Lightest XS1100

[1234loft]

I am thinking of a weight reduction project for my new found 1980 Special.

The bike is in very rough condition, and frame mods are no problem.
(It really should be parted out, but the engine runs, and I have a title.)

The bike needs to have rear suspension
I like flat track style bars.(No clip on's)
No tach, speedo only.
Headlight, tail and brake light.
I would like to keep the cost as low as possible, but would consider ideas that would be more difficult and costly if the weight savings would be worth while.

My first thoughts are:

Kiick start? ( Depends on the weight savings)
Side stand only
Small digital speedo
Cut off all un necessary frame knobs etc.
No rear passenger stuff needed
4 into 1 exhaust
plastic fenders ( YZ type ??)
Small tail light lisc plate combo.
solo seat
stock tank

I have looked in the past threads, but.
Any other ideas or valuable past threads would be most welcome.

Thanks

[fredintoon]

I am thinking of a weight reduction project for my new found 1980 Special.

The bike is in very rough condition, and frame mods are no problem.
(It really should be parted out, but the engine runs, and I have a title.)

The bike needs to have rear suspension
I like flat track style bars.(No clip on's)
No tach, speedo only.
Headlight, tail and brake light.
I would like to keep the cost as low as possible, but would consider ideas that would be more difficult and costly if the weight savings would be worth while.

My first thoughts are:

Kiick start? ( Depends on the weight savings)
Side stand only
Small digital speedo
Cut off all un necessary frame knobs etc.
No rear passenger stuff needed
4 into 1 exhaust
plastic fenders ( YZ type ??)
Small tail light lisc plate combo.
solo seat
stock tank

I have looked in the past threads, but.
Any other ideas or valuable past threads would be most welcome.

Thanks

Hi Jim,
if it's a 1980 it won't have a kickstart.
If it does or if you can retrofit the necessary parts you can remove the electric starter and blank off the hole it came out of. With KS only you can also swap in a lot smaller battery to save a few lbs more.
All that other stuff you list OK except use a plastic gas tank off a dirtbike instead of the stock tank.
swap in a 5" headlight.
I dunno if you can legally remove the turn signals where you live?
And swapping the stock front fender for a plastic one will make the forks go all wobblyarsed so yes it adds weight but fit a Tkat fork brace.
However, if you can't afford a custom built titanium frame, I don't see you going trail riding with much success.

[1234loft]

I suppose I could weigh all of the parts I could potentially remove and see what the weight is .
That would give me a rough idea of the final build.
It would be nice to have an elec start.

The bike is so heavy, it is difficult to believe that you cannot remove a bunch of weight.

Starter, battery, lights fenders, wheels and brakes look like the big items
Wheels and brakes are big money.
Cutting the junk off of the frame will get a little.

It is going to be more difficult than I had planned.


Oh well the planning is a fun part of the build. No rush.

[Catmaigne]

The bulk of the weight is from the engine itself.

The shaft drive unit is pretty heavy and a chain drive conversion would save a decent amount of weight, but it will cost you.

[crazy steve]

Ditching the starter will only save you about 10 lbs, maybe less by the time you fit all the kicker parts. You want to be careful about a smaller battery, if the amp-hours are the same you should be ok. But that will only be a few lbs. Be careful about hacking on the frame; some of the 'extra' stuff does double-duty as reinforcement and cutting it off can lead to frame cracking.

Yamaha didn't leave much fat on these bikes, as they were their flagship performance bike at the time. There are ways to seriously reduce weight, but they're all big $$$....

[1234loft]

Well,
I guess the best way to reduce the weight at the lowest expense is to push my self away from the table.

From your comments, there is not as much to reduce as I had hoped.

It is more important to have a good looking comfortable ride than a slightly lighter bike.

I will do what ever I can, but my weight expectations have changed.

Thanks for the feedback.

What a great site.

[Schming]

Well,
I guess the best way to reduce the weight at the lowest expense is to push my self away from the table.

From your comments, there is not as much to reduce as I had hoped.

It is more important to have a good looking comfortable ride than a slightly lighter bike.

I will do what ever I can, but my weight expectations have changed.

Thanks for the feedback.

What a great site.

Ah, you don't want to miss out on all the Good Holiday cookin' comin' up now do Ya ......so heres a link to Drilled Rotors that lessens the unsprung weight in addition to total weight:

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=587

[clcorbin]

Yamaha didn't leave much fat on these bikes, as they were their flagship performance bike at the time. There are ways to seriously reduce weight, but they're all big $$$....

I almost peed myself when I read that!!! At 630lbs, Yamaha left a LOT of fat on these beasties! Getting it off without damaging anything, well, that is probably a different matter. The engine and drivetrain alone probably weights as much as a good 600 these days.

[crazy steve]

Well sure, compared to a modern bike these things are portly. But 'back in the day', the XS wasn't even the heaviest bike in it's class. The XS and GS Suzuki were close in weight, the KZ was lighter, and the CBX was more. Given that the others all had lighter chain final drive, Yamaha did a pretty good job of keeping the weight down...

[Rasputin]

I seriously doubt you will shave off 50 pounds in reality. Start with your estimated wieght (your numbers here) and subtract what it actually wieghs and Voila you have your wieght savings. 78E dry wieght is 255Kg's which is about 560 pounds. One can not count the drivers weight but the gas and oils would add a bit.

[XS1100carbon]

The largest weight savings I've seen on my project have been the seat,and the rotors(largest reduction in these).The other big savings are going be in a lightweight battery and exhaust.I think 50lbs or so would be about it.

[TomB]

You're all correct, as Steve points out there isn't a lot you can shave off the engine and trans, the shaft drive and associated weighs a lot which chain drive reduces a lot, but then a big appeal of the XS for me is lost.

The XS wheels are a huge weight, not just because of the rotors.

So if you want to keep the mechanical parts that make an XS11 what it is to ride then you need reduce weight on the bodywork and cycle parts, of course some of you will think that the result will not be an XS11 anymore, fair point, but I'm not talking looks, more the feel of riding an XS.

Keeping in mind I wanted all the attributes I see making an XS11 I had a go at making a lighter version. It has thinned rotors but standard XS11 wheels, I'm looking into lighter wheels and belt drive next, in the distant future. Both bobber and chop style have been built in a similar vein by other lads here, try a Search for those photos.


PS. before everyone chews me up for sacrilege, this frame was smashed beyond repair, monoshocking and cutting was the only real way of getting another XS11 back OTR


.

[1234loft]

Tom,
Thanks for the search suggestions.
I gave up to easy and only searched for topics on light weight.
The chopper bobber photos could give me some good ideas.
Your mono shock looks good.
I did a search on mono shock and see there is ton of info.

I will also search the brakes section. Most feel the discs are heavy.
Perhaps a larger single disk?
Anyhow, great search ideas I should have thought of.

TKS,
JG

[1234loft]

I am going to try to post my first photo.
It is the speedo I used on my 650 tracker build.
It is a bicycle speedometer made by bell. WIRELESS.
They sell for about $15 at Wally world.
The best part about this speedo is it also counts calories. The faster you go the more calories you are burning and the more weight you lose.


https://dl.dropbox.com/u/40030622/Speedo%20Track.JPG


I copied the address from a drop box. I need to do a little reading to see how to put a photo in the message.

The speedo was really light and looked cool. Plus the Bell name was
kind of motorcycle, not bicycle to my eye.
Cheap, very light, functional. It had a clock and I believe temp??

[1234loft]

I figured it out