With the wife out of town for the week, I decided to take a day off and go for a little ride.

I was saving the potential CB11 group ride to Big Sur for when Randy is healed up well enough to go for a long ride, but I figured there wasn't a reason not to go down and scout it out solo on a weekday

First up we have the famous Bixby Bridge:


It's a little hard to get a good shot of the bike in front of the bridge...


If you look closely, you can see where the roadway is along this steep hillside:


Here's my small album of other pictures if anyone is interested to see a little more:
http://imgur.com/a/d7193/all
I'm not usually big on taking pictures but I knew I would have to take a few on this one, even if it's just with a crappy cell phone camera!

The ride report:
My morning started out with about 90 miles on the freeway to get to Carmel.. this went by fairly quickly and was largely uneventful as I started a little late to avoid traffic, and was really going in the opposite direction of the morning commute traffic that comes in from Morgan Hill, Gilroy or Hollister to San Jose.
After that I stopped for a quick fill up and stretcher, and then wasted no time in getting back on the road.

This time around I didn't take any side trips, just straight down Highway 1 for a while and straight back.
This area definitely lives up to its reputation. Gentle sweeping curves, fantastic views of the oceans and cliffs and hillsides, a little bit of forest. This has to be the most relaxing stretch of road I've ever been on. I didn't find the cliffs or bridges to be intimidating or scary at all, since there is sufficient separation between the road and the steep drop offs, and there are good solid fences and guard rails in place otherwise.

From the weather report my phone gave me (90 deg F high) I thought it was going to be hot, but the sea breeze kept me very comfortable for the whole afternoon until I got back inland. Lots of little cafes and restaurants to stop for lunch, lots of campgrounds, lots of vista points, and cool old bridges and other various structures like this one:
http://www.mercurynews.com/central-coast...-highway-1
That one definitely caught my attention... didn't think it would be something new-ish and built by CalTrans, I thought it would be something more historic!

I got a few miles past that little rock shed tunnel thing before deciding to turn around and head back up.. about 60 miles south from Carmel.
Coming back the other way had its own flavor.. there were a few places where I had thought on the way down, "Hm, do they really need another vista point here?" only to come back and see it from the other direction and go, "Oh that's what there was to look at here!"

The twists and turns were not as exciting as the ones that we found on our group ride to Calistoga/Berryessa/Napa on Sunday, but the views are incredibly hard to beat. Gotta be something high in the mountains to top this.

All in all a very satisfying day. The little cherry on top was getting back to the San Jose area and looking over to my left to see a huge mess of gridlock on 101 southbound while trucking along northbound at full speed with very light traffic and no hiccups.

I only wish that I had more time to go a bit further south. Maybe it would have been good to camp out or spend a night in San Luis Obispo before coming back. Or maybe some day I'll just take Highway 1 all the way down to L.A. and make it a multi-day affair.

Hello,
I started doing some of the basic maintenance on my CB1100 – oil change, chain, checking fluids, etc. I thought that it would be a good idea to have my local dealer, Fun Bike Center of Lakeland, do the “complicated work”… sparkplugs, tires, etc. So, I called the service department, and asked if they could do the sparkplugs and do a basic check on the bike. I was informed by one of the staff from the service department that it was recommended by Honda that they flush the radiator fluid and replace all of the coolant every 8k miles along with the sparkplugs and oil change. At first I thought he was playing due to the bike being air-cooled. So I asked: so flushing the radiator fluid is standard maintenance on a Honda CB1100? To my surprise he answered: YEEESSS! Very important that you replace that coolant, you don’t want that bike overheating in this Florida weather. So, I asked: is it easy to flush the radiator fluid on an air-cooled Honda CB1100?? And to my surprise the answer was: a little tricky but we will take care of it. I asked: do you realize that we are talking about an air-cooled bike?? And for the great finale I was informed that I was wrong…. Apparently the CB1100 has a radiator…. I am still trying to find it LOL!!

So, I decided to call the parts department and ordered the sparkplugs and the tools to do it myself!

I'm already approaching the end of the front tires service life (BT54F) at only 2K miles and am looking to replace both tires with the Michelin Pilot Road 3s.Being on permanant disability I need to find the lowest price out there.Can anyone help me in that area? I'd really appreciate the help!

The Sunshine Butterflies is a Sunshine Coast not-for-profit that provides services to people with disabilities. Every year they have a ride to raise money. I went on it two years ago on my Shadow but managed to miss last year’s ride for some reason.

