Ok, obviously a mc riding downtime thread, but how about showing off your favorite (only?) CB1100 T-shirt(s). Prefer a recent one, but no biggie of course. Have some fun maybe: different angles, on your bike, maybe a loved one wearing your shirt, maybe nobody wearing your shirt, I don't know--get creative...

Like the thread title says, you don't have to make it wet... although that should be fun decent, I mean.

With bike


Mirror shot


If you do faceless photos, maybe we could collect them after some time in another thread and do a "identify owner by t-shirt" game.

So, will a battery tender completely restore a dead battery on a motorcycle, ATV or a lawn mower? What about a Car? It seems from the manual that it would with some exceptions. This one has not been started in about three weeks.....

I want something small,something close to what is on the red concept bike Honda built in Europe. I’ve checked out Samurider and We Bike but still looking,open to any options anybody might have.

This is pretty close to me, just happened to see [url=https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/1989-Honda-HAWK-NT650-5011520501]the listing when I logged into Cycle Trader for fun.

The Ozzie Bike Show has a go..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARHtPKQikNs

Hi everyone, still new to this Forum, and I need some help, again. When I bought my 2017 CB1100 in January, it came with only one key. I read the earlier forum from the member in Germany with the same issue. If I understand correctly, our USA bikes are just sidewinder keys, without any kind of chip or programming. Does anyone know how to get one made. I am not having any luck with key makers on Ebay, and before you laugh, they supplied me with 2 good blanks for my 2013 CB1100 for about $10. The hardware store in Sinton, Texas cut them for free! Good luck with that bike, I now have 3 keys, but not so with the EX. Michael

From another thread, several people have commented about the difficulty of turning a bike around in tight quarters, or putting it on the centerstand. This is a 2-part problem, and I'll first look at maneuvering in tight quarters.

I always park my bike on the centerstand, and a couple of them are where space is at a premium, with a door that only opens to 32", so it's fairly easy to ride it in, but hard to back it out. So I use centerstand dollies to turn them around once inside.

I first park the bike on the sidestand, slide the dolly into position with my right foot, straighten the bike up, and lift the bike up with the centerstand atop the dolly. Then I can slide it sideways, or if I push down on the back of the seat or rack, spin it around easily. You can find Venom motorcycle dollies on Amazon for $65.

I can park bikes closer, putting 3 in the space of 2. They do make it a little harder to put the bike up on the centerstand, but there is an easy cure for that.

I also use sidestand dollies, like the one from Harbor Freight. They are easier to roll on and off, are really well thought out and made, but take up a little more room when not in use. About $100 or less, (don't forget the 20% off coupons).

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The second issue of difficulty putting the bike up on the centerstand can be eased by reducing the height you have to lift it. On my Triumph Bonneville, there was a 2" gap under the rear tire. I installed the 1" longer Thruxton shocks, and now the centerstand is effortless, it just rolls on up (and steers better too). But without having to resort to longer shocks/taller tires, you can just use a thick piece of board or equivalent under front or rear tire.

Most of us with garages have a set area a certain bike lives. If the rear tire has a 2" gap under it when on the centerstand, having a 1"-1-1/2" thick board or plywood square where the front wheel will be rolled onto will greatly lessen the effort needed.

A year ago today, it was a Saturday, and I was concocting a cohesive argument to convince my wife that I needed the 2013 CB1100 that is currently sitting in my garage. My '07 BMW had developed an intermittent ABS glitch that was going to be a $2700 repair if it became a permanent glitch. I loved the bike, but realized that if I sold it while the problem was still intermittent, I could get much more for it.

I had been perusing listings for FZ-09s, and had decided that I wanted one to replace the BMW. But, I couldn't find one that hadn't been customized to the point that I would still want it, and the low-mile original units I could find were still above what I thought I could sell my BMW for while throwing in a bit more money. On a whim, I looked at CB1100s on the local Craig's List, and there she was. I remembered how much I admired them when they were new, but they were always too expensive for my budget.

By Friday night, my wife and I were having dinner with friends, but the thought of the CB was swirling around in my head. Saturday afternoon, while taking a walk with my wife, I explained to her that the BMW was basically a ticking money bomb, and that if I sold it soon, it would be worth more and be much more attractive to a potential buyer. I also explained that I had found a potential replacement bike that, if all went well, should cost about what I could get for the BMW in its fully functioning condition. Not getting my hopes up for a bike that I had only seen on a computer screen, but hey, should be a win-win, right?

