Opinions please!

[James England]

The seller of this bike bought it on eBay several months ago for £5,000. It's now up for sale at double that. But, to my eye, there's a few things about it which seem wrong for the year' although I could be wrong. What do you reckon?

Fork gaiters?
Plastic side panel badges?
Stainless brake pipes?

Aside from the amazing price, do people think this is a 'genuine' bike?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1978-YAMAH...item1e6b799bf1

[crazy steve]

Besides the three things you spotted, I see a lot of other wrong/missing details for a 'never been restored, all original' bike...

Decal for greasing the rear splines on the swingarm is missing, as is the 'Kyoto' decal that was on the factory shocks.

And I don't care how well the bike was treated, after 10K miles, you'd see some discoloration on the exhaust.

And speaking of the exhaust, is it my imagination or does the end taper on the two mufflers not match? The left side looks right, the right side looks like an aftermarket muffler.

There's no doubt somebody spent a lot of time and money on this bike 'restoring' it, but missed a lot of details. Very carefully photographed to hide some of this too if you really look. Original it ain't....

[RED1978]

the whole thing

Looks like the whole bike has been refinished and detailed.

The handlebars look different but mine is a US model. Mine had some back wrecking pull back style bars which I hated. I got some wide Moto Guzzi bars from JC Whitney. Looks cool and helps the back problem.

Mine is so original and I'm so cheap that almost nothing has been replaced.

But mine is weathered and not shiny at all. How about mine for $1000.00? lol.

Sorry 10000 is too much unless you got money to burn.

[James England]

There are stainless allen bolts everywhere!
Pillion footrest end plates are painted black. OEM were greeny galvanised

Decal is on the swingarm for the FD oil. Was there also one for the Zerk? The shocker decals said "Koyo", I believe? I bought some replicas for my bike...

This is a nice, eyecatching bike and I bet it's a good ride. But, it's misrepresented. It's been more than "pampered" and it def. doesn't belong in a museum because it's not original enough. It reminds me of my black one...nice, clean, good ride, exceptional condition but not 100% original. There's nothing wrong with that, methinks, but mine sold for a realistic 50% of the asking price of this one. There's no way that this bike is worth ten thousand pounds. He re-lists it regularly and varies the title. Once it was "Caught in a time warp".

Since it's possibly misdescribed, is the mileage genuine?

Also, why all the spares? Chrome exhaust trim. Header collets. Valve shim tool. O rings. That all seems a bit weird when buying a new bike. So they must have been accumulated over a while...err... why? Also, a photo of the entire toolkit seems slightly misleading... making a meal of it, as it were.

[sparks]

would that be 15,587.00 usd? Seems just a tad steep to my ignorant point of view... I got mine for 600 usd.

Lee
(Sparks)

[James England]

would that be 15,587.00 usd? Seems just a tad steep to my ignorant point of view... I got mine for 600 usd.

Lee
(Sparks)

Yep! Yes, it seems slightly overpriced.

I wish you US XSives would stop telling me how ridiculously low priced XS11's are over there! Ah well...... you didn't get any XJR1300's though, did you?

Have a look at http://www.ebay.co.uk/ and do a search for XS1100. You'll see what they cost here....

[sparks]

Yep! Yes, it seems slightly overpriced.

I wish you US XSives would stop telling me how ridiculously low priced XS11's are over there! Ah well...... you didn't get any XJR1300's though, did you?

Have a look at http://www.ebay.co.uk/ and do a search for XS1100. You'll see what they cost here....

Newcastle Brown is cheaper there.. So is Royal Milk Stout.. My favorite Irish whiskey is a tad cheaper there and easier to find.. I was in a pub in Bristol and couldnt buy a drink all night... it was the pub Stevenson wrote Treasure Island in.. All those things you have and we dont.. I would trade my bike for anothyer chance to have a few pints at that Pub.. Cant remember the name of it but then.. I needed help getting back to my ship.. dont remember all that much..

Lee
(sparks)

[James England]

I think RLS actually wrote Treasure Island in a cottage in Braemar, Scotland. But he used two Bristol pubs in the book....one of which I suspect you must have had a few pints in....Llandoger Trow, basis of the Admiral Benbow and The Hole in the Wall, basis of the Spyglass Tavern in the book..... I bet it was one of those.

