i have a special and i'm interested...

[natemoen]

The octy (octopus) is a vacuum fuel shut off. All of the petcocks fuel lines will run into the octy (if it is still there, could have been removed). When the bike is running and creating vacuum then it opens a little diaphragm in the octy to let fuel flow to the carbs, bike off, no vacuum then the fuel cannot flow to the carbs. That is if it works, but a lot of people get rid of the thing anyways, just remember to turn the petcocks off when your not riding.

The petcocks are the things on the bottom of the fuel tank that you turn on or off to get fuel to the carbs.

[fredintoon]

someone should explain the petcock thing to me a bit better, and what is the octy? i have a special and i'm interested...

Hi Eric,
like Nate sez, the octy is the single central vacuum-operated automatic fuel shut-off valve on an XS11 Special.
It's called the Octopus Valve because it has eight fuel lines connected to it.
What I reckon is, anything that uses eight fuel lines instead of two has to be at least 4 and possibly 16 times as prone to failure.

[Crusty Snippets]

Update

Thank you all for the answers.
The bike is running and riding a lot better now.
The exhaust clamps were lose where the pipes connected to the head so I tightened them and no more exhaust leak. The rear tyre had a nail in it and was down to 25 pounds when I rode in the rain on Monday evening. The stearing head was too tight and binding, and the rear shocks were useless.
All the above has been fixed. I am a much happier camper today.
Next on the list is front forks, progressive springs and a brace.
Later I will replace all the fuel lines. Seems I need both fuel taps turned on, there is no reserve position, just on and off. Got 180 kilometers before the orange light came on.

Uncle Crusty

[natemoen]

Thank you all for the answers.
The bike is running and riding a lot better now.
The exhaust clamps were lose where the pipes connected to the head so I tightened them and no more exhaust leak. The rear tyre had a nail in it and was down to 25 pounds when I rode in the rain on Monday evening. The stearing head was too tight and binding, and the rear shocks were useless.
All the above has been fixed. I am a much happier camper today.
Next on the list is front forks, progressive springs and a brace.
Later I will replace all the fuel lines. Seems I need both fuel taps turned on, there is no reserve position, just on and off. Got 180 kilometers before the orange light came on.

Uncle Crusty

Well then someone must have already removed your octy if you need both on. Do you have 2 fuel lines coming out of your petcocks or just one? If there are 2 lines are they t\\\'ed together at some point? Is one of the nipples on the petcocks blocked off somehow?

Also for the fork brace check out member tkat. he makes a fork brace for both the special and the standard. Reasonably priced and they are made specially for the xs and by an xs owner!

[fredintoon]

- - - Seems I need both fuel taps turned on, there is no reserve position, just on and off. Got 180 kilometers before the orange light came on.
Uncle Crusty

Hi Crusty,
seems your bike has lost it's octy and has a simple 2-hose fuel hookup with the fuel taps' front spigots blocked off?
The Special's taps should still have a reserve position that works, though.
My best guess is that the fuel taps' in-tank filter towers have fallen off and are laying in the bottom of the tank.
Those towers also control the ON vs RES function and in their absence the ON feed position will keep flowing until all the fuel is gone. The fuel ain't being filtered, neither.
Another possibility is that the wrong spigots are blocked off and you are running off the PRIME spigots.

[jetmechmarty]

octy



Item 15 is the "octy" or diaphragm assy.

[Crusty Snippets]

Well then someone must have already removed your octy if you need both on. Do you have 2 fuel lines coming out of your petcocks or just one? If there are 2 lines are they t\\\'ed together at some point? Is one of the nipples on the petcocks blocked off somehow?

Also for the fork brace check out member tkat. he makes a fork brace for both the special and the standard. Reasonably priced and they are made specially for the xs and by an xs owner!

Just sent a message to tkat for a fork brace.

There is one line comming out of each petcock which have on / off only.
An orange light comes on when I get to about 180 kms folowed by a red light.
Not sure how much is left in the tank.

I put another set of shocks on the back which helps. We are still wondering down the road. Will change the oil in the front forks to 20 weight and add 10cc. This advice came from a Yamaha dealer with experience.
But it is the wobbling front forks that are the biggest problem at the moment.

The full fairing also creates a lot of buffeting. I will make a different front window for it. Meanwhile the bike is much warmer to ride than my other bikes, and is quite comfortable and smooth.

A full face helmet with lots of padding helps reduce the engine noise.
I would like to quieten the exhaust noise as well, will take photos of the 4 into 1 pipes in the hope of finding a different baffle.

Uncle crusty