It was glorious day on Sunday for this year’s event, but I hadn’t been feeling particularly well and my heart wasn’t quite in it. I set off anyway and found the start of the ride at Noosa, one of Australia’s premier tourist destinations. There was a good number of bikes there. I was late but registered and grabbed a coffee which I drank quickly while wandering back to my bike for the start of the event. Here’s some photos.























By the time I got myself organised, I was racing hard to be last out of the park and I brought up the rear for the first leg of the ride. That was kind of fun as there was a wonderful old banger in front of me for a bit. I marvelled at the rider’s ability to change gears with his right foot.





The other side of the Pacific Ocean.


A bit down the coast the old banger dropped off and I was following an ST1100 with side car. I’ve seen it about before and it’s clearly been a hard working bike.



We stopped at scenic Eumundi, home of a very famous market every Wednesday and Saturday. [url=https://goo.gl/maps/NlNH1]Here’s a map of the route we followed.

Here’s a couple of shots in Eumundi.




This was the lead bike fitted out to carry a bloke in a wheelchair.









I bought a cup of coffee and an apple and rhubarb friand and realised I knew only three people vaguely and in my mildly grumpy state I didn’t want to talk to them. Nor did I want to sit around waiting to get going while people yabbered happily to one another. So I hit on a truly brilliant plan: I knew where the ride was going do I’d take my anti-social self along the road a bit, find a corner and be ready to take some photos. So I rode to about [url=https://goo.gl/maps/QZL7e]here and set up by the side of the road with my camera.

I took this photograph of a bike not on the ride.


I’d been waiting for a bit and I was really very grumpy. Then, slowly, it dawned on me that, if I’d been organising the ride, there was a much better road I’d have sent them along. I’d have sent them to the end of the ride [url=https://goo.gl/maps/PKSkQ]this way, which is of course was what the organisers had done.

Ah, well, I thought, home for me, so I went [url=https://goo.gl/maps/5DYVg]this way which was nearly, but not quite as, good. I was lucky in the end. I missed a crash. I saw the ambulance, the police and a bike on a trailer as I finished a pathetic last.

The pharmacist in my town is a great guy and rides this.


I was chatting to him the day afterwards and he told me the ride had been going too quickly and people were too close to one another. As they approached one of the final turns one bike had rear ended another and both riders had come off. I don’t think anyone was too badly hurt, but it mars the day.

Of course, I eschewed the festivities and crawled, like Oscar the Grouch, back into my can. It was a good ride though. Particularly when I realised I was happier doing it on my own.

I live in a small country town in South East Queensland Australia. The population is said to be in the order of 1,700. So imagine my surprise when I went to the town this afternoon and saw this:



There aren't many of these things in Australia. What's another one doing on my patch?

I guess one of the virtues of a small town is that it didn't take me too long to track down the owner.

"Is that your bike?" I asked.

"Yes"

"Wow, it's only the second one I've seen in the wild." (Coincidentally, they were both white and I wasn't counting the two other CB110s I've seen when I've arranged to meet the owners—Enzo and Pterodactyl.)

"It's not what you think," he said.

"I know what it is. I've got one. A black one."

"Yeah?" he was surprised, "I've only seen one other in the wild too. It was grey."

"Had it long?"

"No. I moved up from a CB750A Hondamatic."

The penny dropped.

"I remember that. We met outside the bakery one day." (see [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=2524]here)

"Your bike was black?" he said, "I'd have sworn it was grey. Anyway, seeing your bike persuaded me to buy this one."

He told me it was a 2010 model and he'd bought it reasonably locally with about 14,000 kms on it. I told him about the forum and we chatted for a bit.

Who'd have thunk it? I forgot to suggest we went for a ride one day. I hope I'll see him around again, although later I figured from something he said that he's had since early July at least and I've not seen it before.

I've now seen CBs in all the colours imported to Australia. They're all lovely. You can't see it from this photograph, but the white paint looked lustrous and had a metallic fleck through it.

Has anyone installed one of these on their bike yet? Looks pretty cool it puts on flashers when you decel or downshift.

http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/volol...e=RevZilla

Puig 0869N Black Naked Universal Windshield for 8" Round Headlight

I bought this off of Amazon for the CB and installed it today. The packaging was rough, the instructions pretty poor, but it fits my CB and works perfect for the price. I wasn't looking for a full screen and I wanted something that would match the lines of the bike. Can't beat the price.

everyone,

i got back yesterday after a ride w/a buddy from baltimore, md to skyline drive in va and back, and i thought i would spread my thoughts/findings for anyone considering some minor modifications to help w/comfort while riding. the total distance of the ride was roughly 350 miles and we did it w/o excessive stops (i.e. just gas, pics and lunch.) the ride lasted from about 8:30 to 5.

