If ever there were a case to be made for the hackneyed phrase, “win on Sunday, sell on Monday”, Yamaha’s big XS1100 would be the perfect illustration.
Despite being what was at the time an absolute behemoth of a motorcycle, with shaft-drive, and all the appearances of being primarily a tourer, in 1978 it managed to win the legendary and hugely competitive Castrol 6 Hour production race in Australia, a lap ahead of a Ducati 900SS and Honda CBX1000.
It was a result that helped to cement the model into the national motorcycle psyche and meant that, no matter what your reason for buying one, it deserved respect.
Sure, once you loaded it up with the favourite pillion and all the camping gear (which is how many of them spent their lives) it probably handled like a wheelbarrow full of clowns. Didn’t matter – it was still a 6 Hour winner.
That says as much about the times as it does the motorcycle itself. While such things as market segmentation did exist – you could buy a cruiser, a heavy tourer or a dedicated sports bike – they tended to be the outliers. The volume sellers were the models that would and could tackle anything: commuting, touring, play-racing.
In that environment, particularly in the late 1970s, the XS1100 was a very competitive package.
So what was in the tin? To the casual observer, it was a very conventional two-valve, double overhead cam air-cooled, inline-four with a bank of four 34mm CV carburettors. There was much discussion of the innovative design of the engine’s ‘polyspheric’ combustion chamber, which was chasing a ‘hemi’ effect without the drawbacks inherent with that path.
In that respect, this was a whole lot more than an XS750/850 triple platform with an extra cylinder tacked on.
The end result was a formidable 95 horses at 8500rpm and a solid 90Nm at 6500. That was propelling 260kg with all the fluids on board.
As for the chassis, it was very conventional: A twin-loop steel frame with non-adjustable telescopic fork and twin shocks out back with preload adjustment. Braking was by triple discs.
Numerous variants were built over the years, including a Midnight Special cruiser version for the USA market.
There was also a USA tourer called the Venturer, featuring a fibreglass fairing and panniers made by Pacifico. Our favourite is the final throw of the dice, which is the handsome XS1.1 (above).
