Hi all. My name's Errol and I'm an "excessive compulsive." We moved up to Childers in August 2006 from Brisvegas to escape the heavy urbanism that had overwhelmed our quiet suburb of Moreton Downs. I ride a 1979 XS1100 Special which had only 18,746klms on it when i bought it in 2001. We've since clocked up 273,000k's and it's still running strong. It's had the full range of guises ranging from totally naked to part faired/ soft bags to the full Faired / hard bagged tourer with trusty keg in tow. The guys at the Redcliffe Ulysses branch (my old crew) dubbed it the "Beemaha' due to it's likeness to an R80 RT which donated its fairing and panniers.It's currently naked again and in the process of having a tidy up as it has been quite neglected since my move up here. I just fitted a HID lighting kit to see how much more comfortable my commute to work at Bundaberg will be with a bit more visibility at my disposal. It seems to be the best way to go due to the limited power available from the XS's alternator. I'll let you know what it works out like.
My other mojor trial at the moment is with my fork tubes. A while ago, I had seal problems which I disclosed all the details on the U.S site. ( long story) . I ended up making a bodgy set of forks that were part Special, Part standard which worked ok except for the fact they ended up about 6 inches longer than stock which required the removal of my 3 piece bars and make up a pair of risers so the fork tubes could be raised 100mm up through the triple clamps to regain its normal ride height. Now my problem is.......rust. After its last trip to work, the bike was left standing for a while with wet weather and such, then I went to jump on it the other day and I've got rust marks on the fork tubes that have resisted my every effort to remove them.They're not just marks I discoverd but pits which have rendered them just about useless. I don't remember following a truck or anything that could have sprayed something caustic over it. The headlight rim and indicator flanges copped it too but I got nearly all of it out from some more vigorous rubbing so they're sweet.
Does anyone know of a good place to get the tubes rechromed as I would very much like to finally return the bike to original specs. I think the innner tubes are the same as on the XS11 RH being 37mm diam. and 690mm long but my sliders are different with the strange rocking brake calipers instead of the more normal slide type.
