Hilly's 1999 XL1200S

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Hilly's 1999 XL1200S

1/2

Hilly
14 days ago

Got the bike Wednesday, boat was late, really heavy sea running, surprised it came at all to be honest. Gave the sporty a good bath to get the salt off, had a quick check over of the basics, fuel and oil ok, found gear lever was busted, thought it was loose down the wharf but nup, couldn't get it out of second getting it on the trailer, no rego sigh! I assume something fell on it on the boat, shit happens I guess.
Front brake lever doesn't activate the brake light, I have a spare switch somewhere, engine light comes on but goes out when I wriggle the wires near the oil pressure sensor, dicky wires, love it, belts a bit loose as well, stuck it in the shed untill today.
I bodged up the shift lever so I could get gears and took it for a blat around a "private closed course" to check rolling functions, the left grip spins on the bar, very disconcerting when laying into a left hander I discovered, goes like buggery, couple of carby snorts but nothing I can't fix there.
Don't like the bend of the Tbars, I'll get some bars with a similar bend to the Slim ones, that suits my arthritic wrists better, I've got my eye on some already.
I noticed on Wednesday after I washed it that it had been hot washed previously so layed down underneath it with a torch to see what old mate had tried to hide, all the oil lines are hard and cracking and covered in oily crud, they have been weeping under there for years by the look of it, I will change the lot of them, bound to fix the leak then aye.
Overall I'm happy with it, will give it a full service, change the brake fluids and check the calipers, grease and adjust wheel and neck bearings, fix the other things I've found except the oil lines, I'll have to gather some stuff for that job, I'll chuck the forward controls that came in a box with it on, they are pretty rough looking but solid steel with grease nipples so I'll dress them up at some point and keep them.

Pulled the air cleaner for a look, external venting job coming up.

Rextheute2022, 408, Neale and 3 others like this post

Benno
14 days ago

Happy dayz Hilly, I am looking fwd to seeing the sporty evolve to Island life.

Hilly likes this post

speedzter
13 days ago

An unassuming little machine 👍
Perfect tank size for your situation !
Sounds like not too many bad surprises, and by the time you've fixed up the few issues you will know
her inside out .

I can't remember what your goals are, turning it in to dual sport capable ??
How tall are you - it would be good to give her a bit of a lift suspension wise .
I would look at another front end with a light weight spoked alloy wheel, but I'm sure you have your own ideas. .
Watch this space !

Hilly likes this post

Hilly
13 days ago

I'll get all the niggles sorted out first and get it registered, I'm leaning towards keeping the stock mag as tubeless holds a fair amount of appeal, 21"wire would only gain me .6" in diameter although it would a bit lighter so there is that, I want to get on the road so I can attack the slim again and still have a bike to ride.

Neale
13 days ago

Quoting Hilly on 17 Oct 2025 05:17 AM
Got the bike Wednesday, boat was late, really heavy sea running, surprised it came at all to be honest. Gave the sporty a good bath to get the salt off, had a quick check over of the basics, fuel and oil ok, found gear lever was busted, thought it was loose down the wharf but nup, couldn't get it out of second getting it on the trailer, no rego sigh! I assume something fell on it on the boat, shit happens I guess.
Front brake lever doesn't activate the brake light, I have a spare switch somewhere, engine light comes on but goes out when I wriggle the wires near the oil pressure sensor, dicky wires, love it, belts a bit loose as well, stuck it in the shed untill today.
I bodged up the shift lever so I could get gears and took it for a blat around a "private closed course" to check rolling functions, the left grip spins on the bar, very disconcerting when laying into a left hander I discovered, goes like buggery, couple of carby snorts but nothing I can't fix there.
Don't like the bend of the Tbars, I'll get some bars with a similar bend to the Slim ones, that suits my arthritic wrists better, I've got my eye on some already.
I noticed on Wednesday after I washed it that it had been hot washed previously so layed down underneath it with a torch to see what old mate had tried to hide, all the oil lines are hard and cracking and covered in oily crud, they have been weeping under there for years by the look of it, I will change the lot of them, bound to fix the leak then aye.
Overall I'm happy with it, will give it a full service, change the brake fluids and check the calipers, grease and adjust wheel and neck bearings, fix the other things I've found except the oil lines, I'll have to gather some stuff for that job, I'll chuck the forward controls that came in a box with it on, they are pretty rough looking but solid steel with grease nipples so I'll dress them up at some point and keep them.

Pulled the air cleaner for a look, external venting job coming up.

Love me a sporty.😀👍
Nice looking bike.

Hilly and obisteve like this post

Hilly
4 days ago

Haven't been near the sporty for a few days, been feeling a bit off, had a bit more in the tank this morning so pulled the bars, tank and seat off to get a bit closer to some of the things I'd spotted that needed looking at.
Found a few other things while I was at it, broken headstem earth wire, not critical but things work better with a decent earth.
Discovered a bad vacuum leak on the line from the carby that goes to the MAP sensor and fuel petcock, that one matters lots.
Whoever removed the forward controls last time either put the bottom bolt in the wrong way or used too long a bolt as it's burrowing its way into the oil pump to filter feed line, not ideal.
One riser bolt was loose on the handlebars, it wasn't doing any clamping at all, the other was doing a sterling job holding it all together.
Then we get to the brake switch, yep it's buggered but there is more than that going on there, the Tbars are the step up variety, the front brake master cylinder not so much, I did notice the gap to the step up was different from one since of the bars to the other, didn't click that was the issue until I removed the brake.
The wires on that side have also coped a pizzling, I'll pull the wires out of the plugs and slide the sheaths off so I can fix em properly and heat shrink the joins, be good as new......sort of.
The enrichener cable is broken, I'll change that while it's apart as well, the primary cover gasket is leaking, have ordered one, dear little varmint.
A few pics to show where I'm at.
Nope, won't load pic's, will try later.

