Some pix of exhaust and paint job

[James England]

Hey James,
Great XS 11 you have there. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Thanks! Once I get the front wheel back on and the weather improves a bit, I'm going to take a few final 'official portrait' shots and will post them here. You know the kind of thing.... bike outside next to stately home/trees/green fields etc! There's a nut & bolt/fastener company here that wanted to use pix of the bike for their brochure. They sell things to replace rusty originals on bikes. That was pre paint job and exhaust, so I said once that was done I'd send them some pix. I'll post a couple on here too.

The company is called www.tastynuts.com It's got some good stuff....

[Wildkat]

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!

NICE looking bike!

[natemoen]

www.tastynuts.com

Something about that name just ain't quite right....

[WMarshy]

The shifter is the standard UK issue on all XS1100's. I notice that in the US, you just have a straight gear lever. It's 1 down, neutral, and 4 up (same as in the US).

Apart from imports of US bikes, they are all like that here. I don't quite know why though!

Any chance you can show us a little more detail (both sides) on how your foot pegs are mounted? Im interested in moving mine back some and you might have just what Im looking for. Any idea whats behind that cover on the shifter side, maybe some type of support bearing for the additional piviot point? Great looking bike!

[crazy steve]

The bike is looking FABULOUS! JUST FABULOUS!!

The money on the exhaust was well-spent IMO; very nice looking system that 'fits' the bike correctly unlike nearly all of the aftermarket systems. Seeing what mint/NOS systems are selling for here, the price isn't all that high. I'll agree that having the 'correct' taper on the mufflers would have made the system nearly identical to OEM, but even still. Actually, I can think of several dodges that could be used to add that to the mufflers after the fact if you can find a metalsmith with a bit of talent. And any chance of some 'detail' pics of the exhaust (mounting, crossover, etc)?

If you have any more info on your decal supplier, I'd love to have it; I couldn't find him on Ebay. It's hard to tell in the pics, but are the decals yellow or gold? This also shows up the differences between Europe and the US in how these were marketed. Your trim scheme is correct for the '78 US model only; the '79 was slightly different. Although I've been told that in Britain, the 'model year' on the registration is set by when the vehicle is sold, not by when it was made, although your color isn't 'right' for a US-spec '78.

The tubeless/tube thing is interesting also. Yamaha supposedly went to tubeless rims on the '79 models, but it was apparently a running change as some '79 standards came through with 'tube' wheels and fairly late in the production run too. The only difference I could find between the tube/tubeless front wheels was a slight casting change at the disc mounting flange and the tubeless wheel being stamped (not cast in) as 'suitable for tubeless'. I know that more than few members are running tubeless tires on the 'tube' front wheel with no issues. The rears are indentical except for the stamping and not being drilled for the 'bead grips' (or whatever those are called) on the tubeless versions. Have you looked at any later wheels (say, '80 or newer) to verify that those are also tube-only?

Again, the bike looks fabulous!

[James England]

Any chance you can show us a little more detail (both sides) on how your foot pegs are mounted? Im interested in moving mine back some and you might have just what Im looking for. Any idea whats behind that cover on the shifter side, maybe some type of support bearing for the additional piviot point? Great looking bike!

Thanks for the compliment. The footpegs are mounted on the rear engine mounting bolt. I know exactly what's behind that shifter pivot...... nothing! I actually have one of those casings. Basically, it's just a metal pivot. I'll put an outside and inside pic below..... if you need any more, let me know...









CASING:

[crazy steve]

Looks like your pegs are back-and-up about 3 inches in both directions. And besides the mounts, the pegs are different too...

[James England]

The bike is looking FABULOUS! JUST FABULOUS!!

The money on the exhaust was well-spent IMO; very nice looking system that 'fits' the bike correctly unlike nearly all of the aftermarket systems. Seeing what mint/NOS systems are selling for here, the price isn't all that high. I'll agree that having the 'correct' taper on the mufflers would have made the system nearly identical to OEM, but even still. Actually, I can think of several dodges that could be used to add that to the mufflers after the fact if you can find a metalsmith with a bit of talent. And any chance of some 'detail' pics of the exhaust (mounting, crossover, etc)?

If you have any more info on your decal supplier, I'd love to have it; I couldn't find him on Ebay. It's hard to tell in the pics, but are the decals yellow or gold? This also shows up the differences between Europe and the US in how these were marketed. Your trim scheme is correct for the '78 US model only; the '79 was slightly different. Although I've been told that in Britain, the 'model year' on the registration is set by when the vehicle is sold, not by when it was made, although your color isn't 'right' for a US-spec '78.

The tubeless/tube thing is interesting also. Yamaha supposedly went to tubeless rims on the '79 models, but it was apparently a running change as some '79 standards came through with 'tube' wheels and fairly late in the production run too. The only difference I could find between the tube/tubeless front wheels was a slight casting change at the disc mounting flange and the tubeless wheel being stamped (not cast in) as 'suitable for tubeless'. I know that more than few members are running tubeless tires on the 'tube' front wheel with no issues. The rears are indentical except for the stamping and not being drilled for the 'bead grips' (or whatever those are called) on the tubeless versions. Have you looked at any later wheels (say, '80 or newer) to verify that those are also tube-only?

Again, the bike looks fabulous!

Thanks very much! You're correct, we register bikes here on the date of sale, not the date of manufacture. This means that bike dealers can end up with 'old' bikes that are brand-new and never been used which, when sold and registered, appear to be the 'wrong' year for the model etc etc. My bike is bang on the changeover of years. The colour is Yamaha black (I have the code number) which I think came in here in 1979 (the registered year of my bike) but the decals are 1978 issue (the actual date of manufacture of my bike)...... The decals are gold, not yellow... that's the flash of the camera. The decal man is on eBay.co.uk not eBay.com Here he is: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HONDA-PRESERVE...item3f00edffb5

Re the exhaust. It mounts at each header pipe on the two studs per cylinder and then at the rubber grommet assembly which is in each of the alloy plates that hold the passenger footrests. There's a small metal tube which slots into the rubber grommet and this isolates the exhaust from the frame and cuts down on vibration reaching the frame through the exhaust system.. ie the original Yamaha mounting points. The crossover underneath is a 1.5" tube which I think was standard on OEM systems for some versions of the bike but not actually mine. The OEM for mine featured two pressed steel silencer box things which used to catch water and mud etc and then rot through. The centre stand rubber bumper is mounted on a small bracket on the crossover pipe. On my new system, each inner header is permanently welded to the two-way collector and then this attaches to the silencer. Only the outer header is separate. So this cuts down on joints/clamps. The outer header slots into the collector and a section of pipe comes out of the back end of the collector. The silencer is attached to this with a clamp and the joint is hidden by a decorative piece of stainless trim, quite similar to the OEM system.

As you can see, the system is well tucked in at the sides and not sticking out near the rider's feet. Same on both sides.

By the way, the exhaust man recommends using normal bathroom silicone as a sealer for exhaust systems! Just normal clear bathroom silicone. I couldn't believe it until I tried it but it's on this system now and works fine.

Here's the pix you asked for:

[James England]

Looks like your pegs are back-and-up about 3 inches in both directions. And besides the mounts, the pegs are different too...

All those parts are readily available here though.

If you want that casing in the pix, you can have it for free. Just pay for the postage to the US. I also have one of those shifters too which you can have..... I can't imagine postage costing a lot. They could go Small Packet rate..... let me know....