78 xs1100

[Coopz]

My dad has quite the love affair with the old Japanese sport bikes from the 70's and early 80's, has quite a collection including a few XS1100's (A 81 RH sports 1.1, a 79 XS1100 and this 1978 model). All are in show room condition. He's given me the 78' to ride. Probably the most comfortable bike I've ever ridden Went for a 3 hour ride last week and didn't have a sore muscle on me.

[IanDMacDonald]

I thought that was the most beautiful bike till I saw the Blue spot calipers. Maybe paint those black or silver so it does not take away from the bike?

[Coopz]

Yeah he upgraded the brakes last year to modern callipers. As he could never get the old ones to bite hard enough. It Stops 10x better than the old ones now. Think he might make them look a bit more retro in the near future.

[vedgar]

Nice !

Cmon Ian, cut the mate some slack . My wife looks better with make up, but I won,t tell her that. Ha Ha

[IanDMacDonald]

Yeah he upgraded the brakes last year to modern callipers. As he could never get the old ones to bite hard enough. It Stops 10x better than the old ones now. Think he might make them look a bit more retro in the near future.

Those look like slotted rotors from a later model XS/XJ, which is not good, as that means the blue spots are not utilizing the whole contact area of the rotors. 325mm(?) is what you need. EBC makes nice ones.

I'd love to see a youtube video of that exhaust! Details?

[Coopz]

Those look like slotted rotors from a later model XS/XJ, which is not good, as that means the blue spots are not utilizing the whole contact area of the rotors. 325mm(?) is what you need. EBC makes nice ones.

I'd love to see a youtube video of that exhaust! Details?

I think from memory all his XS bikes have those rotors. My old 81 RH 1.1 had them as well. I think their contact is pretty even and they work really well. I rode that bike a year ago with the original single calipers and its brakes were pretty spongy and weak for its weight.
Not 100% what the pipe is, has nothing written on it, I'll ask him, it does have a nice deep boom to it though I'll try and do a recording in the near future.

[thruxtones]

That's a stunner!!!

[Gmac]

Beautiful Bike

Very clean and well appointed. It looks brand new, seriously.

I also like that exhaust, nice chrome 4 - 1 that all fits.
Do the Blue Spot brake calipers drop right on or are there modifications that have to be made to mount them to the XS forks?

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Coopz,

Yes, great looking machine, would like to see photos of the others you mentioned as well. Yes, the UJM (Universal Japanese Motorcycle) design with relatively upright seating position is fairly quite ergonomic vs. the hugging the tank sportbike position and so makes sense that you were comfortable. Also, the spongyness of the brakes with the OEM pistons could have also been attributable to OEM style vinyl lines? Not sure if it had them first before putting on the new calipers and the SS braided lines? The braided lines alone make a tremendous difference in feel with the OEM masters and calipers.

GMAC, the Standard have an easier design to allow this type of mod, but it does require a specially made bracket to allow mounting of the calipers.

IF you'll look in the MODS section of the tech tips, Crazy Steve posted about how to do this type of mod using Harley Calipers, but the process will be similar depending on which calipers you use. Just keep in mind that most of the modern bikes use thinner rotors, and so there can be a clearance/fit issue. I had to do some dremmeling on the calipers I put on my SPECIAL( Real PITA ) to allow the clearance for the rotors with the caliper housing.

T.C.

[Eveready1100]

Those look like slotted rotors from a later model XS/XJ, which is not good, as that means the blue spots are not utilizing the whole contact area of the rotors. 325mm(?) is what you need. EBC makes nice ones.

Ian, I take it you've never ridden your bike in heavy rain?
When I fitted these drilled discs to my bike, it totally eliminated the scary delay that occurs while the pads try to clear the water from the discs before they can start to retard the bike.

[IMG][/IMG]

And, do you think that Yamaha would deliberately fit a vital component of the braking system that would render the brakes less efficient on what was their most powerful road bike of the time??