Points on my XS11

[rb240tuner]

The funniest thing happened today. I was travelling south on Clinton Street in my town and I noticed a HUGE miss in the bike and a loss of power. I pulled over to check my plugs and wires and they were fine. I got to thinking about the points ignition on that bike.

After my diagnosis, it was the points causing the miss. Should I keep it all original or convert this original (minus the seat) 6800 mile bike to electronic ignition?

Please give me some advice.

[natemoen]

There are no points on the XS11. It's electronic. Most likely the pickup coil wires are breaking from the vacuum advance movement. Search for "pickup coil fix" and you can read all about it. Very common problem.

[rb240tuner]

Very nice. When I first got the bike I took it to a local dealership and he told me it had points ignition on my 79... Thank you for the info! As you could see I am not much of a motorcycle guy but I do like my XS11!

[T99Ford]

There are no points on the XS11. It's electronic. Most likely the pickup coil wires are breaking from the vacuum advance movement. Search for "pickup coil fix" and you can read all about it. Very common problem.

^ yep. What Nate said.

[WMarshy]

Very nice. When I first got the bike I took it to a local dealership and he told me it had points ignition on my 79... Thank you for the info! As you could see I am not much of a motorcycle guy but I do like my XS11!

Do your self a favor and dont take your bike back there! I could only imagine how dangerous that guy could be if given a set of these carbs.

[CatatonicBug]

Do your self a favor and dont take your bike back there! I could only imagine how dangerous that guy could be if given a set of these carbs.

+1 to that!! Get yourself a manual and read the WHOLE THING! You can download it from the link in my signature.

[fredintoon]

Very nice. When I first got the bike I took it to a local dealership and he told me it had points ignition on my 79... Thank you for the info! As you could see I am not much of a motorcycle guy but I do like my XS11!

Hi Aaron,
if you only told the dealership you had "An XS" and he assumed you had the far more usual XS650 he'd be right.
The '79 XS650 does have points and only swapped to electronic ignition for the 1980 model.
But f**k, he shoulda looked, eh?
So, like they said, the wires to the ignition pickups may have failed. It's an easy fix.
BTW, the vacuum operated advance isn't the only weird thing about the XS11.
Didja notice that the engine runs backwards?

[cywelchjr]

Hi Aaron,
if you only told the dealership you had "An XS" and he assumed you had the far more usual XS650 he'd be right.
The '79 XS650 does have points and only swapped to electronic ignition for the 1980 model.
But f**k, he shoulda looked, eh?
So, like they said, the wires to the ignition pickups may have failed. It's an easy fix.
BTW, the vacuum operated advance isn't the only weird thing about the XS11.
Didja notice that the engine runs backwards?

Worse yet, it ain't even in the same place!

Same with the XS400's as well (don't know about the 750's or 850's), they got the electronic ignition in 80, and don't know about the 650, but the 400 also got the electronic timing advance at the same time, a year ahead of the 1100.

[rb240tuner]

Hi Aaron,
if you only told the dealership you had "An XS" and he assumed you had the far more usual XS650 he'd be right.
The '79 XS650 does have points and only swapped to electronic ignition for the 1980 model.
But f**k, he shoulda looked, eh?
So, like they said, the wires to the ignition pickups may have failed. It's an easy fix.
BTW, the vacuum operated advance isn't the only weird thing about the XS11.
Didja notice that the engine runs backwards?

I did notice the engine ran backward... I thought that was the weirdest thing when my cousin was looking at it. He said it was normal for these bikes. I told him 'that's what I get for working on car engines all my life'.

By all my life, I mean about 9 years lol. After all I am only 24 just about to turn 25.