After two years of fixing mostly minor issues my bike is finally fun to ride

[XSLuigi]

Jeremy,

Glad to hear you're enjoying your XS! I am a fellow newcomer to the scene and just getting comfortable with the bike. Coming from a modern sport bike as my last machine as well, I miss the big tires and have been hesitant to lean it into a corner, but she has taken everything I've given her so far! I've actually used almost all of the tread that I have! I'll have to take a close up of the rear tire, you can see the road wear coming all the way out to the edge of the tire, about 1/4" so I've def been pushing it haha.

I'm def loving the vintage feel to the bike, and its cool to have a bike thats not just another 2000 something CBR or R6 or Ninja like EVERYBODY has haha. I De-baged mine and it gets the, "Is that a Ducati" looks and questions alot lol. I'm happy with the bike and sounds like you are too! I'd def figure out a way to make that meet if I were you. Sounds like you should have most things sorted with the ol girl by then. Good luck man!

[jetmechmarty]

110 wide tires stick just fine!

[JeremyL]

Jeremy,

Glad to hear you're enjoying your XS! I am a fellow newcomer to the scene and just getting comfortable with the bike. Coming from a modern sport bike as my last machine as well, I miss the big tires and have been hesitant to lean it into a corner, but she has taken everything I've given her so far! I've actually used almost all of the tread that I have! I'll have to take a close up of the rear tire, you can see the road wear coming all the way out to the edge of the tire, about 1/4" so I've def been pushing it haha.

I'm def loving the vintage feel to the bike, and its cool to have a bike thats not just another 2000 something CBR or R6 or Ninja like EVERYBODY has haha. I De-baged mine and it gets the, "Is that a Ducati" looks and questions alot lol. I'm happy with the bike and sounds like you are too! I'd def figure out a way to make that meet if I were you. Sounds like you should have most things sorted with the ol girl by then. Good luck man!

Yup, the skinny rear tire kind of scared me at first but now I'm used to it and when I see a sportbike rear tire I think its HUUUUUGE. When I first got the bike the rear tire was almost dangerous but since I was only going on 10-20 min "test rides" I put off changing it with a page long list of other stuff to do. Finally put a new tire on over Winter and am now starting to get more confidence more and more as I ride. Still got some chicken strips but not too bad but not 1/4 from the edge lol, but maybe I can work my way up. I live out in the boonies so our roads SUCK and it scares the hell out of me sometimes. Gravel all over the roads, lots of blind curves, tons of pot holes and busted up places. There was this one road I have been driving/riding on weekly for 10+ years... came around a sharp corner one day and all of a sudden there's a 20FT section that has been cut out completely and replaced by gravel because the road dept. was too broke to repave it after digging it up for an underground repair. Talk about puckering up when I saw that and straightened my bike up as I rode over the gravel at like 50mph. I should've taken it easy since I didn't know what was around the corner but just 2 days before it was fine.

Most people around here (rednecks and country folks) think the only street bikes ever made are either sport bikes or Harleys. So I have a "Harley" and that's why when I fire it up people will stop walking by and yank their head around like WTF?? I love the feel of these older bikes and as I've probably said over and over, it feels like the motorcycle version of an old muscle car -- tons of power with a mean rumble and FUN to ride. May not be as smooth and fancy as a brand new bike but the grittiness and kind of rough growl of the motor as long with the stiffer clutch pull and "clickier" shifter make me feel more like I'm part of the machine and like I've gone back in time. I'm definitely happy with the bike and rode to work today... after finishing up a bunch of these last few repairs it's so much more fun to ride. I try to explain the XS11 to people but they usually just don't get it.. sportbike guys think its another slow cruiser twin (amazing how many don't even know the difference in vtwin and 4 cyl motors) and cruiser guys think its just another boring Jap cruiser.

I've had some older bikes like a 76 KZ400, 80 CX500, and 81 CB750 and I loved that gritty vintage feel but these never had enough power to satisfy me. The XS11 reminds me of my CBR but with more low end grunt and better for my around-town riding that I am doing 80% of the time.

