80 XS11 Midnight Special chop/rebuild log

[DGXSER]

Do horses ever get beatings they can survive around this place?

[crazy steve]

Do horses ever get beatings they can survive around this place?

For some that's the only exercise they get apparently....

[BA80]

Cody's bike sold for almost $8,000. BUT... he had nearly 12k into it. He paid over 5k for that 79 he has that Bob bought from him.

DANG!!!! I stand corrected.

I knew he said he put it on ebay for some ungodly price not really wanting to sell it just to see what the bids would go to and then someone with more money than sense BOUGHT IT!

I don't remember it being that high but Tod would know.

The Time Machine is a sweet bike too. I know Bob snached it up when Cody offered it for sale. He's proud of that scoot. Rightly.

[DGXSER]

Cody's bike sold for almost $8,000. BUT... he had nearly 12k into it. He paid over 5k for that 79 he has that Bob bought from him.

No offense to Cody or the bike, it is a really nice looker. But how do you put 12K in one of these without gold plating or buying parts from OCC? And for the sell price, well, this is the country where we have chia pets and the "pet rock".

[foreda]

Wrong idea

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

Don't get me wrong here.. This is your bike and are free to do as you please. I think you will get all the support you need from this site for your build. There a just some of us ole f!@#s that are set in our ways. Good luck and have fun with your creation.

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Jat

Just a thought, looking at the bikes at the top picture for this fourm, I see (left to right) #1. a coustom seat, #2. a Special painted to look more like a MNS, #3. a, well I dont know what it is white tank, custom front fender, fat front tire, custom seat, cooler etc, #4. a custom X pipe exaust, #5. a custom two step high rise seat #6., a set of custom black fork covers, the last two might be OEM, not sure about the light blue color on the XJ though So, I would think this kind of picture would invite people who make changes to their bikes JAT though

[trbig]

No offense to Cody or the bike, it is a really nice looker. But how do you put 12K in one of these without gold plating or buying parts from OCC? And for the sell price, well, this is the country where we have chia pets and the "pet rock".

LOL.. You never saw the bike up close in person. Everything was either brand new or perfect. Look at what a perfect tank goes for.. or perfect OEM sidecovers.. then add all the other parts when they are OEM or perfect including exhaust systems. He paid more for his seat than I paid for most of my bikes. The motor was bored to 1196 and he had it professionally tuned with different exhaust settups and jetting with many many many dyno runs to see what worked together and what didn't. I don't remember the number of dyno runs, but I remember being amazed that the motor wasn't trashed.

He had always wanted to get 100hp to the rear wheel, but just couldn't seem to quite get it with stock parts through the shaft drive. I think he ended up with 98hp getting to the ground, which is more than most of us actually get to the crank.

As for this country and Chia pets... Apparently they spent too much on them and couldn't afford this bike. Someone from over-seas purchased the bike and it no longer resides in the U.S.

Now.. enough hijacking.. Back to the chopped up midnight.

[BA80]

I personally think it was the pet rocks that brought the country to ruin. They had too much personallity for some people.

[James England]

James,
Maybe you don't think so but the title and vin still call it an XS1100! That is until they have a date night with MR. Sawzall!

Yes, my reg doc said a blue bike when it had been changed to black etc etc ..... they'll say that until told otherwise... so you could say it's nominally an XS1100 according to the paperwork......

[motoman]

[QUOTE=trbig;3558. Someone from over-seas purchased the bike and it no longer resides in the U.S.[/QUOTE]

Resides in a museum in Norway, IIRC......

[CraigMel13]

Alright, little update on the 80 MNS project....I got home from work and was met by a nice sized box from TCBrosChoppers.com....I shredded the package like a kid at Christmas. Inside, my solo seat and mount, forward controls and linkage. I must mention that these guys put out some kick-ass parts.

Anywho...after lots of comments and suggestions in this thread, (thanks to ALL who has posted thus far, good or bad) I am considering going with a kinda radical looking swingarm thingy contraption. I burned up about 2/3rds of a legal pad making sketchs till I thought it looked right. Now I just got to bust out the old drafting kit and scale it all up and figure out the specifics. Just a general design and shape as of now, I need to apply all the critical measurements and geometry to see if it will work or not. With that said I am extremely excited to hit the garage this weekend!

I am going to try to maintain stock geometry on the swingarm and even reuse the stock shocks if it works like I want it to. The design will unfortunately require me to backtrack completley on what I have done on the back end thus far. Actually doesn't bother me too much since it is just tacked, and also what I did thus far was just to kinda judge cosmetics and functionality in a given stance. Plus let's face it, a much better ride I can only assume!

In the mean time, since my bike is at a friends garage, can someone povide me with a couple dimensions on the 80 MNS?

I need to know the rearwheel axle centerline heigth.

I need to know pivot centerline of stock swingarm to centerline of axle, and pivot centerline of swingarm to shock mount (top and bottom mount) this way accounting for any angle that the shock is mounted at.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!
Hopefully work up some drawings to post this weekend!

Craig
Craig

[madmax-im]

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

Cody's "Zilla"

Nope wrong it sold for....$8000 !!!!!

[JasonRedbeard]

There a just some of us ole f!@#s that are set in our ways.

Young f!@#$s, too. My SF was built before I was born.

Craig, it's your ride. Do what makes you happy. I personally was saddened to see a MNS go under the knife, and would never have done it myself, but it can't be changed. I'd much rather see her on the road than in the scrapyard regardless, and if you got it for $400 then the 'yard was probably a viable possibility. Build her right. I'll help if I can.

[BigDick]

I am going to try to maintain stock geometry on the swingarm and even reuse the stock shocks if it works like I want it to.

Kinda important here: I don't remember exactly how far you can take the angle on that u-joint before it grenades pretty quick, but it isn't much. I know it's somewhere in here maybe search for "swingarm angle" or "Shock replacement" so someone else will know.

Now to bitch and tell you what a scumbag you are. I have a more-or-less stock 80 Special that I would have traded you straight up for that midnight if you paid for my gas to come up there if it was as good as it looked in the first pic. But either way, good luck with your project man.

[Nightengale]

u-joint angle

Kinda important here: I don't remember exactly how far you can take the angle on that u-joint before it grenades pretty quick, but it isn't much. I know it's somewhere in here maybe search for "swingarm angle" or "Shock replacement" so someone else will know.

Now to bitch and tell you what a scumbag you are. I have a more-or-less stock 80 Special that I would have traded you straight up for that midnight if you paid for my gas to come up there if it was as good as it looked in the first pic. But either way, good luck with your project man.

i think the u-joint angle can be plus or minus 5 degrees from zero, because i was researching that same thing when i started my hardtail. i kept mine at zero for safty reasons, and i didnt need it to be that low for my tastes.