After 3 hours of house painting this morning, it was time to go for a ride. Felt like searching out a new area and wanted to get relatively close to Mt. Adams (Washington), as I've never really explored the area much--there are not a a lot of paved roads that get you very close. Glenwood would do today.



To get to where I wanted to see, I took fast I-84 east and crossed into WA at Bridge of the Gods, then east on hiway 14 to hiway 141. Once I started heading north on 141, nearly all the traffic subsided and it was easy going to BZ Corner. Then east by northeast to Glenwood. The forest started opening up and Mt. Adams came into view...




A few miles south of Glenwood


It was about 330, so time for a coffee and pastry at the Glenwood country store


Then took very fun Canyon Road back towards the Columbia River. Lovely curvy roads non-stop for 25 miles...


Back at I-84 at The Dalles, I could have taken it back to Gresham and been home in a little over an hour, but I knew my wife would be working late this eve, so no rush to get home.

Crossed the creek and took 197 south to Dufur. It's always kind of shocking to cross over to the dry side of Oregon. Mt. Hood looms in the distance


I like cemetaries and this was Dufur's


I've told me wife and kids that I'd prefer to be cremated rather than buried when I exit this world, but if I wanted to be buried, the Dufur Cemetary would not be a bad spot, nice and tidy with great views


At Dufur, straight west towards hiway 35 and Mt. Hood...very fun run, beautiful fruit farms and cattle ranches, until you climb back into the forest




Mt. Hood viewed from White River area...will be snow capped again shortly


And back home by 730pm. About 230 miles.

Has anyone fitted additional front driving lights?

Suggestions for how and where and maybe some models?

Thanks

Sadly, I had to let my CB go. At the ripe old age of 73, the weight, coupled with my weak knees forced me to relinquish my ownership. I truly loved the CB for its features, quality, reliability, and smoothness.
Struggled with what to replace it with. Rode a Kawasaki W800...loved the looks and the lighter weight, but the vibration was intolerable. Settled on a 2010 Triumph T100 that seems to fit me well. Saw a post from Gone on the Triumph Rat forum....
Thanks to all here for the advice, knowledge, and assistance..
Best

I have an issue with the front brake on my DLX and it seems very weird. So of course I'm thinking why not bring to the best and the brightest. Here it goes.

Let me start off by saying i've already had the dealer rebuild the front break master cylinder and the front brake lines have been bled and refilled 3 times by a dealer. And the problem still exists.

The problem: At what are seemingly completely random intervals when I get on my bike and pull the front brake lever there is little to no resistance. Then if I pump the handle 2 or 3 times the brake seems to get almost too tight.

I've tried all the things mentioned above and it still happens periodically and seemingly very random.

A perfect example might be that I bring the bike out and the brake feels fine. Then I ride 30 minutes to get something to eat. And when I come out there is absolutely no resistance to the front brake. I'm basically grabbing air. Then with a few pumps the brake gets almost too tight.

Now before everyone says air bubble, I want to repeat that the dealer has bled and refilled the brake line 3 times already. Also, one interesting point, sometimes this happens a few times a week, sometimes once a week, and sometime once every few months.

Stock Nissin brake but I'm seriously considering just replacing them with Brembos to provide some confidence in my breaking again. I'm always riding with the feeling they will fail at any minute. Not a great feeling.

Thoughts??

I recently did the Colorado Trans America Trail on a 2022 KTM 390 Adventure. At the end of the ride, I was in Moab Utah. The next day I took a long road route from Moab to Rye Colorado to get back to my truck. Google Maps had the ride time at 8 hours 20 minutes. It was clear to me at the end that the modest windshield on the KTM had reduced some of the fatigue I feel after these long rides. Checking to see if any of you can recommend a smallish windshield for the CB1100 that has reduced your fatigue from the wind pressure. Thx.

Well, I've pretty much finished all my checks, adjustments, cleaning and prep for the upcoming rally, and so with an extra 10 minutes on my hands, I decided to pull the air cleaner, inspect, and blow out any dust, as I couldn't remember the last time I did it. With trusty shop manual in front of me, and a Phillips screwdriver in hand, I set out on a very simple maintenance task.

45 minutes later, I had exhausted my vocabulary of curse words and elevated my blood pressure to historic highs.

