[Billy Stewart]

Let me introduce myself, names Billy, come from Aberdeen way up north. I am going to look at what appears to be a very tidy 1100 Classic.

Is there anything i need to duly consider, before i hand over a wad of used notes. any weaknesses in the bikes? anything that should have been sorted either via a recall or sensible mods done to make the overall ride better. the bikes a 2002, has just under 10k on it. has service history up till around 5k when the current oner bought it. then he serviced it from then, as i will be. and if i buy thats the first item on the agenda a full service and check. a thorough clean and a lashing of ACF50.. how does the chrome hold up on there? i have a 86 Suzuki intruder and lets just say.. the chrome is pants! I need to know if its the kind of bike you can depend on to cover distance reliably and in some sort of comfort. top speed isn’t such an issue as long as i can sit at motorway speed and have enough left to pass a truck if need be.

I know this kind of question has probably been asked 2455566 times. but i want to go in eyes wide open. I can’t afford to make a expensive mistake. (can anyone really!) so if you can point me in the right direction id be grateful. If i buy the bike i will be joining the club properly.

[Joker]

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.