We don?t see many Yamaha XS1100s around these days, which is a shame?it was an absolute beast of a machine. It was often called the ?XS 11,? because it could run the quarter-mile in under 12 seconds, but its extended wheelbase made it more of a tourer than a sportbike.
The unusually long air-cooled engine pumped out 95 hp, and although the handling was widely regarded as terrible, the XS1100 still made it into Cycle World magazine?s Ten Best Bikes of 1978 list.

Johnny Nguyen of Upcycle has a soft spot for the XS1100, and he?s made this 1980-spec Craigslist find the basis for his newest build. ?I chose it because my first bike was a Yamaha,? he tells us. ?And I like the idea of a classic liter bike.?
Unlike most builders, Johnny builds bikes to suit his own taste, and then sells them. ?None of my projects are client-based,? he reveals. ?I just build what my heart wants?I like the freedom!?
Despite being almost 40 years old, the XS1100 was in pretty decent shape when Johnny started. ?The engine ran very well before take down,? he recalls. ?So I just inspected the valves and did a full gasket change while I was in there.?
The entire engine was then chemical washed and soda blasted, and Johnny replaced the rear cases with a tight mesh.

The four Mikuni carburetors were completely stripped too, dunked in chemical wash and re-jetted, synced and tuned to match the new red velocity stacks and the 4-into-1 chrome megaphone exhaust system from Mac.
This machine is likely...