80 XS11 Midnight Special chop/rebuild log

[BA80]

And $5000 for an XS? very rare indeed.

Where did you come up with that? DGXSER mentioned something about $2K being rare is all I see.

Ive only seen ONE XS come even close to that $5K sale price and it came from right here in Oklahoma.

[BA80]

Excuse me, it was an XJ. Maximans Zilla.

[Nightengale]

keep the pic comin

I am doing about the same thing to mine and have caught alot of flack over it because mine is a 81 xs1100h venturer. I didnt know that it was rare all i knew was that it was cheap and fit into my budget for what i wanted to do, and i knew that when i was done i would have a one of a kind kick ass bike.
this is mine so far.
i still have a ways to go but when i am done it will be mine, and since i have done all the work myself i can make it the way i want it. your bike looks like it on the way to being something you will be proud of keep up the good work.

[cywelchjr]

IIRC there was an MNS that sold for something like 4500 to a member in norway or something like that. It was in pretty pristine condition though. But it shows what you can GET for a consours condition MNS. The MNS is in some cases the most sought after version for collectivity.

That said, I gave my opinion of what he did to the bike, anything beyond this point will be about the quality of the build and the results of it. I would never ride a hardtail, sorry, my thing would be to go forward to NEWER tech, not backward to older tech, but that's just me. If I was going to chop one I'd be going for a monoshock setup on the rear with a single sided rear swingarm setup and more advanced fork system.

[imcgyver]

Hello, I will try my luck, I have a 1980 XS1100L Midnight Special and am missing some stock parts if you have any for sale, looking for stock exhaust and air box.
If you have either or both for sale let me know.
Thank you for your time and response.
Ron

[xs11lover]

I have been looking for a LG to restore for a while so it saddens me to know that one is being hacked.

I'll trade you an lg and a sh parts bike for Ole's orange sf.

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Mns

I bid on a MNS last year on Ebay, it was a museum pice and had been in a climet controlled museum most all its life, it sold for just over $4,000.00 So I am guessing, as much as many of us love these bikes, there not a Vincent Black Shadow Here is a pic of the bike:

Where did you come up with that? DGXSER mentioned something about $2K being rare is all I see.

Ive only seen ONE XS come even close to that $5K sale price and it came from right here in Oklahoma.

[BA80]

I can't remember exactly how much it sold for, around $4500 I think.

Cody's "Zilla"

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Bid

I bid just over $4,000.00 in the last 20sec and got beat by a few bucks, I think it was about $4,100.00 selling price

[CraigMel13]

Hello, I will try my luck, I have a 1980 XS1100L Midnight Special and am missing some stock parts if you have any for sale, looking for stock exhaust and air box.
If you have either or both for sale let me know.
Thank you for your time and response.
Ron

Ron,
I have the 4 header pipes and two collectors but the mufflers got thrown out last summer....they were rusted out at the clamps pretty badly...I do have a complete unmolested airbox though...............pm me if you are interested AND have LOTS of cash!

Craig

[fredintoon]

BTW, why isn't anyone chastising Mathh for the modifications he's done to his bike? That's way beyond what CraigMel13 has done.

Hi Pat,
perhaps because Matth's modifications are upgrades?
Not a clumsy 3/4-century leap backwards in time to turn a rideable bike into an ugly POS ?
OK! It's not a total loss, the power plant and front end seem to still be salvageable.

[CraigMel13]

Jeez guys, thanks for the warm (sarcastic) welcome . One would think that I just stranggled 3 panda bears, shot 7 polar bears with a shoulder fired rocket launcher, while eating a rack of ribs in front of Ethiopian vegitarians......

Ok, I just have to respond to some of this....

To all the "Haters" that seem to think I have done a foolish thing....I almost give a big fat deep fried corn cob (since I am from Iowa of course).

I guess I should of clarified on my "all comments/suggestions welcomed" statement....so I will now:

Heres a novel idea, if you have a comment or suggestion about what I (key word) HAVE done, or could do with my CURRENT build, than fire away. I am looking for ideas and comments to help me build what I am building now. Not what I should've done before I cut it up....

If you would rather cry over spilled milk, and tell me about how much it was worth or could've been worth than you are barking up the wrong tree! Cause I honestly don't give a s#!@ what it could've brought.

I gave a whole $400 for the complete, imo, butt ugly running bike about a year ago. At the time it was not my idea of "cool" bike at all. But, it is amazing what you can accomplish with a sawzall, welder and a little work! Now I am loving it to death and having a ball!

Value is in the eye of the beholder....my bike, built with creativity, sweat, blood and tears is worth far more to me than the "Stock" dollars it may have brought.

XS1100 OEM4ME said it best with a PM to me.....He basically said, "welcome to the forum, and have fun with your build."

Contribute something usefull, as I cannot build the bike on worthless comments.

Thanks,
Craig

[BA80]

pm me if you are interested AND have LOTS of cash!

Craig

[CraigMel13]

BA80....I hope you understand I was joking about the cash.......

[Rasputin]

I have not responded to this thread before as I have had nothing to add. I am a member of another forum which loves this kind of thing though. Try checking out www.Chopperhack.com , There are more than a few members with great ideas and they will have input on the chopping part. As long as you do not chop off parts that are needed for running the bike, the guys here are much more knowledgable about the XS11 and what goes wrong with them.