I'm sure that she could tell that I had given this quite a bit of thought, or at least worked hard to try to convince her. I showed her a picture of the bike in the listing, and she replied, "well, it is pretty. Why not call the guy?"

The stars couldn't have lined up better. The CB was pristine, a deal was struck, and I quickly found a buyer for the BMW who wasn't concerned about the ABS, since he wanted to make a custom out of it. Even money to move from the BMW to the CB.

And, I found an online community of guys who are, let's just say, a little less snobbish than some BMW owners.

Still a win-win!

There might be a couple of y'all that remember me. I haven't been active here since late 2018 when I had recently sold my CB1100. The entire time I owned that bike, I struggled whether I should continue to own a bike I wasn't comfortable riding. Well, I finally parted ways in August 2018 when I traded my beloved CB for a new 2017 Yamaha FZ09. I had just sold my Grom, as well, so I found myself down to only 2 bikes (my Africa Twin DCT and that FZ).

The FZ was incredibly fun to ride, but the moment I bought it, I had a slight bit of regret. The FZ's big brother, the new Tracer 900 GT was recently introduced and was a bike I really wanted to get my hands on. Given my lack of off-road use of my Africa Twin, a more sport touring oriented bike made more sense. It was a bit of a moot point, though, because the Tracer GTs were very hard to get.

Over the next couple months, I found myself missing my retro ride. I didn't miss the CB specifically, just missed having a classic looking bike to ride and look at. Opportunity knocked and I found myself a deal on a brand new, 2015 Yamaha SR400 in Oct. 2018. It was unsold inventory at the dealer where I worked at the time and the owner was selling the dealer to retire. Old age inventory such as that was going to be treated like wholesale used inventory in terms of what the new owners would pay for it. So, I talked the owner into selling it to me between used wholesale and used retail value.

The very next month (Nov 2018), we got a new Tracer 900 GT in. I traded my Africa Twin and FZ09 in on it. Took a bath on that FZ, but I didn't care. I wanted it that much. This has been one of the best motorcycle purchases I have made.

By early spring 2019, I had grown tired of the SR400. It was just too small for me to ride comfortably which is funny to say having owned a Grom. I sold that bike and got most my money back out of it. I sat on that cash for a couple of weeks looking around for the next buy.

The dual sport bug had been biting me pretty hard. I had missed attending a friend's annual spring break camping/dirt bike riding trip in 2019 and vowed I would not miss it the following year. So, part of my commitment to that was to buy a dual sport bike. Ended up finding a well priced 2015 Honda XR650L two hours from me and went and picked that up back in May 2019

It was right about May 2019 that we finally started getting more inventory of Honda Monkeys and I probably would have used my pocket of cash to buy one of those had I not just spent it on the XR650L. Well, within a couple months I had a new Monkey anyway.

Fast forward to November 2019, I found yet another bike. Having really enjoyed the Monkey, I figured another retro style mini street bike was in order. We took a 2018 Kymco Spade 150 on trade and I talked my sales manager into letting me buy that. I never intended to keep it long, but I had a lot of fun riding it. It actually far outperforms the Honda 125 minibikes because it makes 50% more HP and has another cog in the transmission. It legitimately hits 70 mph with a big dude like me on it. Ended up selling it in Feb for a small profit.

In January, I picked up another bike, this time a little project. My neighbor down the street had a Kawasaki Super Sherpa just sitting and rotting in her garage. I struck up a conversation with her about it bought it for a song. The next couple months, I spent too much money getting it running and riding right, but it turned out to be a very nice little dual sport. So nice, I decided I would probably sell my XR650L after my camping trip in March. I wanted to take 2 bikes to the campout so my dad had something to ride.

At the end of February, I decided I didn't want to keep the 650L, but still wanted a nicer, newer, fuel injected dual sport. Went full stupid and pulled the trigger on a new CRF450L and traded off the 650L.

To end this story, I ended up getting a new job and quitting the dealer. I went on my camping trip and then Covid-19 hit. I now own the Tracer GT, Monkey, CRF450L, and Super Sherpa. For the first time in years, I am not thinking about which bike is my next bike. The World is too crazy to think about that and I am incredibly lucky to have started the new job I have now right when this craziness hit.

Guys. Check out the Honda CB1000R Freddie Spencer Prototype at Cyclenews.com, and let us know what you think.