After riding these for roughly 15 years: They can be made to perform, but especially in the states you're better off with a sportster and buying a Buell engine or Screaming eagle parts as it's a lot less hassle.
Strictly speaking: a 750 is a slug, a 920/981 can be made to perform quite decently and once you're into an 1100 engine with 700 or 750 heads to bump up the compression, a home made exhaust, different carbs and a programmable ignition, you're hopefully someone, who can do all this alone or you could easily have bought something nice. But at least then it's finally at the kind of horse power the factory claimed for a TR1 (981cc XV1000).
I've been working on building a genuine 90hp engine for about six months now and there's not a lot of stock XV left...
Generally speaking, they are nice poser bikes or in stock form good commuters. The starter system s*cks, so if you really everyday it, you should have a spare starter and starter-clutch (if you're running Gen2) at home and one in the office.
Oh and unless this may not sound like it: I love mine and have nearly done 100,000mls on it. But unless you're so deadly spent on them (I probably have parts kicking about in the workshop worth two grand or more), look somewhere else and get something that works from the get-go or you'll most likely be disappointed.
