First long ride on my '81 special

[gibcott]

I took my first long ride today (Nov 6) and am still getting the feel of the bike. It will be a while before I am comfortable on two wheels again after 25 years. Still shaking out the bike. Stopped for gas and when I hit the kill switch to turn it off the whole kill switch came apart. Sinking feeling of course, had visions of pushing the monster home. Got my wits about me and went in and bought a box cutting knife and used the knife to cut back the wire covering. I took the switch apart to see the color code for the kill wires and cut and spliced the red/white wires together, reassembled the switch and started the bike and rode home. The joys of having a 30 year old bike, I can easily work on it when it falls apart. I came home and ordered a reproduction part on MikesXS web site to try to keep it as stock as possible. I can really see the need to carry a copy of the wiring diagram. I was not really happy with the stepped bench seat seating position, I kept wanting to slide back to get more comfortable. What flat bench seats out there will work on the '81 XS1100 Special?
Bob

[DGXSER]

Hey Bob,

Well...yeah, one of the joys of these is having something to work on periodically! But like you said, you CAN work on them!

As to the seat, well, none of the Standard seats that are flat will fit on the special. What you CAN do is take your seat and have new foam and cover put on to shape it into a flatter profile.

[Cobia]

Bob,
I feel the same way about my seat on my XJ. Not only would it be more comfortable, but it would be safer as well. Once I had to really lay into my brakes, including the rear one, and the only thing that saved me from the rear wheel sliding around to the front on me was shifting my weight rearward to maintain traction!!!