So, as one engineer speaking to those engineers at Honda, I wanted to offer some feedback and observations:

1) Brilliant choice of fastening screws to hold the air cleaner cover in place! I never would have thought to use black screws in a confined space that's completely surrounded by black plastic parts, black wiring, black frame tubes, etc and which is nearly impossible to shine a light into. Even with the manual, the task of locating black screws in that area becomes sort of a "treasure hunt", significantly extending those precious moments that we all love working on our CBs. Imagine if they had used silver screws, why locating and unscrewing them would have taken only seconds -- we could have had a world-wide rash of CB air cleaner thefts (like the catalytic converter thefts) perpetrated by roving gangs of air cleaner thieves! Imagine what that would do to our insurance rates.

2) Wire harness design is quite possibly a world record in efficient use of wire lengths and routing plans. Why, there's not even a 1/2 inch of extra wire used here. Sure, moving it out of the way in order to locate and extract the screws is a little more difficult, but hey, who doesn't enjoy a puzzle when working on something, and...just imagine the weight savings by not lengthening those wire runs. I'll bet that gives me an extra 2 or 3 mph at top end!

3) Finally, I really enjoyed learning by trial and error that one can re-install the air cleaner, thinking it's properly seated, only to find it isn't, and that the cover won't re-seat against it's mating surface. Sure, a cautionary note in the manual would help, but...no one wants to keep reading and reading and reading -- we'd rather explore and find things out on our own!

So, I now have a dust-free air cleaner and I have the peace of mind (not to mention the bragging rights) to say that "I did this on my own!"

I'll now be updating my personal maintenance schedule to put this item on my "Once every million miles" list and not before!

Gentlefolks

I'm looking to replace the chain + sprockets in my 2013 CB1100 and wanted to double check what is the *original* relation before ordering the parts.

At Sprocket Center (https://sprocketcenter.com/i-30498628-53...3-19.html) they have a kit that supposedly includes everything needed.

I just wanted to double check if the relations are correct: 18 Front, 39 Rear, X-ring (1400cc rated).

Is the above equivalent to the OEM chain/sprocket that Honda ships on the 2013 CB1100?

Over 24 hours...not a single post

I once posted a thread wondering if we had run out of things to say here

I rest my case

I love the Honda CB1100.

Over the years, I have had small notions that I wanted an additional motorcycle that could handle long distance rides, better than the beloved CB1100. If you don’t understand why, that is OK. I have considered an additional motorcycle for many years. 2024, I was finally able to add an additional motorcycle to the garage.

Many years ago, I test rode a Honda CTX Deluxe. Although the bike carried more heft and had the capability of handling long distance rides, I didn’t fall in love with it during the test ride. The Honda ST1300 was also coming to the end of its production life. Used examples are high mileage. I was not interested in a Harley (yes, I test rode 2 examples), and the Goldwing didn’t fit either. One year while down in the Deals Gap area, I was at a gas station when a guy walked up to me and started asking about the CB1100 I was on. After a short time, the conversation was wrapping up and I was ready to move away from the pump. I asked the older gentleman what he was riding. He pointed to the parking lot and said, “that BMW over there”. I moved the CB1100 next to his ride so I could continue the conversation about his bike. Yes, some people take a helmet off and actually use the fuel stop, to stop. Not just a get and go. I know Mickey is cringing.

The conversation left a positive impression on me. The BMW R1200RS he was riding, seemed to fit what I was after. The price tag was a different story. I was halted from buying one at the time due to price. I check Cycle Trader from time to time, and 2024 I observed the BMW R1200RS as slow moving and the prices were coming down. The new model R1250RS, could be helping with that. I pick one up with 11,000 miles, and a few scratches. Not to worry, I actually added to the scratches already.

Acquiring My BMW R1200RS:
May 18th: I had been talking with a guy in Chicago on and off for about a month. He had a 2016 BMW R1200RS 11,000 miles listed for sale OBO. I shot him an offer $1,000 less than his asking price. I didn’t hear from him for a month after that. He finally accepts. Up to Chicago I go to finally look at the bike in person. The older gentleman was selling it, because he was at a point he was unable to safely ride. The BMW has scratches on the left side from being ran into the garage lawn equipment. He was unable to control it and didn’t get it stopped. His wife put her foot down. It was time to sell it and slow down in his retired age. The BMW had been sitting for a while. Being a 2016, I was surprised to see so many cobwebs everywhere, and it was dirty. Not Mickey dirty, but Amos dirty. Test ride went … OK. Service light was on. Tire Pressure light was on. Woah! It has TPS. Nice. I had a portable air compressor with me, as I planned ahead. Aired up front and back tires, 2nd test ride was just OK. I bought it, and rode back to Indianapolis. 4Hour ride on a new to me bike.

