What do I have?

[tokarz33]

I am new to your forum. I am unfamilar with Yamahas.

I have the opportunity to buy a 1982 Yamaha XS 11. Full fairing with leg warmer wings (plastic that appears to deflect wind). Has hard bags and lower crash bars.

Has 3500 miles on the clock. Does not run but appears mint externally. Been in storage last 15 years or so.

My questions are: What exacty do I have here? I don't have the VIN with me to make this east. I am unable to find pics that look exactly like this one. Could this be a 81?

Would this bike make a good side car rig?

Thanks

[btdtdan]

Hi and welcome aboard,
If it is an 82 then it is XJ a close relative of the XS. XS was from 78 to 81 with a standard model and a Special model. With a little more information I am sure some of the more knowledgeable riders can tell you exactly what you have. Conratulations on a good find of a low mileage bike. These machines are great!
Dan

[btdtdan]

Oh and yes they do make good sidecar rigs.. I have a Vetter Terraplane hooked up to a 80 model Special. Still runs very strong
I think there may be a few other sidecar rigs on the site Fred in Toon would be one other that I know of.
Dan

[tokarz33]

yeah, its not a xj. It is a touring bike. It is shalf driven with disk brakes all around.

What is the difference between standard and special model?

With what I have described so far how much do you think the bike is worth? and How much would it be worth running?

Is this bike rare?

[Ken Talbot]

The FAQ link in the menu to the left will point you to many of the answers you're looking for. These bikes are not rare - there's actually quite a few of them around once you start paying attention. I'll leave the value question to some of the others. I'm sure you'll get quite a range of responses to that...

[don07tncav]

Also check out the Photos link, it shows bikes by the year and the ads in several years.

The Faq's are a wealth of information!!

[MAXIMAN]

My XJ is a touring bike. Click the link to see.

Some states title a vehicle as (for instance) an 1982 when in fact the vehicle was built in 1981 beacuase of when they were sold and such. When I got Zilla the California title showed it was an 1983. The lady bought it new from a warehouse in 1984. The bike was actually an 1982 model.

I had to go round and round with the Oklahoma DMV to prove it was an '82. They wanted to titled the way the Californicators titled it. But when they could find no reference to an 1983 XJ1100 they gave up and titled it a 1982 XJ11....duh!

So just because the bike is titled 1982 it may well be another year for a plethora of reasons.

Alos click the KONG link to see if it is a Special. My 1980 XS11 Special is full dressed for touring as well. If the tank is different from either of those then it is likely a Standard and if it ain't a standard then you are likely at the wrong website...

[tokarz33]

it looks more like:

http://members.aol.com/rocktone/images/KONG.jpg

But is has more lower fairing and small crash bars.

The pictures section of this website were of no help.

I was hoping to see a pic and say "That's it". I really need to get the VIN.

The side covers read XS 11.

[John]

That would make it a Standard. What is the max speed shown on the speedo? If it is 85 then it is an 80-81. If it is 160, then it's a 78 or 79. Does it have a short, splined shaft stickin out of the righ side cover by the oil level sight galss? If so it is a 78-79. That shaft is for the kick starter. It was eliminated in 80. The older models did not have slotted brake rotors, the newer ones did.

[MAXIMAN]

As far as the "value" question...that depends on who has it and who wants it.

I can tell you Kong was in similar shape to what you are looking at. Aesthetically he was in excelent condition. But was not running and hadn't run in 20 years. Of course Kong had 36,000 on the clock not 3500.

I bought Kong on Ebay for $960. But I knew it would run. We sprayed carb cleaner in the intake and it fired right off. Kept spraying a little to make sure there were no bad knocks or noises. You might wanna make sure this bike will run before you get too excited.

Just have a fire extinguisher handy when ya do it.

[madbiker]

John the pic he said looked like it is a special. As for the year a guy I ride with just bought a leftover 02 that is titled as a 04 some places title them the year they are bought.
Madbiker
80 Midnight Sp.-Evil Mistress
96 Royal Star-unnamed
97 650 Savage- unnamed

[John]

The pic was of a Special, but he said the side cover emblems said XS Eleven, but didn't mention Special. The emblem on a Standard only says XS Eleven. All of the Special emblems say either XS Eleven Special, or just Eleven Special as is the case with the 81's. That's why I guessed that it was a standard.

[madbiker]

John I missed that .
Madbiker

[Ken Talbot]

Unless the bike has been modified, the shape of the tank and the location of the front axle are two readily-identifiable, easy to spot identifiers. The standard axle is directly in line with the lower forks, and the tank has 'knee pad' indentations on the sides. The special axle sits in front of the lower fork legs, and the tank is a round, more 'peanut' looking shape.

[dntemp_ca]

There are probably a lot more old XS11's sitting around out there waiting for someone to come along and put them back on the road where they belong. Here's a story that'll make you groan....My wife's brother-in-law had an XS11 when in college. The carbs went out of sinc and he parked it in his parents garage for about 20 years. I just learned about it a couple years ago and he said I could have it for free, but in the meantime, the garage got cleaned out and the XS11 was given to some dude who was going to take a sawzall to it and make a go-kart out of it! Aaarrrrggghhh! I hate when that happens! It sat for 20 years and I missed it by 2 weeks! Probably made one baaddd kart tho'.