Production numbers

[Supersport396]

Does anyone have any idea how many of these bikes were produced?

[DiverRay]

We had the numbers on the old site, but I'm not sure the information made the cross-over to this site. I know the first production serial number started at 100, as in 2H7-000101. This is for the US only, as the EU and the pacific both had different serial numbers for the bikes. Here is the link to what we have:https://xs11.club/forum/miscellaneou...identification

[Supersport396]

It would appear these bikes have very low production numbers.

[DiverRay]

Yamaha was late getting into the "big bore" road bikes. They were doing real well with the dirt/enduro bikes at this time.

[DEEBS11]

There sure seems to be a lot of them around including USA and other countries. Several forums on the subject including this one. Pretty good for a 45 year old bike. In comparison they made 11,849 Indian Chief motorcycles in 1947. Don't see a lot of them around. I guess a lot of them got trashed in 78 years. Mostly when they were between 20 and 30 years old and not worth much. This happens with a lot of bikes that become valuable later on.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1446194188998726/

https://xs1100.com.au/forum/index.php?action=forum

https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/yamaha-xs1100.1113108/

[DEEBS11]

Take this with a grain of salt because AI generated it. It is interesting never the less.

[DiverRay]

Yeah, the Midnight Special didn't have specific serial numbers?!?!? Sorry, but you need to take a POUND of salt with AI. Probably be a few more years until the computer can do better. After all, the programmers are all human.

[Supersport396]

That explains the limited support partswise. I suppose thats very low compared to suzuki honda and kawasaki.

[XSSIVEUS]

DiverRay is correct. The AI generated numbers do not include subsequent years like the 1980 XS1100G (one listed for sale on this site). However, the Midnight numbers are correct having confirmed that through other sources. They're the most valuable 1100s today, especially if pristine and stock. IMHO here is a nice example:

[gtem]

Based purely on what I see floating around on classifieds (facebook marketplace namely) It sure seems like they made a boatload of 1980-1981 Specials, fewer '79 Specials, '78 Standards, and '79 Standards seem the least common of the lot (most US buyers seemed really smitten with the Specials).

[DiverRay]

True, the specials were the cruisers for the day. I'm riding a 1979 Special now, but working on a 1978 standard. I've owned a few of these over the years, as well as other bikes. I keep coming back to the XS1100 because they are reliable and easy to repair/maintain, unlike say the Kawasaki 1400 I had for a while.
Me on my first XS1100, early 1978.

[XSSIVEUS]

DriverRay, that brought back memories! I bought one of the first XS11s out on the West Coast. After a short time I bought all of the Yamaha bits to convert it to a full dresser including gauges and radio. My wife and I rode it all over the West for years. Only complaint was that each dresser piece had a slightly different shade of Macho Maroon, the reason I eventually repainted it. Still have it today with 50K miles. Cheers

[DiverRay]

The Serial number on my first bike was 254, so 154th built. I did see an XS1100 with number 107 years later in Watsonville, CA. Mine was from Gilroy Yamaha, and I didn't order the Yamaha box as I wanted something larger.

[XSSIVEUS]

The S/N of my dresser that I bought new in 78 ends in 204 and my stock one ends in 624 (Midwest bike). I'm not sure how these line up to build order. With other Yamahas, I've found they pulled numbers in planning but didn't build in the planned order for whatever reason, sometimes waaaay different. This was most evident with the Midnights which were built off line, but applied to other bikes as well. Any idea how these S/Ns line up to build date Ray? I'd love to find a calculator. Thx

[DiverRay]

Not sure what to use other than the sticker on the steering head, if it's still there. That will give you the month/year of the build. I KNOW mine was early, as I put it together in September of '77.