The CB1100 Community Forum

I belong to a couple motorcycle forums, and lurk several others. One thing I notice in common on all the forums is guys buy bikes, farkle the blazes out of them, keep them a year, then sell the bike they just finished making "theirs" and buy something else and repeat the process over and over again.

I have motorcycling friends who always seem to have a new motorcycle in their garage. So much so, that a common question is the next time you see them is "So, what are you riding now?"

It's not like the bikes they get rid of are bad bikes. There are no bad bikes anymore. Bikes have gotten so good any of them could last someone their entire riding career for the most part, with very few issues.

No, it seems to be a case of the wantsies.

Hey, I'm bad at it myself. In the last few years I have owned a Triumph Bonneville, a Honda CB 750 Nighthawk, 2 Yamaha FZ-1's, 2 Honda CB 1100's, 2 Yamaha Majesty 400 Scooters, and a Honda ST 1300. I've never come close to wearing one of these motorcycles out. I think the highest mileage is my current ST 1300 at 53,000 miles, one FZ in the 30,000 mile range, an FZ, the Nighthawk and the Bonnie in the 20,000 mile range, the 2 CB 1100s in the 10,000 mile range and the two scooters in the 5000 mile range.

I've lived in the same house for 21 years. I worked at the same place for 25 years. Been married to the same woman for 41 years. Always put over 200,000 miles on my cars before getting a new one.

So why the motorcycle leap frog?

How about you? Are you guilty?

I too, am very guilty and I don't know why either! (jeez, this sounds like a rehab meeting opening line)
I also don't act this way with cars. I own four SUVs. Three have 120,000 miles or more. The "new' one has 74,000.

I see nothing that would make me sell my CB. But over the past 14 years I kind of lost count on how many bikes I've bought and sold. My guess is 12, including owning two or even three at the same time. I now have two. I would sell the other Honda (a touring bike) before I part with the CB. I may respect some other modern bikes, and appreciate what the manufacturers are accomplishing, but mostly the style and riding position of them does nothing for me.

nah....'86' 900 Ninja for >25 years, now CB1100 til I die.

Smart man Hiker!

Drove my last truck 1986 F-150 24 years (gave it to my son-in-law still driving it.). Wore out every bike I ever owned. Got out of riding motorcycles for a while and bought the CB this year. Most likely will own it until my last ride in a Hearst!

Have had a few models more than once, '75 Honda CB400F (2), '96 & '98 Honda 750 Nighthawk, '06 & '05 Suzuki Boulevard M50 (3) & '09 VStar 950T (2) but my unicorn is the '08 Kawasaki Versys. Bought and sold 6 times between '08 & '14, 1 of those times I bought back the 1 I sold. Just thought it was the ultimate do it all bike but I had too many negatives

It's a Kawasaki (I know brand loyalty is a factor for some)
Being 5'8" it was just tall enough to make you think about your footing every time you stopped
It had so much lean it made you feel like you were falling through curves
The passenger seat was just too high for my wife's liking.

Other than that I just thought it was awesome Made me rethink the negatives of a parallel twin.

I have no idea of the answer to your question, Ferret. I suspect there's a whole range of reasons. I also suspect there are people who buy and sell cars at the same sort of rate.

For the dedicated farkles, I think what happens is that the farkling is the mission and when it's complete they get bored and want to move onto the next thing. Time for a new bike and a new set of farkles before that, too, is complete and round they go again.

I think for the most part motorcycles are for enjoyment not transportation. You can buy a bike for 10-15K ride it for two years at a cost of about 2g's a year. Can't do that with a car or people would trade them in too.

Most bikes I have owned recently have a 2 year life span before I'm tired of them and trade up for something else. I posted in a thread today I almost pulled the trigger on a Wing, probably for the first time I though hard and didn't go through trading in the CB1100. Had it been any other bike i think i would have done the deal. Its usually a very quick decision not something I think about very long. I'll admit I'm compulsive, I want what I want and I want it now.

I'm sure a lot of us have traded bikes for new ones and said, I should have kept that bike, I know I have.

Guilty as charged. Having the CB1100 has changed my outlook however. I like looking at and riding other bikes and might even buy a second ride down the line (sure like that Ducati Scrambler) but I'm so pleased with the CB I can't imagine ever selling it. Other than the Puig screen and 2014 CB sprocket cover I've found no reason to change it. It's as if Honda designed this bike with me in mind.

Hb900 .. You sound like my buddy Jim. He's had 3 or 4 Versys. Last one he sold, backed out of the deal and gave the guy his money back, rode it another couple months, and then sold it again. He say's it's still his favorite bike ( He's had 3 FZ-1's, 2 Fatboys and and FJR among plenty of others) Just sent me video clips of the 2015 Versys and a youtube of " 3 years with a Versys" documentary by some English fellow THIS MORNING! This after giving up riding " for good" a short time ago. Lol