The CB1100 Community Forum

It sure, you maybe not!


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Got this delivered today, this afternoon early. Had a chance to go over it carefully and correct a few setup issues, very minor, some hose and electrical routing wasn't quite right.

I pulled up the tank after unbolting the seat, this thing is literally built like a truck. In Asia the folks get as many as four or five people, whole families on this bike and bikes like it, and they make 'em to stand it. The gas tank is very thick steel, the seat pan is steel, not plastic, and it is bolted directly to the frame. The frame is thick-wall steel with very robust and well-done welds throughout, incredibly overbuilt. The engine is a Honda design, just beautifully done, with a Keihin CV carburetor. It was a wonderful feeling to roll on the throttle and experience that lush CV carburetor response, so smooth, it tames your hand as many know. No EFI bike I've ever ridden feels as good as a well-sorted CV carbureted machine. Have not ridden it yet, just pulled it into the driveway but plenty of torque, no issue getting it off the clutch.

All the bits are authentic as you'd expect to find on a new 1970's bike of this type. Big dual gages, actually nicer than the ones on the CB, the bezels are polished aluminum, really easy to read. It uses a typical internal cable-drive speedo, and electric tach. All the engine parts and mounting bolts, nuts, and plates are really robust and well-assembled and finished, with that solid quality of a good tool like a WWII Jeep. It's not a beautiful piece of visual art but all the parts fit together very well. Cad plating and brass washers are liberally sprinkled about, a very good corrosion protection strategy. Castle nuts abound. The chrome is nice, seems very thick and durable.

The fenders are polished stainless steel, formed the old-fashioned way with rolled edges. All the headlight mounts, headlight bucket, key mount assembly, and so on are chrome-plated steel. The exhaust pipe is double-walled chrome with a nice torpedo-styled silencer. It's pretty quiet. Pipe is low-slung and solidly mounted.

This thing to my eye and judgment is very much a real 1970's bike as if one discovered it in a crate stored somewhere. It's not made to look classic, it actually is a classic.

The kickstarter works perfectly, fires right up the first kick when warm. Electric start is nice but the kickstarter just gives one that very cool appearance after belting a few espressos at the local hangout. You are bound to get an audience on that as they are very, very rare these days.

I am going to try to find someone to make me some shocks; Works Performance is close by and I know they can get me all set up, along with fork springs. I'll bet Racetech can cure the unbelievably springy forks, too.

The spoked wheels are really well-made, rugged and in real-world sizes (18" front, 17" rear), it's not a mini-bike in that regard.

Might ride it tomorrow.

" Might ride it tomorrow " ?
thought you would be way down the road by now and not let the oil get cold for days.
congrats , new toys are so much fun and good report.

Sounds like fun, Ulvetanna. Pictures would be good if you have a moment.

(11-29-2016, 05:03 PM)use2b_imp Wrote: [ -> ]" Might ride it tomorrow " ?
thought you would be way down the road by now and not let the oil get cold for days.
congrats , new toys are so much fun and good report.

Down with a head cold, dont' like to ride unless I feel up to it. But I went over the bike real carefully yesterday, weird way to adjust the chain. There's the axle nut which you remove entirely (you gotta insert a #2 Phillips screwdriver through the opposite end to hold it) and then another larger nut ~30mm which also has to be loosened. Then it is adjusted with the typical threaded rods.

I had to look this up on the Interwebs, never seen it before.

You know it is just the strangest thing, if I had been able to afford anything like this when I was a teenager I'd been in 7th heaven but we were very poor, really living in poverty at times so it was only a dream.

Now I can get any darn bike I want what with good credit and all, and I pick the cheapest thing out there, and it proves to be the best choice.

When I look at the construction of the bike -- and its simplicity and ease of maintenance -- along with its eminent suitability for the tasks for which it was chosen, there's not a better bike anywhere I can think of.

I looked carefully at the Honda CB300, it was just not a very good motorcycle. Awkward riding position and the price was quite high for a 300cc bike. The BMW would have been the same, expensive and incapable of really doing any real riding. It tops out at 90 mph and as anyone living in SoCal knows, you will be mowed down at that speed on many of our freeways. So you are still logically confined to urban and backroads.

It's a wonder to me why more of these Syms aren't sold here as trail bikes, training bikes, or just little urban scramblers. They sure have all the style in the world.

Big part of the problem is the fact that it's a 'Sym.' Terrible name, zero brand awareness, advertising, recognizable heritage, or dealership support. In the fickle US market, those things are critical. Maybe not to us cognoscenti, but to broader consumer base. Success will, hopefully, come in time, as bikes like this deserve to do well.

I recall one of my neighbors in the late '90's, pulling up in his new Daewoo Leganza. I couldn't help chuckling...Who let that name happen???

(11-30-2016, 02:34 AM)Capo_imp Wrote: [ -> ]Big part of the problem is the fact that it's a 'Sym.' Terrible name, zero brand awareness, advertising, recognizable heritage, or dealership support. In the fickle US market, those things are critical. Maybe not to us cognoscenti, but to broader consumer base. Success will, hopefully, come in time, as bikes like this deserve to do well.

I recall one of my neighbors in the late '90's, pulling up in his new Daewoo Leganza. I couldn't help chuckling...Who let that name happen???

Yep, like Yugo, or many others. It's really marketed to the scooter crowd but it's a true classic motorcycle.

The US buyer can usually always afford to finance something more expensive and would rather have a Honda, etc. But I am told Sym is selling a ton of these to the urban rider who doesn't want a scooter. The small bike market here in the USA is terrible, everyone wants to start on a CB1100 or GSX-R 1000 so they won't have to trade up, and if you are breathing, you can usually get qualified.

I'm told that Sanyang (SYM) is a pretty old company, going back to 1954. We'll see how she holds up after a few miles.

Very neat lookin' critter ya got there! I have the good fortune to take groups to Costa Rica for study abroad experiences for two months at at time. About 4 years ago I bought CB1100's little nephew, a CGL125 and it has taken me up and down the mountains, through jungles and along beaches just fine. Kick-start is great--you could probably do it by hand.

Great stuff! Very fun to ride, like a 29'r MTB with an engine. Very disconcerting at first, turns very quickly but quite stable. Idles like a Swiss watch, runs right up past 8K no issue, had it to over 50 mph in town here. Gets off the clutch very well, even in 2nd. Tranny shifts very smoothly considering it is new but likes you to be "deliberate" between 1-2. Chugs right along.

Brakes are excellent, well-matched to the bike. Can lock the rear but you have to work at it, which is as it should be. Front is a lot more powerful, could be locked without much effort with two fingers. One usually is sufficient.
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Cool, I like the clip ons above the tree!