Initial impression on that 1st ride back to Indianapolis. The R1200RS is stable in the wind! Dirty air on my CB1100, is not fun after a few hours on the interstate. I wobble, the CB wobbles. The BMW was rock solid and held a straight line. No matter where I placed myself around a semi, the wind never upset the BMW. I never felt any wobble. Fuel consumption: 70 MPH … not bad. I was not able to calculate true consumption on the 1st ride, I didn’t know gallons and I was focused on other things. But the range indicator, once I bumped up to 85MPH, the range was dropping way faster, than the miles I was covering. At that speed, MPG was not good. When I finally stopped for the 1st fill up, I took my helmet off. Wow my ears hurt. I failed to put in ear plugs in the Chicago city. The BMW at speed is loud. There is no way around it. Stock windscreen, the wind noise = very loud. Mercy it was loud. Comfort: the R1200RS is OK. It has some good points, but it is different than the CB1100. Stock, the BMW R1200RS is more of a sport riding position. I am leaned over more reaching the bars. My legs are more tucked under me. I understand the RS portion of the name based on the riding position. The R1200RS is comfortable, but it is a sport riding position. Not as aggressive as a Sport Bike, but it is not as roomy or upright as the CB1100.
Over the next few days, I commuted to and from work on my new BMW R1200RS. The riding position gave me a cramp in my hip a few times, as my legs were adjusting to the new tucked angles. I killed the BMW several times as the opposing twin, is not an inline 4. The torque curve and everything is different. Wow. I’ve been on the CB1100 since 2013. I love the CB1100. This twin is completely different. This is really different. In a 90 degree right hand turn one day, I went into the turn in 3rd gear. I let the clutch out late during the turn and I was not gradual about letting the clutch out. In the slow turn on the CB1100, the Honda pulls. No problem. I was not on the Honda. The BMW did not like it. To the point, the BMW decided to stop running. I was too slow of a speed for the BMW and the RPM’s were too low for its liking. Being abrupt with the release of the clutch, it all happened too fast. Stalling a bike in a leaned over turn, is not as much fun as you would think, but it ended up being OK. I was embarrassed, but all was OK. Wow this BMW is different than the CB1100. Did I make a mistake in this decision ???

Over the next few days, I am going over the R1200RS. Used bike, I didn’t know what had, or had not been done. Service light is on. The brakes, the brakes… Brembo sport brakes. Odd. Brembo brakes should be impressive. But this BMW … sometimes I would apply the brakes and they would engage fairly quickly and have a great feal to them. Sometimes. Most of the time, I would pull, pull, pull then get some engagement with a little progression in stopping power. What is going on here? I hop on the Honda and go for a ride. I love the Honda CB1100. Brakes are great, clutch is great, gear shifts are great, riding position is great. If I love the CB so much, what am I doing with this BMW ??? Back on the BMW back to back comparison rides. BMW, gear shifts: the foot lever is wiggly. Applying pressure up or down, there is play in the controls. In 1st clutch pulled in, push down and the lever moves around. There is play, that is not there on the CB. Brakes … brakes … the controls are wiggly. The lever moves up and down, play from the pivot pin, linear pulls into the brakes are dead on feedback. The BMW R1200RS feels very cheaply made, and those brakes. What is going on? What did I do? This is a mistake. I love the Honda CB1100. Maybe the BMW is new, give it some time. Lets work it out.

I bought Heli Risers. That riding position is too Sportsbike. I bought a new windscreen. The winglets are missing, bought new Carbon Fiber wiglets. Carbon Fiber makes everything better. Bough final drive fluid, bought oil, bought brake fluid, I bought BMW blue clutch fluid, I bought Honda Drive Shaft lube. Put some Honda in there, that will make it better. I had no idea what was or was not done to this bike. Lets service this and see how it goes.
Items rolled in through the mail. It was like Christmas on the front porch that week. Heli Risers went on 1st. Adjusts the riding position enough. Upper body is upright more adding comfort. It felt like the Honda more, but the legs are more tucked under still. It more like the CB1100, I’m happy. My hip had stopped cramping, and I was more in the Honda riding position. We are getting there. I’d been riding the R1200RS every day, and stopped riding the Honda. Going back and forth, and everything being so different on the BMW, I wasn’t liking the BMW. Those brakes … nothing was consistent. One day it acted somewhat normal. Other days … it seemed like something was wrong. The fluid was dirty. Linked brakes … how do you bleed those? I dunno. The CB1100 doesn’t have linked brakes. These new kids and their technology. I decided not to mess with it and called the BMW dealer 30 miles away and set up an appointment. I wanted to take the BMW for a road trip, and it might be better to have a professional look this over. I didn’t know what had, or had not been done, so lets just be safe before my trip.