Sorry for the long posts, I can ramble on forever about these bikes or bikes in general. I know a couple of guys around here that ride and after a few minutes you can tell they just get sick of hearing about it because they don't do things like rebuild their carbs or anything.. they just ride every once in a while and just don't get it... or maybe I just talk too much.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Jeremy,

Congrats on finally getting your bike to a state of riding reliability. I checked, and you live in Northern Tennessee...I haven't experienced the roads up there, but one of the roads we were on at XS East was just like you said, tons of pea gravel in all of the corners, lots of road patches, pot holes and such....I think it was hwy 72. But I have ridden the roads on the southeast rally for many years, and they are great!! So....first you'll need to take some slightly longer rides away from home to where you can get to the more nicer roads and twisties!

Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to sorta hijack this thread!

For years I've ridden with the Dunlop Elite II's, and some of the action photos below were taken while riding them! Aside from the rare patch of sand, I've not had any feeling or sensation of slippage of my rear tire while getting down and low! Except when I went for a short ride one time and had only about 20 psi in it, then the sidewall apparantly collapsed a little, or rolled, or such, and it did feel a bit swishy!

This last year I installed a Dunlop E-3 on the rear. On previous outings/rallies, I occasionally would lean far enough to scrape the bottom of my forward controls support bracket...left side, or the tip of my 4-1 muffler on the right side! I've got a photo showing their location and angle of lean required to reach them! I cut off a little bit of the support brackets to give me a little more lean angle clearance before attending this recent rally.

On Saturday I was on a few decent twisties where I was leaning the bike hard to the left...and I felt that get loose feeling in the rear tire. I checked the pressure, was at the 35 psi level I usually run. SO...I just didn't push myself as much or as far the rest of that day as well as the following rally day. When I got back to the hotel, I was looking at the profile of my tire, discussing the slip feeling with fellow Xsives and such, and noticed that the wrap around of the tread pattern seemed to be not as far around, and that I theorized that I was actually getting over onto the shoulder edge of the tire and not on the full flat surface/contact patch area!

The Shinko 712's appear to have a better wrap around tread pattern. I'm hoping to get more riding miles in now that I have a group of Xsives around to "play with", and I'll then be able to actually wear out my tire before it gets too old, and then I can put on a Shinko 712 to compare!

Okay, I know we love photos, so here they are..partly to show you Jeremy that with good quality roads....you CAN lean the XS11 over far enough to scrub off the chicken strips....be nice...the 712 tire photo is from George(GloweVa's) bike, and he was a twisty VIRGIN....he's gotten much more confident in his riding and leaning after this Rally experience, but still not quite as aggressive as me!

As stated, these first 2 are from several years ago, I don't have my forward controls on YET, but the saddlebags are the same.







The red mark on the ruler of the T-square shows how much less the E-3 tread wrapped around vs. the Shinko.



This last one shows a piece of angle aluminum that is aligned with the flat edge of the tread that is still in full contact with the tread surface. The left forward control shows the OLD portion outlined in green, the newer cutoff edge in yellow. The right side shows a 45 degree angle line from the tire essentially going to the edge of the muffler tip!



I wanted to look up things like friction coefficients for rubber against tarmac, the amount of pressure over the contact patch for an XS11 sized tire vs. a sport bike sized tire, but just ran out, it's time to hit the hay.

T.C.

[JeremyL]

Wow TC you really take that bike to the limit! I am getting more and more confident on mine but I'm not riding off the shoulder of my tire yet lol. I've got a Shinko 712 on the rear that I put on just a couple of hundred miles ago and I'm really happy with it so far. Probably have a chicken strip about 3/4" on each side but I'm going to wear that sucker down

But since I live in the boonies and I live in a piss poor county with an unemployment rate of almost TWENTY PERCENT!!!, #1 out of 96 counties in TN, the road department is broke as well so roads are rough. It's almost like living in an old Soviet Bloc country or something. I can't remember what model my front tire is but it when I got the bike the guy had put a new front on but let a bald rotting rear on. Now the front isn't in as good of shape as my new Shinko on the rear and I dunno if I should replace the front or not. It's not bald or dryrotted so I guess I'll leave it.

