steppenwolf

Been riding the same bike for 29 years...part of it is the bike...but it is the ride that is what I like..don't think I would like a sport bike tho..may be faster and corner better,I like to sit back and ride,don't care if you like it...it isn't about you..it is about me and what I ride....hookers..ya pay for it if ya are married or not:-)

A quick overniter...

Yuppers you have that right as if we don't have enough to worry about while riding..

Wish I could but you are riding a bike built when bikes were built to last..be reliable...never under estimate that Kaw you have...good solid machine....it will last for alot more miles.

Yuppers ya never notice that stuff till it rains. Tell ya what has me stumped are the stop bars,seems like I didn't have any problems till a few years ago and now they are slicker than snot on a door knob..riding in the rain is not too big of a problem if ya have decent tires and can relax.

Well by now you should know what ya are doing. I use the clutch between first and second,long hard throw on my 1100 then upshifting it is a guess your best,always changes,what ever floats my boat.Down shift I do use the clutch.Original clutch and no tranny work 79000 miles.It is a "feel" thing..ya just know and then it is second nature.

Just looked at your post count 666..I'm not gonna touch that. See you on the U board.:D

Enjoyed the ride report and pictures....my opinion is on my trips..ya never know how much fun ya had till ya got back..if it all went smooth as silk be kinda boring..but the assless chaps in New Orleans bet ya glad ya got out of there:-) Nice report.. Ya gotta love rain...by now:-) It happens. Thanks.

Labor Day rode from Chillicothe to Cincinnati pretty much in the rain the whole way and other than the normal paint stop bars and sewer lids,Hillsboro had a couple of cobble stone crosswalks that I just kinda coasted across ,but jumped off of 275 west bound to 71 south and was trying to get to track speed at 55 I hit a tar snake and spun the back tire and I webble wobbled but the front end held straight...riding in the rain,big time fun but if I kept above 50 my fairing kept the rain out of my face,3/4 helmet.

Do you expect us to belive an old bike can go that many miles in one day:D:D without falling apart....musta made them good back then:)

I feel a group hug and sing along coming............

More than one sentence here but..yesterday ,I live in Cincinnati and was scouting some roads over in IN for a fall run for our XS1100 group..I decided I wanted to go to Chillicothe..turned around,back to the house and grabed the suitcase and of I went for the nite,rode home almost all the way home in the rain today(labor day)along RT 50...:D If you need to ask me why I ride...hop on your bike and head out.. Or just check this out... http://ohio-riders.net/group.php?groupid=21

Be on the road tomorrow..tried to order valve cover gasket,cam chain and rivetable link from Partsnmore but out of stock..need cam shaft plugs also. Did find some hot coils at Mikes XS.. Have carb rebuild kits coming in from George Fix it.. Have iridium plugs coming,have new fuel line and fuse box..watch out ...I will be riding a hot bike..be like a new one:D My problem is I stop at every photo op along the way.. Sit back..grab a cold twelve pack http://www.hulu.com/watch/15267/timerider-the-adventure-of-lyle-swann I should go on the main board once in awhile..might get a few hits:-)

Well this is my dream bike...

Sold my XS 1100 after 29 years Well I sold my XS1100 SG after 29 years of great riding had fun meeting other XS riders,sharing stories,saw both coasts and a lot in between but the old bike had to go..time for a new Wing This thing has an on board air compressor,am/fm 6 cdchanger with built in cb and scanner to listen in on rr frequences and a ham band. With reverse and an 1800 cc engine,a rear camera,18 inch screen for the gps,a trailer with optional hook up for a second trailer..running lights and the wheels are spinners so I look like I am moving when stoped..heated grips and foot pegs,a cool air system to blow if it gets hot plus the optional heated air vents..this is a one of a kind machine but now I am ready to move on to the Wing World..better than Disney....WHAT THE F... Holy Cheep Chit..I've been sleepwalking again and having a nightmare....sorry..ignore this post.

