She's Off The Road

[Jarion]

Since Duds posted such beautiful pics of the restoration.... I thought I'd "finally" figure out how to post pics of the Midnight Special I've mentioned to a few of you.

=============Warning====================

This pictures may not be suitable for the faint at heart.


As I've mentioned in the past... this bike was purchased only because the rear brakes work.... but now that Steve educated me on "spluge holes" (or splooge holes... whatever) .... I'm not decided on what to do with it yet.....

Maybe a Go Cart!






















OK - in an attempt to clean up this post a little.... here's a picture of the good bike.
1980 XS1100 Special.

[natemoen]

She looks pretty decent! Way better than what some started with, but worse than others. Similar to what I started with.

[Jarion]

Agreed Nate,
This one had a hard life.... to look like that after only 14k miles

[natemoen]

Mine had 24k when I got it. Never does it much good when it its unprotected for years though.

[Jarion]

Nate,
you ok up there?
Weather is looking pretty dicey tonight up there.
Weather Channel keep talking about tornado warning

[Jarion]

I might check to see if this thing will bust over.... if it does it may change my outlook on this.
The engine isn't locked up and seems to engage in all gears.
Time will tell.

[natemoen]

Everything is fine so far here. Little weird going from mid 50's one day to mid 80's and 110% humidity the next then back to the 50's tomorrow. Just sitting here at work sweating my balls off for now.

[natemoen]

I might check to see if this thing will bust over.... if it does it may change my outlook on this.
The engine isn't locked up and seems to engage in all gears.
Time will tell.

I hope she does kick over for ya. Over all doesn't seem like she is too bad.

[Jarion]

I could go for some 50's (high 50's)
Was golfing in San Antonio Friday (Palmer) ... mid 90's and humid....

Would have lost a few pounds that day if it hadn't been for the two beer chicks making the rounds with "free" beer.... free whiskey.... free everything.... one was working the front 9 and the other the back.... no one was thirsty that day.

50's wouldn't be bad right now.

[natemoen]

I certainly dont mind 50's and 60's!

[DGXSER]

Thta bike certainly looks like she has seen some tough days out in a field. But overall it is fairly complete and looks to be in pretty decent condition. I would think over a course of a month or three she could be top notch once again and ready to provide some nice riding time!

[crazy steve]

That's an interesting exhaust on the MNS; I wonder what the mufflers are off of...

[Jarion]

Well,
I was "told" that this bike was "put up" properly.... tank drained... oil drained.... etc.
The inside of the tank is in wonderful condition.... which encourages me that possibly the carbs aren't in to bad a shape either..... don't think it spent much time outside in the weather.... but .... when I look at this it reminds me of something a teenage kid owned.... and screwed around with until it became to expensive to maintain.
The pipes are not correct.... it puzzles me why the pipes were switched out for what's on there now.... maybe these are some sort of performance model.

The airbox is gone
The right side of the engine looks like it has seen some road rash (a pet peeve of mine).... I was shocked to see how well Duds shined up his engine covers and this has given me a bit of optimism regarding this.
The clutch handle is snapped in half
The hand grips and throttle don't feel right (i.e. they're different from what's on the special I have)
For some untold reason there's a wood screw in the top of the front master cylinder cover.
The right side front blinker is broken
The front tire - if you look in the pics you can see that it appears someone rode through a puddle of tar deep enough to make it stick to the rim.... this stuff is nasty... and tonight I had a putty knife trying to scrap this off... will take quite some time to clean this...
The side covers are gone... (another pet peeve)
The ingnition switch seems to switch, however, I believe if I stuck a screw driver in there it would work as well as the key (haven't tried this).

if it handn't been for the fact that the rear brake functions... I probably would have walked away from this.

[fredintoon]

- - - Maybe a Go Cart! - - -

Hi Joe,
gonna chop it up to make a Go-Kart, eh?
Take your thumb off my hot button before you trigger the acidulous comments, please?
Seriously though, a great find and only a few missing parts and minor cosmetic blemishes to cope with.
As has been mentioned, many have started off with worse.

[cywelchjr]

Hi Joe,
gonna chop it up to make a Go-Kart, eh?
Take your thumb off my hot button before you trigger the acidulous comments, please?
Seriously though, a great find and only a few missing parts and minor cosmetic blemishes to cope with.
As has been mentioned, many have started off with worse.

I was thinking about either building a go kart or a trike out of my extra engine. Haven't decided which yet. Although I'm kinda leaning in the direction of a trike, but maybe more towards a backwards trike with dual front wheels and a single rear? Use the 11FD and all and some sort of light auto or ATV type front suspension. (ok, maybe a 750FD, but then maybe not).