Oh I don't think I mentioned this guys but after I started this thread and had my bike all fixed up and looking good (with its first bath in the two years I've owned it) I pulled out on the main road and before I got a MILE down the road my speedometer needle broke. I remember glancing down to check my speed and it was jumping around where it was breaking off and then just falls down to the bottom of the speedo.. I wasn't even mad.. I was so happy with the bike and how good it ran that I just hammered it and kept going. It was off by 10-15mph anyways and it wasn't stopping me from riding but I do want to get it fixed soon. So when I get a few bucks to spare I'll buy another 160mph speedo. A hesitation I had from 2000-2500rpm (from which my bike took off like a rocket afterwards) always bugged me and it magically disappeared by itself and has been missing for the past 2-3 rides so I'm hoping it's gone for good. That helped me care a little less about the speedo problem and put me in a better mood. That little flat spot/hesitation was the only problem with my carbs besides the carb balls being missing.

That's another question, or maybe I should create a thread(?) but my carb balls are missing and I bought some replacements but do I have to remove the carbs to install them? I hate pulling the carbs so bad that I'd probably just keep using a piece of junk hose or my hand to hold the choke before I'd do that. Even though being able to just reach down and flip the choke on while getting geared up would be nice.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Jeremy,

Thanks but I'm not an extreme rider. Trbig used to be ie. taking exits at 100 mph and such...but he's mellowed a bit this last year or so, but I was hoping he would see this thread and comment on his experiences with the E-3, if he experienced the slip feeling on heavy leaned curves??

Yeah, the economy has hit a lot of places with regards to maintaining infrastructure and such..that's why I said you will need to venture a bit farther from home to get to the better roads to be able to experience the better twisties with confidence.

Now as to your carbs...I didn't check to see if you posted a new thread, so here you go. It would be a bit difficult to be able to get to the front of the carbs along with removing the choke rod..you'll need to loosen it from each choke section. Then along with the ball, you also need a small spring that pushes the ball outwards against the Choke Rod so it will engage in the little detents/indents which hold it in position until you push it back in.

Take a look at the tech tips...repairs....electrical and such....I posted a bit about how to take apart a gauge to repair a broken needle, you might find it helpful if you have the patience. There are also other ways of removing the bezel...a thread search should reveal them.

With the needle bouncing it's hard to say if it was the gauge, or it could have been the cable....it's a twisted wire, like a tightly coiled spring, but if it had gotten dried and such, it could have been binding, sticking and then breaking loose which then overtorqued the gauge/needle?? You'll want to inspect your cable to make sure it turns freely, and then even lube it.

Aside from an OEM style speedo...our bikes can't do 160 anyways, speedos from all of the other XS series bikes will fit, 650, 750, 850. They have reduced speed maximums....120, 140 depending on the model. Just some more info for you to open your range of choices a bit larger on eBay which can also lower your cost. However, I was thinking about the Special styles, round gauges....I forgot to see if you have a Standard or not....there was a thread about being able to put the guts of a round speedo into a Standard case or such!

T.C.

[trbig]

I never had any problems with traction in the curves with the E3, I just got tired of paying the price. The first couple, I got 16k and 14k miles out of them. Then the next couple, I got in the 10-11k range, and the last two were close to the 7k mile range. I've since switched to the Shinko 712's and only get 5-6k out of them, but I can buy 3 for the price of one Elite 3. I change my own tires, so this just lets me keep fresh rubber on the ground.

The only time I had any traction problems in the corners was in the Colorado mountains with Cody (Maximan) chasing me on his Concours. In some of the really leaned corners, he said that he got close enough to see smoke wisps and shredding rubber like pencil eraser off the rear tire.. then I'd hit a tar snake and the back end would slip and catch.. slip and catch... but any tire would have done that. Pretty stupid with thousand foot drops and no guardrails. And this isn't a very good pic, but I actually did manage to wear out the edges of an Elite 3 tire before the center once...









The XJ does lean a bit further in the corners than the XS though. I've had the XJ leaned over far enough that the right peg was folded up, scraping, and smashing my foot against the motor, and I scraped one of the bolts that hold the heat shield on the header.