BMW Dealership Day July 17th: Drop the bike off. I am talking with the tech. Telling him that I am coming from a Honda CB1100 for years. The opposing twin is so different. It clatters. Its temperamental on throttle control inputs, gear shifts are clunky, I can hear a rattle at low speeds coming from the driveshaft and final drive area. The brakes …. Pulling the controls in, its inconsistent of when the brakes engage. I thought it was me bouncing from bike to bike and not learning the BMW, but no. The engagement point is all over, and the linear engagement is inconsistent. I can see the fluid is very dirty. Tech laughs at me and says these R1200RS’ are nice bikes. The twin does make rattle noises, and it is not an inline 4. They will check it out and call me later in the day to let me know what they find. Bike should be done later in the day, easy service on the low mile BMW. I go back to work.
Later in the day, I am at work and get a call. Wrapped up, I can’t grab my phone. About 30 minutes later, I read the transcribed voice message. “Hey Richard, this is Todd at Town of Power Sports. Hey, your bike is done. Michael took it for a test ride and he had an incident with the brakes. Fluid, sometimes the fluid kind of older and the system locked up, so luckily it was on him knowing that you know he knows to pull in the clutch and its kind of almost to stop locking up the front. Luckily he wasn’t. He was going up to speed. Don’t understand we know what he’s looking for is that he’s tech the he’s. Has this probably happen to him before so the bike did not go down or anything like that but we recommending a brake flush. Well to get that system They plug the Liters to get it to unlock and then to get back to shop so give me a call back will you please”

Uh, what. Talk to text doesn’t always come through cleanly, but I got enough out of that to figure out something is wrong. Called the dealer. Tech couldn’t find anything wrong with the bike mechanically, so he took it for a test ride. Going into a round about he initially tapped the front brake, transitioned to the throttle to get around the turn. The front of the bike began a slight nosedive and started to slow, despite him being on the gas, he rolled into more throttle, but the front end continued to dive. Roughly 30MPH according to his testimony. He quickly stood the bike up and pulled the clutch in and the bike abruptly took a more drastic nosedive. The BMW did a stoppie picking the back wheel up off the ground while he was still in the round about. He was trying to get to the side, when the front brake locked up completely refusing to let go. He was stuck on the side of the road with the front brakes completely locked up, they would not let go. He had to call the dealership and have them send the service van with some tools. Releasing the bleeder valves, the front brakes finally let go. Uh, that’s not alarming at all. I am glad your service tech did not get hurt. I feel like a heal putting someone else in danger. I had no idea I was putting someone else in that situation. I had no idea. I am truly sorry. I would have warned you had I known … I almost died myself riding it on the interstate just .2 mile sooner. I didn’t know. Uh, yes. I want all the fluids everywhere changed. Final drive, clutch, brakes, drive shaft serviced, blinker fluid … I don’t care. Change it. I don’t know what has, or has not been done. Change it. Change all the fluids, call me when its done.

I had all the arrangements set in place to visit my Brother and Mom in Nebraska. July 24th was my departure day. Only 600 miles one way trip on a bike that just did a stoppie at 30MPH. I knew them Brembos were capable of more. 75MPH interstates for 600 miles and the brakes locked up … What did I do. I love my Honda CB1100. How can dirty fluid cause the brakes to do something like that. What mechanically went wrong? No way dirty fluid from 2016 and only 11,000 miles can cause that. The thought of the movie Christine start going through my head. What did I buy. That Honda sure is a beautiful machine. I love that Honda. I can't live with this BMW. It's going up for sale.

