It's Dead Jim.

[Joab]

And that puts the bike away till at least 2014.

[Danny Crawdad]

Noooo -- grab a new set of carbs! JB Weld! Something!

[XS1100 Newbie]

There are repair for posts on here, and they are cheap. If Crazy steve has his stuff ready, maybe get a kit from him. Don't know if he ever made them up for sure.

[fredintoon]

And that puts the bike away till at least 2014. - - -

Hi Joab,
2 years to fix a broken off carb pivot post?
File the busted stub off square and tap it #10-24. (coarse threads work better in the crap-metal they cast carb bodies in)
Get a 3" long #10-24 stove bolt from the hardware store and cut the head off.
Thread the bolt into the tapped hole in the carb and measure where the cross-hole for the float pivot pin needs to be.
Remove the bolt. Heat the area where the float pin needs to be cherry red with a Bernz torch and pound it flat.
Drill a pivot-pin sized hole through the flat you made and trim the end off neat.
Thread a #10-24 hex nut onto your new pivot post, the screw the new post into the carb, adjust the pin hole height and lock the post in place with the #10-24 nut.
Shouldn't take more than an afternoon.

[James England]

It's not going to take you two years to save $40 is it? If so, you have the wrong bike....... Not even that, probably. I sold an entire bank of four carbd, complete, for $50. You'll get a carb body cheaply, even if you don't fix it and, as has been said, repair threads abound here....

[foreda]

Carb post

Which carb is it? I probably have a body somewhere in my shop.

[CatatonicBug]

Which carb is it? I probably have a body somewhere in my shop.

The broken one in the picture is carb #2

[Danny Crawdad]

Those look like late model carbs with the extra ports in the front. 81?

[Joab]

I just seem to keep putting money into this thing, and every time I fix one thing, two others break. The carbs are apparently not the proper ones for the bike, I think TC said when he was down here they are the 80-81 type, and the bike is a 79.

It is a fun bike when it runs, but I really need something reliable as a daily driver with my commute.

I am just at the point where I can keep putting money into this thing, or save that money and put it toward a new bike, then go back to the XS once I have something I can use for work in the stable.

[jwhughes3]

I feel your pain

In college I had a '64 1/2 Mustang. It was cool, but still a 20 year old car that I was fixing constantly. Had to eventually sell it for way less than it was worth then or now, but I had a family and could not afford either unreliable transportation or a hobby car.

You can always come back to it when ready. Don't feel bad.

Heck I want to do a ton of stuff to Great Ranger, but until I get another rideable bike I dont want to miss out on riding. And my problem isnt even critical since I dont rely on the bike as transportation for anything other than playtime.

John

[Danny Crawdad]

Oh, I'm with you. It gets old, especially when it's something you're depending on -- I daily commute with my XS, but if it ever needs something major I have the ability to hop in the car, so I try not to stress out about it too much.

I think the worst thing about it all is that you can't just pop down to your local Napa or Advance or O'Reilly's or whatever and buy parts for it unless it's fasteners or something, you have to source and wait on a part. I had several old trucks through high school/most of college that, were I left stranded, I could run to the 24/7 AutoZone and generally get a part off the shelf for it. Would be nice with these bikes . That said, at least they're easy enough to work on, I tore the rear brake master cyl and caliper down to replace the seals in about 45 minutes in the parking deck at work, wearing most of a suit. Then trusted it enough to hop on a few hours later and go on a 500mi road trip .

Besides, you gotta get that thing rolling under its own power so that I can eventually procrastinate us up a ride together .


I'm still looking for newer bikes, even with the XS. I almost pulled the trigger on a Concours two weeks ago. I'd like something with better all-weather manners and modern brakes for commuting sometimes.

[Joab]

I have a truck, but dumping 90 dollars a week into fuel just to get to work and back hurts, so I would like to have something two wheeled to ease the pain...not be a pain in the ass.

The XS has plenty of potential, but with all the "mods" the PO did, and 30+ years of wear and tear, getting it to the point of reliable just isn't feasible till I get something that already runs. Then I can come back to it, and if something breaks, a part doesn't fit, I won't feel like setting it on fire.

[BA80]

Well, if your discouraged that easily maybe the XS isn't the bike for you. You can't expect to pick up a 30+ year old bike that has been sitting and put air in the tires and change the oil and just take off.

This is a good excuse to get a set of the RIGHT carbs and git-er-done. Just watch fleabay and a set will pop up for a 78-79. Post an ad in the Wanted section here and anyplace else you can

[Joab]

Well, if your discouraged that easily maybe the XS isn't the bike for you. You can't expect to pick up a 30+ year old bike that has been sitting and put air in the tires and change the oil and just take off.

This is a good excuse to get a set of the RIGHT carbs and git-er-done. Just watch fleabay and a set will pop up for a 78-79. Post an ad in the Wanted section here and anyplace else you can

Your partly right Greg. I picked this bike up a couple years ago for 600 bucks hoping for a cheaper way to get to work. If I had picked it up with mindset of it being a project bike, something I wasn't going to rely on, it would have been different. However, it is what it is, and I am admitting defeat, and putting it up next to the 650 as another project I will get to as money allows. Like I said before, it will be a lot easier for me to wrench on it and deal with set backs knowing I have something else in the stable I can ride.

Once I have some money back in the project budget, I will throw up a post in the wanted section, and start watching the auction sites. I hate finding something for sale knowing I don't have the money to buy it

[ESJr1642]

So, does this mean the cat won't be getting riding lesson Jaob?