So... the XS and the skinny 130 rear tire will let you get down to peg scraping angles fairly easily, BUT.. when you start doing that, you'll also discover the weak front forks they have. If you finally get the bike hooking up in the corners, it'll feel like there's a hinge or pivot point in the middle of the frame somewhere, flexing back and forth. A fork brace helps, but won't eliminate it. These bikes corner pretty good. They go straight, fast, and quick pretty good. They cruise long distances pretty good. They do everything well, but not great. It'll never be a modern CB or R1 in the straights or twisties, and it'll never be a cruiser like a Goldwing. It's getting harder to find parts to fix them. If you start pushing the envelope, eventually it pushes back. I've got a few various marks like this around on my body I've had to pick gravel out of to show for my fun times.




http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...4.jpg~original




I feel like I've been pretty lucky. The last one was a tumble down the asphalt at @ 70 while I watched an absolute pristine 81 Special barrel roll down the side of the road next to me. That one hurt for a long time, and the bike makes me sick still today. It's cleaned back up mostly, but I left the gauges on it that have asphalt scratches on the TOP of them to remind me. You say you've got a wife and family.. so just enjoy the bike and don't push the envelope too much on a bike older than you. I suggest you know exactly how much front brake you can use with these heavy bikes in a panic situation before you start worrying about scrubbing off chicken strips. Just my 2 cents.

And you thought YOU posted long posts.. lol.

[JeremyL]

TC, I didn't realize there was a spring that held the ball in too. Makes sense but I thought it was just the ball. And when I ordered the balls, and I partially understood how it worked, I thought I'd just remove the screws on the side of the choke lever, pull the rod, put the ball on the rod somehow (didn't consider how) and slide it back in. Now I know it's not that simple. Only reason I didn't just try it was because I have a stripped/rusty old screw and didn't mess with stripping the head off even more and put it off.

With my speedo, it wasn't bouncing before, it was actually pretty steady, just 'off' by about 10mph. I kept meaning to use GPS to see how badly off it was but never got around to trying it. And I put a new cable on a few months ago. It worked smooth until the other day and when it was bouncing I meant that it was kind of flopping around for an instant before it broke and I think thats what caught my attention and made me look down. I think that's where the needle was cracking and breaking off and it didn't just snap instantly and fall down. Or maybe it was sweeping up (I *was* pulling out) and the sweeping just kind of flung it forward.

Either way I have been PM'ing a member here who has 2 speedos for sale..one is an XS-whatever 140mph, which is still faster than I need to go lol and is in very pretty condition and a good price. His 160mph XS11 speedo is kind of rough but works and is $15 cheaper. I was leaning towards the 140 one because it was really clean and the bezel was in good shape as well as the face and the $15 extra is worth it. BUT he told me that the 140 had a 4 pin connector and the 160 is a 3 pin so I have been meaning to ask you guys if it still works or if I can convert it. I just put a replacement ignition switch on my bike (a 79 Special BTW) that was from an 80-something I think and it had a 4 pin connector so I took my 3-pin connector from my 79 ignition switch and put it on the new one and it worked perfectly fine. I hope that's an option with the speedo. The 140/160 thing doesn't bother me. I've done 130-140 before on my 99 CBR and that was scary and stupid enough and I sure won't be doing it on a 34 year old XS1100 with no windshield lol.





trbig,

I don't get a lot of time to ride (wife, kid, 2 jobs) and since I only live 2-3 miles from work it's a bunch of short rides mostly. To me a "long" ride is 100-120 miles. But I'm hoping to do some bigger rides when I can. I replace my own tires too, or at least I did with my Shinko 712 on this XS so it's not a big deal either and wow it was really cheap, I was happy with that. When I changed it I used the zip tie method and had the tire changed in 5-10 min with no tire spoon or special mount or anything... just a pack of big zipties and a spray bottle of soap water and maybe a flat head screwdriver to pry with. Simple and I'll do that next time too. Didn't even have a barrel or anything to put the rim on.. just laid it down on an old blanket directly on my wooden deck.

And you're right, I have a family and don't want to leave them or even end up in the hospital so I'm not out to break any speed records on a bike made before I existed. I like to ride spirited but take curves easy. One little screwup or handful of gravel is the difference between a great ride and ending up dead or in the hospital for a month. I'm not determined to scrub off the chicken strips but am getting to be a better rider regardless as I get more confident -- as long as I don't get cocky, then it gets dangerous.

[JCHarth]

I just got a new 78 seat for my 1980 xs1100g. some very nice pictures on this thread
http://www.fastmamajama.com/images/xs112013.jpg