Topic: Was thinking about an xs1100...

[DammitDan]

95 horses at the rear wheel?  Sheesh!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&sspagename=ADME%3AB%3AAAQ%3AUS%3A1&viewitem=&item=250093139524

What do you guys think?  It looks pretty clean to me...

[cb650]

I always liked the 1100's but not that midnite crap.   Didnt think the midnites cam out untill 82.




              Terry

[andy750]

Ive never had good experience with Yamaha (and particulary XS) electrics - reading the description about blinkers not working etc etc...sounds familiar.

Id buy another Honda 
cheers
Andy

[grumburg]

Rode one on a 500 mile trip in the 80s. Ran strong, but shifter clunked like an old Harley.

[heffay]

where's the book that says that thing has 95 horses. 

not too bad... make some mods and it would be pretty sweet.  just make sure to take care of those handle bars!

[cb650]

There is a site for them also.  Thought I had the link but as usual was wrong.




                                   Terry

[chung]

I think they claimed the fastest 1/4 mile on the planet the first model year, it is indeed a beast.

The wiring is funky, the blinker relay was almost $80 on my Maxum.

I spent a couple hours trying to fix my headlight on another Yammi

[cb650]

Claimed to be first production bike in the 11's.       




                        Terry

[DammitDan]

Unfortunately after i emailed the guy, he wrote me back with this:

"smoked when i started it. vibration has never been an issue. oil chainged last nov. idles fine but sometimes when i slow down in town to turn it will cut out, but never fails to start right back up. revs up fine no hesitation. as far as the chain, i assume you mean cam chain since this is a shaft drive, you can hear it, but you can hear any cam chain on a bike this old."

That bolded bit turned me off bigtime. 

[Terry in Australia]

I wouldn't worry about that, they were pretty bullet-proof mate, I've ridden a couple and they're plenty fast too, the 95 horses is no exaggeration.

They're a good tourer, and to be fair, won the Castrol 6 Hour endurance race here in Oz in 1980, (I was there) but even so, weren't a great handling bike in the twisties.

Yamaha have made some fine handling bikes over the years, but the XS1100 "Elephant" wasn't one of them, and a Suzuki GS1000 would kill it. (and pretty much anything else including Honda's rocket ship, the mighty-fast-in-a-straight-line CBX) That wouldn't stop me from buying one though, they were a pretty nice jigger. Cheers, Terry.