The CB1100 Community Forum

The last three vin numbers of the bike that's been sitting at my local dealer here in California are '393,' so the U.S. clearly received more than seventy-five '17 CB1100s.

(01-23-2018, 01:53 AM)VLJ_imp Wrote: [ -> ]The last three vin numbers of the bike that's been sitting at my local dealer here in California are '393,' so the U.S. clearly received more than seventy-five '17 CB1100s.

How does that really work? VIN's are issued as the bikes are imported into the country, not in sequential order. I don't believe that can be taken as a way to know how many made it to the USA.

There is this thing that used to be an "MSO" but is now called an "MCO", Manufacturer's Certificate of Origin.

I gotta look that all up again.

I needed a new frame for my ZX-10R, for example, because a lady knocked it over in a parking lot, and the frame was dented.

The CHP simply reissued the very same VIN using a blue sticker. So frames do not come with VINs automatically. Each complete bike is issued its final VIN base on the country it's to be sold in.

That's to say, CHP have authority to issue a new VIN, or reissue the existing. So authority resides in the destination country; I'd think that would suggest non-sequential VINs, and VINs that don't indicate actual imported numbers of any given machine.

Searching.
Just checked up on this, the numbers don't have to be sequential:

Production Number

Digits 12 through 17 indicate the production or serial number. This number could indicate the sequence in which a vehicle came off the assembly line. Since there is no fixed standard for this number, each manufacturer may use this number differently.

[url=https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/manufacturer_information_march2014.pdf]The VIN is very complicated.

At any rate, I have NEVER, not once, seen a 2017 on the road. And believe me, I see a lot of motorcycles. Sometimes I'll see a Gen 1 bike. Never a Gen 2.

And there seem to be a metric boatload of them for sale in California. Some are being discounted, some not.

If the bike ever becomes a collector's item, it'll be so far in the future that it would be completely irrelevant to me.

Right now, looks like these things are just not selling. So the low numbers make sense. I'm gonna hang on and wait to see what happens in early March. I have seen huge discounts on all kinds of bikes when they get to be loss leaders or hangar queens. There are still new '14s out there. Saw one for $7999 yesterday online.

Regardless of whether it's sequential or numbered as the bikes arrive in the country, a last-three-digits vin designation of '393' means that a minimum of 393 '17 CB1100s were brought to the U.S. Seeing as how that bike has sat there for a good three or four months, I'm guessing there must be at least 500 '17 CB1100s in the country.

(01-23-2018, 01:53 AM)LongRanger_imp Wrote: [ -> ]Canada's population is only about 36 million people, which is less than California, plus there are fewer riding days due to the weather. Given the CB's historic low sales volume, 75 bikes for the whole country seems about right.

Curious how many '14 DLX's were sold in California. If Honda imported 300 DLX's to the U.S., and sent 10% to California (with 10% of the U.S. population), it would imply only about 30 DLX's were brought into the state, plus or minus.

I tend to agree with what you say.
I know that in '13 and '14 only four CB's came into this province. I have one of the '14's and I never see any of the others. Probably not sold locally. I have no idea where they are.
I don't mind being somewhat "exclusive" and get a lot of (what's that) questions about the bike

I paid $6999 for my new 2014 that I bought last Oct 24th. I told my dealer I'd seen them online for that price. He offered the price, I asked for a test drive, loved the bike and bought it. Great bike foe a great price!

(01-23-2018, 04:49 AM)Labrador12_imp Wrote: [ -> ]I paid $6999 for my new 2014 that I bought last Oct 24th. I told my dealer I'd seen them online for that price. He offered the price, I asked for a test drive, loved the bike and bought it. Great bike foe a great price!

Did you pay any setup costs or dealer fees in addition to the $6999?

I paid $7499 about a year before you with no add'l fees -- only sales tax when I registered it in Florida. I thought at the time I had gotten a great price but continued to see lower prices as the year progressed...

Just Pa tax and registration fees. I bought a couple of helmets at cost too!

(01-23-2018, 04:58 AM)Labrador12_imp Wrote: [ -> ]Just Pa tax and registration fees. I bought a couple of helmets at cost too!

Then that's among the lowest price I've seen -- and I've been watching. Not sure why I'm watching, though -- I'm not looking for another one...

My dealership sent me a Birthday card yesterday. I got a great bike at a great price from good people. Its a beautiful bike too!

We probably have the tendency to sometimes lose track of the bigger picture when looking at the world of motorcycling through the window of this forum. The number of CB1100s that Honda decided to bring in always seem so low to those of us who enjoy our CBs. But in retrospect it would seem that maybe Honda knew what they were doing. Sometimes we feel it a shame that the bike wasn't better marketed, but as I've come to view things lately I don't think Honda ever felt the need to push this particular motorcycle. I just don't think that there are all that many of use who can really appreciate this machine for what it was intended to be (or rather what it is). Nor do I think that most people can really appreciate the effort that Honda went to produce such a motorcycle (along with the resulting prices). This is why I've stated a few times that I feel like Honda primarily built this motorcycle for Honda, lol. They're Honda after all, and they have plenty of great heritage to celebrate so why not?

Honda still have some leftover inventory from years past and when all is said and done it would appear that most people who really wanted one of these bikes has ended up with one. Even the bikes that were distributed in lower numbers like the DLX models were probably about right for the number of folks that were drawn to them. Those examples that are changing hands these days are taking a lot longer to do so than in the past.

I often find it hard to believe that more guys my age and beyond didn't fall hard for the CB1100 like I did. But when I stop to ponder it longer I guess that I'm not quite so surprised. I'm just glad that Honda made it possible for me to buy the one I wanted along with so many of you other guys that are here on the forum.