B0nes and Stuart like this post

Hilly
4 days ago

See if this works.....

Brake switch, never makes a circuit.

Gap to bar end.

Where it was sitting roughly.

Where it has been squished against the bar step down.

Squashed wire repairs from the past.

Vacuum hose split, not good.

Earth wire.

Bolt and oil feed hose "interface"

In bits.

Rextheute2022 likes this post

speedzter
4 days ago

The joys of an older bike that's been through several 'handy" owners .

Like I said, at least you will get to know every inch, bring it back to life properly and have some entertainment along the way👍

Hilly and Stuart like this post

Hilly
4 days ago

Quoting speedzter on 27 Oct 2025 08:20 AM
The joys of an older bike that's been through several 'handy" owners .

Like I said, at least you will get to know every inch, bring it back to life properly and have some entertainment along the way👍

At some point in the not too distant future I want to change the oil pump gasket and oring and check the drive gear for wear, to do that the cover has to come off, sitting right there in front of me will be 4 little bump sticks.....I'm going to do this in stages I think, just so I don't get too carried away.
First, get it to rego stage and service it, strip, clean and tune the carb, ride and evaluate if the W cam's suit this environment.
The bung is out of the idle air/fuel mixture screw hole, what's the bet someone has tried to tune the vacuum leak out, it starts and runs fairly well, it's only just out of rego, these old girls are pretty forgiving to wrongness it seems, lovin it 😁
I have the upgraded ignition to fit but I'm going to wait until it's all kosher so I can feel what difference it makes if any other than RPM limit.

Rextheute2022 and brucefxdl like this post

Hilly
3 days ago

Being as the Tbars are no good plus I don't like the bend of them and the stock bars are too low and narrow I did some mocking up to see what my cables and wiring would handle bar wise.
I'm going to use a set of westerns as that bend works for me and you can get them with all kinds of rise built in.
To get it close I used the stock bars with grips only pushed on 2" or so to get the width I was after, given they have a rise of 4" I jacked the risers up 1 5/8" or so to get them to equal the rise of the westerns I'm looking at, close anyway.
Everything cable and wiring is fine, the brake line will make it, it worked at that set up and there is a bit more to be gained with some fiddling with banjo orientation and slightly straightening a couple of bends.
I sat the tank back on to make sure it would all clear, sweet as so just need some bars now.
Couple of pics.
Edit, nope, pics not loading again, maybe the forum is about kaput 🤷

Hilly
3 days ago

Must be a bandwidth thing, pics just won't load for me anymore.
And then they did!

Spaced up risers to equal (roughly) proposed bars

Getting an idea of how it would look

Grips just on to make the bars wider to check cables etc

Hilly
2 days ago

Is anyone else having issues with posting links and photos or even starting new threads?

beaglebasher
2 days ago

Quoting Hilly on 29 Oct 2025 08:58 AM
Is anyone else having issues with posting links and photos or even starting new threads?

beaglebasher
2 days ago

Quoting Hilly on 29 Oct 2025 08:58 AM
Is anyone else having issues with posting links and photos or even starting new threads?

Just tried to post a couple of pics but it's not happening.

Hilly likes this post

speedzter
yesterday

Can link but not attach.
The web host is screwed up it seems .

https://imgur.com/a/NhyMMSF

obisteve and Rextheute2022 like this post

Hilly
yesterday

That's a weapon of a sporty mate, mine will be very plain Jane in comparison 😁

Hilly
yesterday

Ordered the bars, stayed with black like the original ones just wider, higher and with an arthritic wrist friendly bend, got some new riser rubbers on the way to go with them.
Pic loaded, amazing as my kids say, I think it just means good, no-one is amazed anymore.

Photo pinched from BarCraft

brucefxdl
yesterday

i wasnt able to log in until just now,from 8.00 pm last night,this has happened a couple of times in the last week or so and put it down to a glitch at my end,but maybe not.

Hilly likes this post

speedzter
yesterday

Old grandpa bars 🤣
😉

flstc08 and Hilly like this post

Hilly
yesterday

Quoting speedzter on 30 Oct 2025 09:44 AMedited: 30 Oct 2025 09:46 AM
Old grandpa bars 🤣
😉

I qualify 😁
Nine grandkids so far and five of the six daughters are still fertile, one daughter and the two boys have yet to breed but pretty certain one lad will soon as his missus is clucky as anything 🫣

obisteve likes this post

Topics

1/2

Hilly's 1999 XL1200S

Hilly's 1999 XL1200S

Hilly

Benno

speedzter

Hilly

Neale

Hilly

Hilly

speedzter

Hilly

Hilly

Hilly

Hilly

beaglebasher

beaglebasher

speedzter

Hilly

Hilly

brucefxdl

speedzter

Hilly