The CB1100 Community Forum

Nice pdedse. Quite the adventure.

Looks like a lot of fun, pdedse.

(06-30-2026, 01:43 PM)pdedse Wrote: [ -> ]4 days of riding about 70-100 miles each day, between 3 and 5 hours of riding; pavement just to make circle routes or to conneect the BDR trails/roads.  The red traces our routes and the thin blue lines are the BDR trails/roads.  The dotted red lines are the "expert" or "more difficult" sections which we did some.

You are a true adventure rider. Despite the popularity of adventure and enduro motorcycles, few actually see a trail. But you tend to find the time, plan well, make your own trails, and take full advantage of your motorcycles’ capabilities. That is truly impressive and even more rare. Well done! David

Dang, that's pretty. You're killin' me!

Thanks for the kind comments.  There are more photos and a bit more story if you're interested at advrider.

I've ridden the CB1100 over a good deal of OR and WA, but I have always been interested in exploring the gravel / hard packed forest service roads, most actually do-able on a street bike, although not preferred; but once you get on those you realize there are other roads and trails that simply require a better tool for the job.  My DR650 can do anything I've done on the KLX300, but the 75lb weight difference makes the KLX that much more manageable on the more challenging rocky climbs and descents.  It's really amazing just how fast one can fly over some rough terrain with decent suspension on these adv type bikes.  And I'm still a beginner.  Some of the guys I've ridden with this last year or two are really good.  Most surprising to me is how 50-70 miles on these BDR roads/trails can wear me out!  My lower back and knees are complaining today, but it's a very satisfying thing to do. 

But even though I'm enjoying the non-paved riding the last few years more than ever, I'm still very happy to have the CB1100 for everything else.

Oh boy... the joys of random BMW electronic glitches... Bike #5 is my "problem child". She runs fine, but has started a delightful new habit of randomly refusing to accept throttle input whenever she feels like it. Did it once, just like one of the other bikes. The Interweb Pundits, and AI all say it's the connection between the fly-by-wire throttle cable and the throttle grip assembly. Clean and tighten the connection and it solves the problem the majority of the time.

That worked on the other bike and it hasn't done it since. This one, however, will go to idle pretty much at random. She's only done it on the highway once, all other times are at low speeds, and cycling the key on and off will get it to work again. The next most common cause is a fault in the throttle grip assembly. So, we swapped her throttle with another bike that has not had the problem. We hoped that if the problem went away, we'd just need to replace the throttle.

We also agreed that since I'm the "most experienced rider on the team", that if it were to happen again, best that it happened while I was riding, not one of the other guys. So, I picked her up as my new ride after my runs, and kept my fingers crossed for the trip home. Of course she did it again... I did get home in one piece, but had a ton of work to do final editing our rider manual for some new guys coming on board.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going to hold a rabbit's foot, sprinkle some chicken bones and pray to the Allmighty Gods of CAN-Bus, hook up the scanner, and hope it's something easy (and not ludicrously expensive).

Gone, at what point do you say to the boss that it's simply time to let a BMW shop take a look at it? Although you may like the challenge, it sounds like this type of situation isn't in the job description.

How many fleet riders are there now?

(07-01-2026, 12:32 AM)Gone in 60 Wrote: [ -> ]Oh boy... the joys of random BMW electronic glitches... Bike #5 is my "problem child". She runs fine, but has started a delightful new habit of randomly refusing to accept throttle input whenever she feels like it. Did it once, just like one of the other bikes. The Interweb Pundits, and AI all say it's the connection between the fly-by-wire throttle cable and the throttle grip assembly. Clean and tighten the connection and it solves the problem the majority of the time.

I do not have a diagram before me... but fly-by-wire eliminates the throttle cable IMHO.
In general: very often, if no part is defective, the cause is a poor contact/connection, or sometimes reprogramming is required.

(07-01-2026, 07:09 AM)pdedse Wrote: [ -> ]Gone, at what point do you say to the boss that it's simply time to let a BMW shop take a look at it? Although you may like the challenge, it sounds like this type of situation isn't in the job description. 

How many fleet riders are there now?

Oh, don't worry, we've drawn a clear line as to what I can and can't do... I have a GS911 tool that can scan the codes and perform dealer-level tasks, but I'm not doing anything that involves more than pulling the plastics, tracing what wiring I can get to, and cleaning cable contacts. 

I'm also not mounting tires... 

We've got three experienced riders - two full-timers between myself (who's become our riding trainer and fleet manager) and another guy (who's become our sales manager). We've also got a few part-time fill-in riders, and I'm training a few more.

---

(07-01-2026, 09:06 AM)peterbaron Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-01-2026, 12:32 AM)Gone in 60 Wrote: [ -> ]Oh boy... the joys of random BMW electronic glitches... Bike #5 is my "problem child". She runs fine, but has started a delightful new habit of randomly refusing to accept throttle input whenever she feels like it. Did it once, just like one of the other bikes. The Interweb Pundits, and AI all say it's the connection between the fly-by-wire throttle cable and the throttle grip assembly. Clean and tighten the connection and it solves the problem the majority of the time.

I do not have a diagram before me... but fly-by-wire eliminates the throttle cable IMHO.
In general: very often, if no part is defective, the cause is a poor contact/connection, or sometimes reprogramming is required.

Yup, and I've got her pulled apart to get to the most probable areas of concern - the throttle grip end and the throttle body ends. My GS911 will try to recalibrate everything. But, if the rabbits foot, chicken bones and GS911 don't do the trick, I might have to raise the white flag and take her to a dealer. I'm not fighting the Allmighty CAN-Bus Gods, just praying to them.

Totally jinxing myself... but I think she's fixed.

The scanner showed, among other things, "air leak/high idle" in the throttle assembly. I pulled the bodywork away from the cylinders and found a loose vacuum hose. That worked... for about 20 seconds before she went to limp-mode again, not revving above a lukewarm idle.

I yelled at it for a bit, then unplugged everything having to do with the throttle again, cleaned all of the contacts again, and reconnected everything, again.
Cleared codes, fired her up, and she's running fine with no problems.

So, somewhere in the system, was some microscopic bit of something that was causing an improper, non-German level of resistance somewhere in the system. Maybe it was the yelling, maybe it was the repeated cleaning. I don't care. She's running, and I can check that problem off the list.