Hi Bill. I recently purchased an X reg XVS1100 custom. In very good condition. Looked great on Ebay and purchased it without test drive as I was keen to get it and the price was very reasonable. One thing I only found out after the purchase is that the exhaust needs to be removed to fo an oil change as the oil filter cannot be removed with the exhaust in place. There is even a mod that can be purchased to allow an external oil filter for easier oil changes.
Unfortunately I found the clutch to be slipping when I took it for a spin, and due to time constraints and other things happening, I decided just to take it in to get it sorted instead of doing it myself. From both the previous owner and my mechanics I got the impression the exhaust studs have a tendancy to rust up and previous owner suggested adding copper slip to avoid any problems on the next removal.
Not sure if any of this helps but might be worth adding to your checklist of things to look at.
I always thought the quality of Japanese chrome is not as good as other countries, however having seen quality of chrome on some Highway hawk products which I was disapointed with I do think a lot of this depends on how well the bike was used and looked after during the course of it’s life. One advantage of the XVS 1100 is that there are lots of them about (compared to Raiders and Warriors) which means there are also lots of parts available secondhand if you do not want to get a new one from factory.
