The Yamaha XS1100 has been written about before in the pages of the UMG but I’m a committed XS nutter with a compulsion to tell all. Those of you with a nervous disposition and an adherence to the principles of cost effective, practical motorcycling should switch off now.
The XS1.1S (occasionally confused with the Midnight Special which is a US Custom and not the real thing at all) is the dream child of a Jap stylist who probably had a penchant for large ladies dressed in rubber and leather, carrying exotic looking whips. If you want a bike that dominates and intimidates, buy an XS1.1.
I found mine lurking in a shop full of trade-ins and new GPz thingies. The salesman started it up; the earth shook and I went off for a test ride. I don’t think that I got past third gear. Back at the shop - having mentally bought the bike in yer love at first ride scenario - I asked the price. £1200 for a less than two year old 1100 with sixteen grand on the clock. How could I refuse? New, these bikes sold for £2600.
The previous owner had dropped a whole load of dosh in 20 months depreciation. I reckon that I got a vast amount of metal for my money... I recently saw a zero mile, mint condition XS1.1 advertised for nearly £3000. As found, the bike was profoundly dirty with ‘screwdrivered’ locks - perhaps some tealeaf had mistaken it for an LC. The Laser 4-1 made the most wonderful snarling sound; frequently causing small children to cry and inducing cardiac arrest in caged crumblies.
Oddly enough it never attracted the law’s attention. When you buy a bike you just have to see how fast it'll go. I backed off at an indicated 135mph - there was a slight weave at 120 and I didn’t fancy this reappearing at 140mph. In top gear the power comes in at 105mph which is just right for living in the fast lane. On the open road top is the only gear necessary unless totally maniacal acceleration is required. Gear spacing is wide and torque is immense, so dropping a gear can be therapeutic.
Power is what these bikes are about and when you're running it power doesn’t come cheap. Juice is slurped through the twin fuel taps and into the Mikuni carbs at an average of a gallon every 35 miles. A rear tyre can resemble a slick after a hundred gallons of two star have been sucked through the combustion chambers. The bike came with V rated Michelins which were truly horrible in the wet, spinning from standstill and fish-tailing on the move. At £140 a set Phantoms aren't cheap but they do say more about you than certain other tyres.
It's worth the money to see someone struggling to fit the rear cover with its two security pads which apparently stop the tyre and tube spinning on the rim when maximum welly is dished out. Make sure the wheels are properly balanced and run the rear tyre at 40psi, or real fear and loathing happens above the ton.
The suspension is easy to sort out - if you've got the cash. Remove the rear shocks - they look quite nice so you can sell them to someone with a 250 - and replace them with a set of Dial-a-Ride Konis (£80). These items are truly wonderful and have lasted for 14000 miles without fading. The forks need the right amount of 10/40 oil in each fork topped up with 20psi of air, and a fork brace.
The end result is a bike that handles okay within the parameters of its design. A bike which weighs some 560lbs and has shaft drive is never going to be a Ducati. Cornering technique boils down to shifting your body weight and never, ever, closing the throttle when banked over.
The heart of the XS is its engine a massively proportioned DOHC two valve four of traditional Jap design. A power output of 95hp means the motor is in a soft state of tune, peak torque produced at 6000rpm - for those interested in towing caravans, pulling down trees, etc. Yamaha are rumoured to have developed a turbo kit, but never unleashed it on the public... turbo kits are available for the seriously terminal.
Engine maintenance is a doddle. Valve clearance is maintained by a very efficient bucket and shim arrangement and stay within tolerance admirably. Using the Yam shimming tool (£12) and following the Haynes manual, the job is straightforward. Kawasaki, BMW and Aston Martin shims fit in case your local Yamaha dealer is as useless as most of them seem to be. Tensioning the camchain is simple but it’s best to re move the tensioner and reset it manually before carrying out the tensioning procedure. The only other necessary engine maintenance is changing the oil and filter every 3000 miles.