1) i absolutely love my new kozy (tall version ) seat in comparison to the stock one. the stock seat gave me a pain in the butt after a couple hours ride--while the new cozy seat felt more comfortable after a full day, similar to my 75 cb750 or my wife's hawk. i went to the dealer to try an 014 deluxe version, but it wasn't any noticeable feel. the cozy seat is a well spent $400 in my opinion that you will appreciate every time you go out.

2)for those who may experience numbness in the hands/fingers from riding over distances, somehow/someway my switch to a 17t front sprocket made the bike feel much smoother at highway speeds and all but eliminated the irritating numbness--while helping performance too. it was easily the most fun $20 i spent on the bike--although you may not benefit from it every time you go out like with the seat.

jt

My '13 stock CB1100 doesn't run as smoothly as it should and I know most don't have this problem but some of us do. I might have found an answer, and I don't know if this will work or not (I haven't tried it yet) but I'm going to soon. I found this on the Concours Owner's Group message board. One of the guys there was complaining about rough running and he got a reply: "Sure sounds like the TPS. Turn the bike on, do not start it. Twist the throttle on full, roll off full, do it twice. Turn off bike, turn back on and start. Go for a ride and see if it works. Report back and tell me I am a motorcycle god, or worthless POS FWIW, this works on GSs that have a similar problem with the TPS, ECU will read the full on/off position and do a rest to the current values. Same holds true when calibrating the PCV or PCIII."
Here's a link to the entire thread if you want to have a look:

http://forum.cog-online.org/index.php/to...254.0.html

Sunday, 14 September was a crisp blue sky day in Rhode Island and some buddies in the neighborhood decided to go for a ride.

The CB1100 was up early in the sunrise



This map approximates our ride, starting in the middle of RI at point [A] and then heading making two loops, the first to the south eastern corner of the state at point [C] and the second in the north western corner (and going into Connecticut and Massachusetts as well) at points [D], [E], and [F].



We started in our neighborhood, point [A] on the map. The first stop, marked as point [B] on the map, was breakfast at [url=http://www.quahog.org/cuisine/index.php?id=146]The Hope Diner, which is famous for its French Toast made from Portuguese Sweet Bread, definitely worth a try.

My CB1100 and Peter's Honda Shadow in front of the Hope Diner in Bristol. The big metric cruiser to the left belongs to another customer at the Diner; we didn't get a chance to meet him.



After breakfast, Peter and I rode to the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hope_Bridge]Mount Hope Bridge and a scenic overlook at the base of the bridge.



Peter and I headed to scenic Newport, RI, and to the southernmost point along the east bay, Brenton Point Park, marked [C] on the map. The air was chilly, but these hard-core divers were getting ready to kayak to the RV point and go diving.





A poorly framed selfie



The next leg of our trip had Peter and I retracing our steps back to point [A] and picking up another neighbor, Jeff, to join us for the second half of the day. (The map doesn't reflect this because the route markings get confusing.) Jeff has a couple bikes, today he was riding his Ducati Diavel.



After picking up Jeff, the three of us headed northward as far as Harrisville and then ending up at a Dunkin Donuts, marked as point [D] on the map. It was still a bit cold, and a few other riders had stopped here as well.



Peter decided to head back home, as he had previously planned to host guests for dinner. Jeff and I headed west, crossing into Connecticut, then heading north to the [url=http://www.thevanillabeancafe.com/]Vanilla Bean Cafe, marked as point [E] on the map. The Bean is a great biker café, and the parking lot is usually filled with sportbikes, BMW tourers, Harley baggers; however, on this day the lot had an abundance of Moto Guzzis and Ducatis because it was the [url=http://www.imocusa.com/rally2014.htm]Italian Motorcycle Owners Club 2014 Rally, held in nearby Sturbridge, Massachusetts.







After consuming an excellent burger at the Bean, Jeff and I headed further north, crossing over into Massachusetts, and then finally meeting up Route 146 at point [F] on the map. 146 is a divided highway which heads south east into Providence and then Jeff and I made it back to our starting point. By this time the sun was setting, but it wasn't quite the end of our ride, as we were joined by another friend, Jim, who had to work Saturday and Sunday but had completed his tasks and he was up for a last coffee of the day, so we rode the bikes back into Providence and had a cup of java at a coffee shop near Brown University as it became dark.