July 19th Dealership calls, BMW is all done. Please stop by at your earliest; on my way. I can’t express how badly I feel putting someone else in danger like that. Had I known it was on the verge of that, I would have warned you. I would not have ridden it 30 miles to the dealer on the interstate !!! I’m sorry. Dealership is kind. They tell me that sometimes when they ship the dry bike from Germany, they put these humidity pucks in the reservoirs to keep the moisture at bay. Uh … OK. I use sugar bears to keep moisture at bay in my sugar at home … OK. Never heard of that in a bike, but BMW, need I think more. They say it looked like the puck was still in the reservoirs. They pucks had broken down over time, and chunks were floating in all the fluids. They think a chunk got stuck in the lines, or in the caliper itself and caused the blockage. The blockage was not allowing the fluid to flow back and allow the caliper release as it should. Based on what I had been experiencing … I think I could actually accept that. Maybe the BMW was not trying to kill me?? How much for the bill … $1,900something. Great. I didn’t die. Service tech treated it like a new bike set up. Clutch, drive shaft, all fluid, brakes, all bearings, torques all reset like it was an uncrated bike. You should be good to go, call us if you need anything. These R1200RS’s are such great bikes. How was the blinker fluid? Service guy looks at me strangely, so I take that as its time to go with the bill paid. Thank you.

In the dealership parking lot, the BMW clatters at the initial start-up. Service light is out. $1,900something well spent. I kill it taking off. I know what my new personalized license plate is going to say. The clutch engagement is completely different. The controls still wiggle at the pivot points, but the controls are all different everywhere. Throttle response … wow, it has throttle response. Everything is different. Rolling to the intersection, I plan for the worse. A ditch to the right. I can swim. Bike has 35 additional miles on the odometer … I hope the test rides went well … intersection here I come. Brakes. Whew. Brakes worked! It felt like the Honda. I didn’t need to bail and hit the ditch rolling. Whew. Turn right out of the dealership and to get onto the interstate is a large radius lazy roundabout made for semi’s to get around. Gear changes still clunked a little, rear brakes felt about the same. Throttle, clutch, front brakes, all felt different. They felt good. Real good. The R1200RS was acting very different. Different in every good way. Things were smoother, and more responsive. The throttle was actually responsive, Was it that bad before and I didn’t notice? Rolling from stops, its just better. Front brakes always engage at the same point while pulling the front lever, with consistent positive progressive linear feel. Dang, Brembos are nice. Was the previous owners garage incident, really his fault?
The 30 mile ride back home was uneventful and pleasant. Lets get ready for a trip to Nebraska…

Preface
For those familiar with these chronicles, move right along. For those new to them consult with someone familiar with them who will probably tell you read something else. Otherwise, take note that, for the cartographically fascinated, there is a link to a Google Map with the entire route carefully plotted on it. You can find it by clicking on the link under the map of the overall route. Then you can zoom in and out, toggle days on and off and have all kinds of fun.

[url=https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=11PSLFleJUD-VtfUgtsYUQ9yhkttTt5w&usp=sharing]Link to Map

Day 1
[url=https://postimages.org/]
[url=https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=11PSLFleJUD-VtfUgtsYUQ9yhkttTt5w&usp=sharing]Link to Map

I rode to Wauchope to meet Pterodactyl. Why? Because it’s near enough to halfway between Sydney and Brisbane; sits near the eastern end of the Oxley Highway, reckoned by some to be the best motorcycle road in Australia; and hosts the Wauchope Motel, a friendly and pleasant place to stay. My route took me along many a road oft travelled, so I won’t repeat myself describing them.

The one exception — early in the day, on the [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3443]Lions Road — was to set a precedent for other days on this ride. Signs warned the road was closed to heavy vehicles due to a bridge repair, but I thought little of it as it was clear that the CB was included in the class of vehicle that could pass. As I approached Simes Rd, I was warned of the detour which took me east on an OK gravel road. It climbed a bit and then descended again and, after a while, I began to wonder not only where I’d return to the highway, but also whether the gravel would ever end.

In the end, near the junction with Collins Creek Road, the road was again covered in glorious bitumen and I enjoyed a fast and pleasant run on a largely deserted country road to Wiangaree.

There I rejoined the Summerland Way and made my way along back roads to Coffs Harbour via Grafton. At that point I joined the freeway for the final run to Wauchope.

Forty five kms north of Wauchope, the CB1100 passed another milestone.
[url=https://postimg.cc/kV8mXhr5]

I was unpacking the bike when I heard the growl of the Pterodactyl’s Staintune.
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