At 30000 miles I had the camchain replaced - Tony Galea fitted one of his famous soft link chains, set the top end up and balanced the carbs for £115. I innocently asked if it would need any running in and the man told me to thrash the balls off it. XS1.1 camchains often last up to 50 grand.
The carbs stay in tune forever but since my brother has a set of vacuum gauges they are balanced every so often. The rubber inlet manifolds are prone to cracking and I felt obliged to fit new ones at 28000 miles. The manifolds cost a truly awesome £10 each and are a swine to fit - it took me six hours. First gear is good for 0-60 in the time it takes to think about changing up into 2nd. A deliberate change into 2nd and 3rd at 8500rpm will see a ton ten, with two gears to go. The bike is easy to ride gently as power can be fed in from 2000rpm and you can trickle along in top at this engine speed. In town, second gear is all that is needed.
Mid-range power is the engine's true joy. Dropping the clutch at 4000rpm makes life suddenly exhilarating, as eyeballs move to the back of the head and arms stretch alarmingly. This engine speed equates to 70mph in top, very similar to a Norton Commando. The XS has enough brute acceleration to stomp almost anything other than the latest generation of sports bikes. Porsche drivers never seem to want to play.
An engine that stays in tune and a shaft drive that doesn’t go slack, no boasting intended, count for a lot when you want - day in, day out - performance that can be taken for granted. One thing you do have to be careful of is snapping open the throttle when there's a passenger aboard - personally, I'm far too much of a coward to ever go on the back of one of these machines.
The standard grab handle looks ace but has to removed if you want to fit a rack. I bought a black nylon coated Euro Design item. The seat is properly contoured and is comfortable for hundreds of miles, even for the pillion. Unfortunately, there is an unnecessary seam at the back of the seat which splits. Two up, with loads of luggage, it'll cruise at highly illegal speeds until the fuel tank runs dry. The handlebar fairing actually works, the steeply angled screen keeps the wind off your chest and neck. Great, save that you have to take it off to change the headlamp bulb, although mine has never blown and casts a beam with laser intensity down the road.
The only electrical problem was the electronic tacho which still hasn’t been replaced, 'cos I don't really need it. There's even a power socket for portable TVs, vibrators, etc.
Yamaha’s GPBS (Gorilla Proof Braking System) requires a fair old pull and the calipers can seize up. The rear disc locks up the wheel with dangerous ease. Given the size and speed of the XS, pad life is surprisingly good, helped by copious engine braking.
Heavy, awkward gear changing is often touted as a major drawback of shaft drive bikes. First gear always engages with the traditional clunk and a deliberate change has to be made up to 2nd gear, the Achilles Heel of the XS1.1 - it can break up. Clutchless up-shifts are possible once you've adjusted to the gearbox. The only time that I have felt the gearchange to be heavy is when I rode the bike the day after having the plaster removed from a broken left ankle.
The XS is an attention grabbing motorcycle and guarantees you a high profile. It presents a pleasingly brutal image which impresses citizens and bikers alike. But it is expensive to run, I reckon about £50 a month on petrol and tyres alone. The bike would not be practical did I not live near plenty of open roads. For me, the satisfaction of ownership makes it worthwhile. Together with some of the other muscle bikes, notably Katanas and Z1s, the XS1.1 is becoming cherished in a way that only British and Italian bikes were - a well looked after and properly sorted machine has individuality and character.
Prices are rising, so they are not that much of an economic folly. At least if you don't crash ‘em, like I did to mine last year. It was written off by the insurance company but I managed to buy it back for £200, and with the money from the insurers bought a B reg XS1.1 for £1600. Sold the motor from the crashed bike for £250 to a chop builder, an increasingly popular engine for those devices, although I’m told the truly gonzoid motor to stick in a custom frame is the Z1300 lump - sounds like a really good idea to me.
Roy Terrill