[ViperRon]

James I do not think its not worth that level of money even if it was right these bikes just do not value that high anywhere in the world. Now I have heard somewhere there is a guy that has one in a warehouse in the original shipping container never started. Given it has no rust maybe it would be worth it but not to me. If i can't ride it then its not for me.

[James England]

Now I have heard somewhere there is a guy that has one in a warehouse in the original shipping container never started.

I think that's an urban myth. I heard exactly the same thing about a Kawasaki Z1000! You're right, there's no way an XS1100 is worth that kind of money, even if it were 100% original in every way. There was one in the USA about a year ago... a Venturer model and he was asking something similar. It was pristine.... and didn't sell.I can't resist watching this one every time it comes on eBay. Just to see if there is maybe someone out there daft enough to pay that for it....

[sparks]

I think RLS actually wrote Treasure Island in a cottage in Braemar, Scotland. But he used two Bristol pubs in the book....one of which I suspect you must have had a few pints in....Llandoger Trow, basis of the Admiral Benbow and The Hole in the Wall, basis of the Spyglass Tavern in the book..... I bet it was one of those.

Probably right.. Only called on two ports in England. We stayed in Bristol 3 days which was an unusally long stay for that type of ship (a car carrier). We off loaded 4000 cars and normally that takes about a day and a half. Quite amazing to watch. But Bristol didnt have a trained crew to perform the magic.. took three days and there were several colisions on the ship... anyhow, because of that I got to spedn a great deal of time enjoying the hospitality of the pubs in town.. As a radio offidcer, if nothing is broken, I have nothing to do in port but enjoy myself..

Lee

[fredintoon]

Probably right.. Only called on two ports in England. We stayed in Bristol 3 days which was an unusually long stay for that type of ship (a car carrier). We off loaded 4000 cars and normally that takes about a day and a half. Quite amazing to watch. But Bristol didn't have a trained crew to perform the magic.. took three days and there were several collisions on the ship... anyhow, because of that I got to spend a great deal of time enjoying the hospitality of the pubs in town.. As a radio officer, if nothing is broken, I have nothing to do in port but enjoy myself..
Lee

Hi Lee,
as an ex-Bristolian, HTF did your skipper manage to get a 4,000-car carrier up the river Avon to the City docks?
That skinny wiggly extremely tidal river is the main reason that Liverpool overtook Bristol as the main Atlantic seaport around the 1850s.

[sparks]

Well, we didnt actually get the ship to Bristol. It was a bit of a cab ride into town as I recall. Well worth it tho. Hardest part was being on the left side of the front seat with no steering wheel in front of me.. The cab ride was long enough to require a pub stop half lway there if I remember correctly.. We could actually carry 5000 cars of the Toyota size.. Ship was a panamax ship (small enough to fit through the panama canal) which I think was about 850 feet.. Forget the width.. It was a long time and many pints ago..


Lee
(Sparks)

[fredintoon]

Well, we didnt actually get the ship to Bristol. It was a bit of a cab ride into town as I recall. Well worth it tho. Hardest part was being on the left side of the front seat with no steering wheel in front of me.. The cab ride was long enough to require a pub stop half lway there if I remember correctly.. We could actually carry 5000 cars of the Toyota size.. Ship was a panamax ship (small enough to fit through the panama canal) which I think was about 850 feet.. Forget the width.. It was a long time and many pints ago..
Lee
(Sparks)

Hi Lee,
that would have been Bristol's port city, Avonmouth, located (as if you hadn't guessed) at the mouth of the Avon.
Avonmouth was built too effin' late to win back primacy from Liverpool.
The cabbie would have driven you into Bristol along the Portway under Brunel's Clifton suspension bridge.
Last time I was home to visit I was driven all around there and saw acres and acres of new import cars that'd been parked unsold for months on end.
What with the area's salt air and atmospheric pollution I pity the poor bastards who were eventually going to buy them.

[sparks]

Well, the cars do have that white plastic film on em. I took that assignment as a favor to my union dispatcher. It was supposed to be a 20 day run to Japan and back from Los angeles.. Got to Japan, loaded up with cars and went south through the malaca strait and to Spain, then Back to Japan for another load and to Bristol.. all in all I was stuck on that ship for 6 months.. I was not a happy camper. Those ships dont handle the weather very well and the pay was a bit short with that company.. Was the last favor I did for that dispatcher.. Only good thing was the call in Bristol and Teragona in the Med coast of Spain.. Loved both of those ports.. Lousy beer in Spain but Britain more than made up for that..

Lee
(Sparks)