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Well, she's all done and she cleaned up real good!
I took delivery of this beauty in early April and after a little money and a lot of hard work what you see here is what I believe to be one of the cleanest examples of an unmolested 1978 XS1100E on the planet.
The bike had ridiculously low mileage for a 34 year old motorcycle and while it had not turned a wheel on over 13 years it was given very good storage. The owner only made one error in leaving nearly a gallon of gas in the tank. Fortunately, it cleaned up perfectly with no rust or corrosion whatsoever.
Here's what it needed to look like this:
Carb cleaning, carb manifolds (badly cracked and I was able to find NOS) Petcock rebuild kits, NOS strainers, F&R master cylinder rebuild, fork seals, tires, battery, fluids and full tune up. Lots of chrome polish and about 10 applications of "Blue Job" to completely remove the purple and yellow header stains that came from the original owner running it a little too long in his garage (I just discovered that stuff and it is amazing!)
Compression is perfect. The bike runs 100% as new. It handles like new (in fact better with the upgraded Dunlops) There is not a hint of rust or corrosion anywhere and the paint is pretty much flawless.
I sold Yamaha in 1977 and 1978 before moving to a Kawasaki-Suzuki dealership (owned by the same people) and during my time at the Yamaha store I fell in love with the XS11... I've waited for years to find one that reflects the condition of my other bikes from the era. It was always my dream to own the big bikes from the big 4 manufacturers (1978-80) and this Eleven was the last piece of the puzzle. I love this bike. It's as close as you can get to having the keys to a time machine.
Thanks to David A. for selling her to me, thanks to master Yamaha mechanic Gord G. and to Ken F. for cooking me up my latest Kamikaze helmet and jacket.
And no... It's not for sale.
W
I took delivery of this beauty in early April and after a little money and a lot of hard work what you see here is what I believe to be one of the cleanest examples of an unmolested 1978 XS1100E on the planet.
The bike had ridiculously low mileage for a 34 year old motorcycle and while it had not turned a wheel on over 13 years it was given very good storage. The owner only made one error in leaving nearly a gallon of gas in the tank. Fortunately, it cleaned up perfectly with no rust or corrosion whatsoever.
Here's what it needed to look like this:
Carb cleaning, carb manifolds (badly cracked and I was able to find NOS) Petcock rebuild kits, NOS strainers, F&R master cylinder rebuild, fork seals, tires, battery, fluids and full tune up. Lots of chrome polish and about 10 applications of "Blue Job" to completely remove the purple and yellow header stains that came from the original owner running it a little too long in his garage (I just discovered that stuff and it is amazing!)
Compression is perfect. The bike runs 100% as new. It handles like new (in fact better with the upgraded Dunlops) There is not a hint of rust or corrosion anywhere and the paint is pretty much flawless.
I sold Yamaha in 1977 and 1978 before moving to a Kawasaki-Suzuki dealership (owned by the same people) and during my time at the Yamaha store I fell in love with the XS11... I've waited for years to find one that reflects the condition of my other bikes from the era. It was always my dream to own the big bikes from the big 4 manufacturers (1978-80) and this Eleven was the last piece of the puzzle. I love this bike. It's as close as you can get to having the keys to a time machine.
Thanks to David A. for selling her to me, thanks to master Yamaha mechanic Gord G. and to Ken F. for cooking me up my latest Kamikaze helmet and jacket.
And no... It's not for sale.
W
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