02-15-2018, 07:59 PM
Yeah, you guys all know how great the CB1100 is, but I only knew how nice it looks, until yesterday.
Weather was damp and warm, but at least not raining (much), so I took the EX out for about 80 miles or so. Oh, my! I have at least 400K miles of street riding experience, but none whatever on an inline four. It's so silky smooth and pleasant . . . effortless. I have two Harleys with the new Milwaukee Eight motor; you would generally view these as "torque" engines (and they are worlds above the earlier Twin Cam engines in terms of rideability). But the CB1100 is just plain silly in the way it pulls hard from low rpms. When I read through the owner's manual (and I had plenty of time to do that, with snow and ice around here), it indicated that you "should" upshift to sixth gear at 37 mph. No way. No how.
But you can! That bike doesn't really care what gear it's in. It just sounds a bit different. I ran it down a divided four-lane road at 55 to 70 mph and it was like a car with an automatic transmission. Rode it on busted two-lane roads and it was competent and easy. Did I say easy? Easy. Great clutch, great brakes, beautiful throttle transitions. Need to keep my feet up on the pegs, because I dragged my boots a couple of times (and I'm not "that kind" of rider . . .
)
Thinking about the sorts of bikes I have, my old BMWs (and I have the most experience with BMWs) seem like no-nonsense machines. If a dirty job (like riding to work in all sorts of shaky weather) needs to be done, there is no substitute. Point to point, gotta be there, it's a BMW, hands down. Do the maintenance, never cut corners, and I'm pretty sure these bikes cannot be worn out. I trust my BMWs.
The Harleys are just pure comfort and pleasure. They're awfully expensive and heavy, but they are the only machines on which I can ride all day and not have physical discomfort from the bike (just fatigue). I don't especially like the stereotypes associated with Harleys, but I've gotten over caring who rides what. Modern Harleys are well-built and in stock form pretty refined.
The CB1100 is just a sweetheart. It's sitting in my garage saying "Oh, you don't want to take the Accord (though there isn't currently one here)? Take me! I'm just as nice!" I have some experience with Honda automobiles (my wife has a 2015 Fit and had an Accord years ago) and it really is the same sort of feeling of seamless perfection. Even though the CB1100 has a manual transmission, it snicks through the gears without a missed shift or any drama whatever.
If you can't tell, I like it! It's a cheerful machine.
Weather was damp and warm, but at least not raining (much), so I took the EX out for about 80 miles or so. Oh, my! I have at least 400K miles of street riding experience, but none whatever on an inline four. It's so silky smooth and pleasant . . . effortless. I have two Harleys with the new Milwaukee Eight motor; you would generally view these as "torque" engines (and they are worlds above the earlier Twin Cam engines in terms of rideability). But the CB1100 is just plain silly in the way it pulls hard from low rpms. When I read through the owner's manual (and I had plenty of time to do that, with snow and ice around here), it indicated that you "should" upshift to sixth gear at 37 mph. No way. No how.
But you can! That bike doesn't really care what gear it's in. It just sounds a bit different. I ran it down a divided four-lane road at 55 to 70 mph and it was like a car with an automatic transmission. Rode it on busted two-lane roads and it was competent and easy. Did I say easy? Easy. Great clutch, great brakes, beautiful throttle transitions. Need to keep my feet up on the pegs, because I dragged my boots a couple of times (and I'm not "that kind" of rider . . .
)Thinking about the sorts of bikes I have, my old BMWs (and I have the most experience with BMWs) seem like no-nonsense machines. If a dirty job (like riding to work in all sorts of shaky weather) needs to be done, there is no substitute. Point to point, gotta be there, it's a BMW, hands down. Do the maintenance, never cut corners, and I'm pretty sure these bikes cannot be worn out. I trust my BMWs.
The Harleys are just pure comfort and pleasure. They're awfully expensive and heavy, but they are the only machines on which I can ride all day and not have physical discomfort from the bike (just fatigue). I don't especially like the stereotypes associated with Harleys, but I've gotten over caring who rides what. Modern Harleys are well-built and in stock form pretty refined.
The CB1100 is just a sweetheart. It's sitting in my garage saying "Oh, you don't want to take the Accord (though there isn't currently one here)? Take me! I'm just as nice!" I have some experience with Honda automobiles (my wife has a 2015 Fit and had an Accord years ago) and it really is the same sort of feeling of seamless perfection. Even though the CB1100 has a manual transmission, it snicks through the gears without a missed shift or any drama whatever.
If you can't tell, I like it! It's a cheerful machine.
