The CB1100 Community Forum

(02-16-2026, 11:18 AM)Gone in 60 Wrote: [ -> ]Didn't do any riding over the weekend. It was Valentine's Day on Saturday, or what I roughly refer to as "Chick's Day", so Mrs. G was given free reign to determine what we'd be doing. We spent Saturday hiking along the coast, enjoyed a lovely lunch, and shopped for a nice pair of steaks to grill for dinner. However, I did get a little garage time Saturday evening before the dinner festivities started, and it led to a lesson learned and the possibility that I am a bad Moto-Parent.

In late January 2023, the Yuasa battery in my CB gave up the ghost after three years. With the increasing price of these batteries, I was miffed that something that cost so much only lasted three years, especially as i am careful to put the bike on a sophisticated Optimate 4 tender/charger when I can't ride for a while. I decided to try and experiment, and bought a $40 "Chrome" brand battery on Amazon that was pretty well rated, and figured if I could get three years out of it, I'd be money ahead.

That battery did a great job until a few weeks ago, when I had a no-start getting ready to ride. I put the bike on a charger overnight, and the next day it started fine and held a full charge. Three years, forty bucks, not bad. I ordered the same battery and put it on the shelf, intending to swap it in as a matter of precaution. Meanwhile, I've been starting and riding the bike with no problem up until my last ride on Thursday evening to meet up with some friends for dinner.

Saturday evening, while Mrs. G was tending to her plants, I pulled the seat and storage bin over the battery on my CB, and got a mild shock to see a crust of white powder on the negative battery terminal. I pulled the battery and it was weeping acid from the area around the terminal. Not enough to do damage to the bike's battery cable, but it was a slight mess of residue in the battery box area. Easily cleaned up with a rag dipped in vinegar and rinsed out.

Ok, the $40 battery was a bargain, but perhaps came at a cost of a minor leak. Not something I want to repeat. I had not opened the new battery yet, so I marked it for return on Amazon. Now, the quest to find a new battery of better quality. I did some shopping on my phone while the grille was warming up and I was seasoning our steaks, and found a new Yuasa to be over $150. That's more than I wanted to spend.

The rest of the evening was a bit of a blur. Mrs. G poured some very strong cocktails, and they were starting to take effect. I had to muster all of my waning ability to concentrate on not burning our very expensive ribeyes, and having cooked them to perfection, I relaxed a bit while we then enjoyed some wine with dinner while watching Thomas Crowne Affair. Mrs. wanted to watch a movie that had a bit of romance but wasn't schlocky. A perfect choice. The phone was still in my hands, and I was apparently still shopping.

I woke up Sunday morning to discover that I had ordered a Bike Master Tru-Gel battery. $70 on Parts Giant. Hmm. Pretty well rated. I could tell that I had watched a YouTube video review on it, so I apparently tried to do some good research. It arrives Wednesday, and we'll see how well it does.

I recommend the noco lithium battery nlp14 (should last 10 years or so and costs just a bit over 2 gel batteries from autozone), nothing but reliable. On cold days I could feel the cb1100 struggling to start on the yuasa. I swapped to noco about 1 year and half ago and its been amazing, supporting heated grips, nav/carplay unit (innovv n1) and oxford hotgrips 2.0. I also recommend a thunderbox so you don't have to do any real wiring other than directly to the battery.

If this were my bike, I would also use a litium battery charger to ensure safe and proper charging.
A lithium battery has a highr constant voltage vs lead-acid battery by about +- 1V

(03-07-2026, 05:27 PM)peterbaron Wrote: [ -> ]If this were my bike, I would also use a litium battery charger to ensure safe and proper charging.
A lithium battery has a highr constant voltage vs lead-acid battery by about +- 1V

The charging system for lead acid works on noco batteries without any mods. They have all the bms, and charging boards built on the battery. Which is why it's not as small as some other ytz14 alternatives that are lithium. I use the genius 1a charger and was 20 bucks at autozone. Downside is lithium comes discharged and requires you to charge it the first time. You should definitely have a charger in the garage anyways. I was using a battery tender junior w/ yuasa but it will not do lithium. The noco genius will do all battery types as a plus.

All of my bikes are on Optimate 4 chargers when they're going to sit for a while. As far as making battery recommendations, too late now, I already bought the replacement, and in my compromised state I probably wouldn't have remembered any brand advice at the time.

While I had the tires off my bike, I did this exact procedure. https://cb1100forum.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=14424
Forgot to take pictures but there was a decent amount of rust buildup underneath both fenders. The Rustoleum rust dissolver gel worked great to get the rust off, and the black rubberized undercoating turned out great!

Ordered my Delkevic exhaust headers yesterday, coming thursday! Excited to install

(03-10-2026, 07:08 AM)MagnaRider Wrote: [ -> ]Ordered my Delkevic exhaust headers yesterday, coming thursday! Excited to install

My bike came with the dual over racing slip ons, I love the way delkevic sounds though. Be sure to post a video of a cold start!

I sent a friend a photo of my CB1100 and he told me my rear tire is due for a change. 



This is a Shinko SR741, it was cheap but it only lasted 5,500 miles and probably could have been replaced 500-750 miles ago.  I have on hand a Bridgestone BT46.  

Time to break out the Rabaconda.

Looking forward to the report! I need a push to buy yet another tool I will seldom use. David

The center part of this tire should have been made of harder rober.