Proud New Owner- Intro and Questions

[Aaron]

Hey folks. Just bought a new bike on tuesday! 1980 XS1100 "Eleven Special." Only $650. New tires, battery, headlight, only 16,500 miles. I think i got a pretty sweet deal. Anyhow, i am what you'd call "new to motorcycles." I know this bike is a little ambitious for a new owner, but after taking it for a spin around the apartment complex I feel comfortable enough to not regret the purchace. After doing quite a bit of reading on here I quickly gained the confidence to do a carb rebuild this past weekend. Went off without a hitch, thanks to the valuable info on here. Next up is to get them synced up. And a brake rebuild. Already signed up for the safety course, thats gonna happen weekend after next. She is a bit of a finicky starter, but once i get it goin, it runs like a dream. Any advice on some tuneup procedures I should undertake besides what I got going already? Any weak spots about these bikes I should watch for? Anything obvious I am overlooking? Thanks in advance for the replies fellas. Here are some pics in trade for the help.
Aaron


http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/822/171cy.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/339/176ga.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/834/174rr.jpg/

[slow mo]

hi and welcome

you lucky bas,, sorry typo,,what a great find Aaron, take the course,, don't ride above your skill level please! and ride safe ,,slow mo!

[geobiker]

Congratulations

Aaron:

Congratulations on the new "old" bike. Looks like it will polish up nice.
Lots of great tips on this site. If you have a specific concern you can type in a key word on the "Search" task. Lots can be learned on these great old bikes. Sounds like you have a good running bike without any major issues. The first thing I would recommend is a shop manual. I have both a Clymers and a Yamaha Shop manual. Not that I am endorsing E-bay, but parts can be found there (although sometimes over-priced). Parts can also sometimes be obtained on this web-site.

As far as riding goes . . . start out slow and never overestimate your abilities. The XS1100 is a big, fast and heavy bike. The most dangerous place for a motorcycle, in my opinion, is any intersection. It you ride with the mindset, that most of the time you are invisible to the general motoring public, you remember that you can't drive too defensively. I have ridden for a fair number of years and have had my share of close calls, but the joy of riding still makes it wothwhile! There are not many bikes that have stood the test of time like the 1100.

Have fun and ride safe!

[bikerphil]

Welcome aboard, congrats on your new bike. As for hard starting, did you make sure the small passageway in the bottom of the carb bowls is clear? Those passages are for the enrichment circuit (choke).

[Aaron]

Thanks for the welcome guys!

Yeah, Phil, I followed the "carb cleaning 101" post any was more than meticulous. Those things are clean as can be. They were in suprisingly great shape to begin with really. I did have to replace the O-rings on the needle seats though. The more i read on here, the more excited I get. It seems I have bought a bike I can really be proud of. Im gonna paint it here pretty shortly as well. Any particular paint scheme that looks great on these things? I'm kinda partial to two-tone, if there are any cool stock two-tone schemes I'd love to see them.

[Kit]

Greetings, and welcome. Congratulations on a very nice find.

[jwhughes3]

where in texas?

I keep hoping for more Central Texas representation....

Congrats on the bike - I too have the 80 Special (with a few changes) as my main ride...

John

[DGXSER]

I'd say you got one heck of a bargain!! That is a sweat looking lady you have there!!!

Definitely take the riding course and listen well. And also, once they finish the course, go back and practice the same manauvers on your XS11 on their course if you can. It will definitely help you!!

[Aaron]

I do plan to do copy the class on my own bike. I even live behind the giant parking lot they hold the class on. So i have plenty of room to practice. And hey J.W. I'm in the DFW area, not quite Central texas. But always good to see fellow Texans.

[Mendizale]

Hey Aaron, that's fantastic. I'm in the same boat--I got my bike a couple of weeks ago (the first I've owned) and I've been barely able to contain my glee. All I can think about is riding my XS, and I just know the glee is going to bust out and annoy all my friends. I need to clean/synch valves/carbs, but havent been ambitious enough yet. New XS=bad time to work on graduate thesis...

Two-tone would be awesome--make it look like a martini!

Mendizale

[Shacknasty]

That's a fine machine ya got there. Can you say, "Excessive?" You got one of the first superbikes to tool around on now. Take good care of it and you'll be rockin' it for a loooong time.


The best advice I heard about riding a motorsickle is this:

Until you make eye contact with a driver, assume they haven't seen you and WILL pull out in front of you.

When you do make eye contact with the cage driver, assume they hate you and will TRY to hit you.



I think about this a lot while I'm riding. I ride like I'm invisible and nobody has any idea that I'm there. I pretty much remind myself that I can die every time that I swing my leg over the fender.

Then I go have a blast!

P.S. I have ridden a motorbike almost every day since 1976 and I'm still learning how. Enjoy countersteering...

[mack]

Hard starting

If you haven't already, get a new set of properly gapped plugs and sync the carbs, make sure the air filter is clean and charge up your battery.

[windjammergump]

new owner

thats me also a new owner i bought one for 650 and will have about 2000 before next week in it...it hasnt gave me the rush of ownership yet it had 20000 miles on it and when i made it daily rider it went down now new top end and carbs and we will see hope it makes me a good one for the next 10 yrs at least...can you say wiseco 1179....but if you find any pistons of any size buy them and put them up they are hard to find...stock.oversized or even bigbore...eventually you will need them
gump from NC

[Kit]

Until you make eye contact with a driver, assume they haven't seen you and WILL pull out in front of you.

When you do make eye contact with the cage driver, assume they hate you and will TRY to hit you.

Very sound advice.

[jwhughes3]

another Dallas-ite

darn the luck - nobody joining up in the Alamo City...

Well there are plenty of folks there and across the Red River (OK seems to have more than their fair share of XSives) for you to pick on...

You still have time to plan on the MOM Rally in Austin weekend of June 11-13. (See Rallies Forum for details)

John