Well the bike is up and running,at 4500 rpm it dies..thinking fuel or electrical...it is back in Indianapolis now but the owner and another rider are going to do some checks on it tonite...sounds good tho..but from saturday.. The bike.. Getting the valves set... First we had four XS1100's... Then five... Then six with one with family matters who could not make it... everybody giving a helping hand... Getting carbs back on.. Valve cover.. it lives..syncing carbs and color tuning.. it is whole again and on the street..packed up to go back home.. And then the next one rolled in.............

The valve came in thursday,master link for the cam chain is in and the operation is set for tomorrow at 10..we just need to pick up a couple of rolls of duct tape to put it together:D The XS1100 guys and gals think we have the best overall bike,tho old,on the road.. THE PREREQUESITES WERE ALREADY ESTABLISHED FOR THE XS ELEVEN. 1. It had to have 4 cylinders 2. It had to be a shaft drive without torque reaction 3. It had to be faster than a Z1 in the ¼ mile 4. It had to carry more than a GoldWing 5. It had to handle like a road racer 6. It had to last almost indefinitely 7. It had to perform well at any altitude 8. It had to be easy to ride in traffic 9. It had to be above all, easy to repair if it did break Could it? Will it? (Does it? Do all of those things?) You tell me, it’s 28 years later and even now there isn’t anything out there that has all of its capabilities in one bike. They made a big effort since to limit each new model to a specific job or purpose and they can’t do much of anything else. That leaves the XS Eleven right where it started, at the top of the heap. Yamaha, in the XS750 Triple, had already accomplished the removing of side torque reaction from a drive-shaft bike. In the XS Eleven they went a step further, by making the engine rotate backward. The torque made by the turning crankshafts centrifugal force that might twist the handlebar out of your hands on a BMW, Honda CX or Motoguzzi was turned into a positive thing. It puts the torque reaction onto the back tire while the crank is spinning that direction. That’s like putting a bunch of sand bags in the back of your pickup. You know, those vehicles that go sideways on wet pavement from wheel spin, like a Corvette can do on the dry. An XS Eleven will get better traction from this feature and is harder to wheelie than other bikes. However, if you lean over as you accelerate in low it will still squirt the rear end right out from under you. I have permanent injuries to prove that. There is plenty more that makes the XS Eleven the best. The seven spoke cast aluminum wheels for instance. This design is so strong that I built “Street Sleeper” from a crashed 1980 Standard that suffered and impact so strong that it bent the frame and forks. I used the original wheels, engine and drive train on a 1978 frame and forks. The wheels were still in perfect condition after a crash like that. Try that on any 3 spoke mag type wheel of late, no chance. A Wiseco big bore 1196cc kit was installed in my original long miles XS Eleven at 80,000 on the odometer. It developed some piston slap after another 80,000 miles. I figured it would require another set of cylinders to be bored and another kit. I disassembled the engine top end and ordered new pistons. Upon their arrival I slipped one in a cylinder and measured the clearance. It was still .002, which was in spec. The cylinder metal had no appreciable wear on it. I only scratch honed the cylinder barrels, so the new rings would reseat and reassembled the top end with the new pistons. It’s still running today with 219,300 on it. It sounds like the same thing has happened again. It’s still got a couple more long trips in it, but I plan to freshen it up again soon. Still, when you can cruise at 90mph and carry 8 pieces of gear for 100,000 miles, who cares? I’ll take that kind of reliability any day of the week for all that power. I’d certainly rather take an XS Eleven apart as opposed to a water cooled over complicated anything else. If some of you disagree with that, no problem. You do yours when it’s due and I’ll do mine. We’ll see how you feel after that. You’ll more than likely just buy another new bike. That’s just one of many reasons that I say the XS Eleven is the best. I’m just as thrilled each time I ride mine, as I was the first day I got it. If other bikes can do that then why are the papers full of them for sale? I just installed the third new cam chain in this same bike at 216,000 miles. If you buy a copy of my book, “XS ELEVEN HEAVEN” By Bob Jones you’ll find a lot of useful information about the maintenance of cam chains and their adjusting device. Not to speak of many other things. Why is the XS Eleven in a class by itself? Up until its creation no one company had tried to make an all round superior and versatile motorcycle. By 1977 most everyone had made their best effort and Yamaha knew what had to be done in every category to create such a bike. Once it was built and sold. Well, the other three Japanese companies saw it was unique in every way