"CycleTherapy"

[gui_tarzan]

Got her home tonight, what a relief! It's in better shape than I thought it was going to be. That tank might grow on me, it looks better with the seat than the teardrop tank I have off an old 650 (which doesn't fit anyway) so I'll make do. The guy kept the carbs individually bagged and numbered, lots of parts to go with it. It shouldn't take a whole lot to make it run again but I'm going to disassemble it and work on it over the winter.

Boy does it feel GREAT to be on two wheels again!

[81xsproject]

Good luck and welcome aboard. Let us know if we can help (cuz we can)

[natemoen]

Yup if you switch to a teardrop tank.from a special you will have a gap in-between the seat and the tank, unless you get a special seat that fits too.

Plus you can carry more gas with the standard tank you have now anyways!

[Haarstad]

At first i didn't like the look of the standard but the more i see pictures of them, the more i want one

Congrats on the bike and hopefully you don't run into too many snags

[mro]

It shouldn't take a whole lot to

A little WD, a tap with a hammer here and there and “Presto Motorcyclo”
Just like new

Kidding aside,
amazing just how nice the 11’s can look and run if you spend the time.

mro

[Rickrod3]

A little WD, a tap with a hammer here and there and “Presto Motorcyclo”
Just like new

Kidding aside,
amazing just how nice the 11’s can look and run if you spend the time.

mro

Ditto.
It took some work, trial and error but; worth every minute.
Good luck

[gui_tarzan]

One thing I've already noticed is this thing sits high! I am used to the Honda cruisers that sit much lower and I like the lower center of gravity. Not to mention at 5'10 & a 33" inseam I'm not exactly short, but this bike makes me feel that way. Is there a lowering kit for it?

[CatatonicBug]

One thing I've already noticed is this thing sits high! I am used to the Honda cruisers that sit much lower and I like the lower center of gravity. Not to mention at 5'10 & a 33" inseam I'm not exactly short, but this bike makes me feel that way. Is there a lowering kit for it?

Yeah, it sits higher than other bikes. No "lowering kit" out there, but you can do things like trimming the seat down or dropping the 'tree down on the forks a bit. I'm the same height you are, but the height of the bike is JUST low enough so I can flat-foot on both sides. However, I usually only touch down with the left side, and keep the right on the brake. Wildkat has done some things to her bike to help her deal with the fact that she is vertically challenged, so maybe she can advise some other tricks.

[ManagerMike]

Yep, they're tall, top heavy, ill mannered at low speed, the transmission feels like something from a bad "lost in space" episode, (was there a good one?) and they have the braking characteristics of a coal freighter. Combine all of that with sphincter puckering power........trust me you'll come to love it.

And yes, the standards can look pretty effin good! I'm rather proud of my resurrected barn troll!

[fredintoon]

Capacity is everything.

Got her home tonight, what a relief! It's in better shape than I thought it was going to be. That tank might grow on me, it looks better with the seat than the teardrop tank I have off an old 650 (which doesn't fit anyway) so I'll make do. - - -
Boy does it feel GREAT to be on two wheels again!

Hi gui,
you can fit an XS650 tank by cutting it's narrow tunnel out, trimming the outer shell to fit and welding in a wider tunnel salvaged from a damaged XS11 tank.
The wider tunnel would reduce the XS650 tank's capacity to ~ 2 gallons.
You'd most likely hate that worse than the 3.9 gallon capacity of the XS11 Special's tank, even though the XS11 Special tank will drop straight on with a minor tweak or two.
So yeah, "making do" with the Standard tank and it's 5.3 gallon capacity is the way to go.
Especially when you get the bike on the road and come to grips with it's massive thirst.

[gui_tarzan]

Massive thirst? What kind of mpg are we talking about? I realize it's an 1100, but my old 1300 VTX got 40something.

[DGXSER]

Depending on how "heavy handed" you get with the old beast, I'd expect in the mid to upper thirties to low thirties if you got a twitchy right wrist.

[fredintoon]

Massive thirst? What kind of mpg are we talking about? I realize it's an 1100, but my old 1300 VTX got 40something.

Hi gui,
between 30 & 40 riding it solo. My rig gets the same 28mpg as our family Buick.

[cowboybob998]

lowering kit

You know they use to make a lowering kit for these years ago, i bought one and put it on the bike i had way back when, thats been about 25-30 years ago, bought it from a yamaha dealer, might be a shot in the dark to find one now.

[gui_tarzan]

Thought I would update my thread since I finally got back to work on the old girl. I have a paint scheme in mind and almost painted the frame silver but common sense won over and I repainted it black. Fortunately it wasn't in bad shape at all so a simple cleanup and repaint gives it a nice 5' look.