I suddenly feel less good about this...

[JPaganel]

So, being currently FJ-less  I was cruising CL and happened upon an XS1100 for cheap. Guy said it ran, but "didn't have the power it should". I thought it might be fun to kick around an inline-4 cruiser.

When I showed up, the bike started and ran, but quickly stopped, as the battery seems to be crappy. Usual  Previous Owner problems - hideous rats nest of wire instead of the fusebox, front brakes are sticky. That stuff is pretty easy. He said it had good compression. So, I went for it.

Today I got it off the trailer, put a charger on it, and started it. Throttle is sticky as hell, I can deal with that. What bothers me is that it backfires, and after a couple of minutes started to smoke pretty significantly. Seems it's not in as good of a shape as I thought.

I bet when this guy said he cleaned carbs, he probably did a superficial job. Also, valves are probably out of spec. But where the hell did all this smoke come from and why wasn't it there when he started it? 

Ugh...

[FJscott]

 My guess is there is oil laying in the exhaust and when he started it, briefly it wasn't long enough to get enough heat in it to burn off.

don't give up yet. its kind of like bringing home a stray dog, you cant abandon it because you find it has fleas.
I had a 79 xs1100 and it was a great bike in its day.

Scott

[The General]

My 1978 XS does that occasionally too. I`ll fix those valve guides one day. If ever there was a motor that can claim to be indestructible it is that one. There is a few little tricks to them. (Broken pickup wires the most common)
Here`s some tips from my mate Steptoe, the barefoot mechanic. I reckon oily valve guides are good fore tha Bore anyhow!.....did you know the crank turns the opposite way to the FJ? (If it doesn`t you`ll have 5 reverse gears!) http://xs1100.com.au/forum/index.php?board=39.0