and a good idea and they didn’t have one. They hurriedly added on the drive shaft feature to their already existing chain drive inline transverse fours. This gave them competitive models to the XS Eleven, but they inherited all of the same problems and weaknesses of there chain drive predecessors and weren’t even close in any other department. The buying, riding public had no way of knowing this though. They didn’t even have any way of finding it out. Dealers, even myself, were ignorant of the facts, so who would point it out? After a 4-year run with the XS Eleven and the use of the engine in the XJ1100 Maxim in 1982. Yamaha then realized it was actually too good and would virtually last too long. After the crash of 1982, that left models from that year in show rooms and in warehouses for 5 years, it was obvious riders had to be resold. How can you do that if the bikes they have would last a lifetime? Yamaha then jumped on the bandwagon with everyone else. Everyone was making a lot of noise with and about V-Twins and V-Fours. They first produced the Viragos and then the Venture Royal and the V-Max, which is basically the same engine with a few hop up goodies in it. It’s still in production today 20 years later. Both are cumbersome and virtually one-purpose bikes. The tourer can’t cross over the line to anything else because it’s too big and cumbersome. The V-Max may be a handful in a straight line, but it just doesn’t cut it in fast turns. Plus there’s not enough gas on board to actually go very far. We recently had one in our shop for repairs. It was a basket job and I doubt anyone else would even have taken it in. They have electronic V-Boost and a host of other such parts too numerous to mention that are very fradual and make them very costly to repair. All are a far cry from Yamaha’s best effort ever. (The XS Eleven) After the mid eighties planned obsolescence went into all motorcycles, except Harley’s they were already obsolete. Ha Ha, did I say that? I have a customer in Germany who has an electronics factory. He told me that a few years ago Japanese motorcycle company executives came in and wanted some relays made to put into their new bikes. He didn’t say which brand, but they asked how many functions these parts would make? He told them 100,000 and they said “ Well, we don’t want that, we only want 10,000.” Get the picture? They learned it from the car people. At 10,000 functions every component on your shiny new bike will start to fail. That alone will total the bike if you don’t crash it first. That will definitely total it. I haven’t fixed a wreck in years, except for XS Elevens. Insurance companies won’t pay for it. They just total anything that’s crashed. The bikes were never meant to hold up in a crash or even in long time constant use. The materials aren’t strong enough. There are no components in an XS Eleven built with these new rules. The best of everything known at the time was employed in its design and construction. Previous to it the technology was not there. No matter what the mythical they make now, the mindset used on the XS Eleven will not be employed. Not to speak of government intervention for pollution, power and other so called abuses. This leaves the XS Eleven as a loner, one of a kind. The best all round motorcycle ever made and that ever will be made. So the next time someone asks you why is the XS Eleven better than anything else? Well, now you know. I was in their face for three years until they built it and it will never die until I do and I doubt even then if it will. People who have them will end up having to leave them to someone else since they will most likely outlast their owners. Even now I deal with many people who have inherited the XS Elevens that they have." END OF EXPLANATION BOB JONES

Well I think this weekend this engine is gonna be running,intake valve is coming in from oregon and the rest of the valves are lapped and ready to go.. Think these were a few xtra parts:) Plus we had a tupper ware party Plus measuring an allien mind...

Just a couple of pics from were what we hoping for a quick valve set and carb sync but it turned nasty........ The man cave...

Max,between vacations and people being sick we haven't got plans for a Hocking Hills trip yet but is still in the back of our minds...

Hey I just wanted to thank you Dayton riders for the info you gave me. I regrettaby could not make it,got hurt at work and I don't heal that well anymore.I coulda pushed it and went and had a good time but I wasn't ready..back and hip problems take a little time to get better..I passed 50 years ago :violin:Good talking at ya and ride safe. http://www.fraze.com/global_tpl.cfm?Section=Global&Content=photo&SeriesId=0

While these are not this year..WOW..something to strive for... http://www.ncmotorcyclists.com/100,000+_club.htm

Not to take away from your question or hi jack but I thought this was good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPtDxRzeYiY&feature=related

Rod.........I hope you realize you live in a great part of our state...soo much to see down your way....the river,flood wall etc.....