Hi Everyone,

I have been looking for a simple, upright, old-fashioned bike for a little while. I am familiar with the cb's and like them, so I was surprised to see the new Honda 1100 available.

But I'm disappointed in it because of vibration - or "Rumble."

I thought I would register and submit an idea to everyone about the cam timing - "asymmetric cam timing" business, if I have that complicated name correct.

I do not think the timing was done for a Rumble - why go through the trouble of manufacturing a balance shaft and then put vibration back in.

And to keep hearing that 1 and 2 are one set of timing and 3 and 4 are a different set, that just did not make sense.

BUT! someone here mentioned the manual is not correct, that the two outer are the same, and the two outer are the same!

THIS makes sense if you think about heat problems... The longer duration for the inner cylinders might reduce the dynamic compression ratio, causing them to run cooler.

Wouldn't this make more sense than "Rumble?"

Already there's a limiter, incredible sparkplug threads, and special cooling for plug region.

I would bet that the cam timing was needed to get the cylinders cool enough to meet reliability requirements...

Just a guess. Anyone have better experience with this question (cam timing, dynamic compression, and cylinder temperature)?

just want to let you guys know
I just ordered the dampener kit from traxxion dynamics
http://www.traxxion.com/Drop-In-Damper-R...pring-Kit/
on sale at 299.00
I have yet to read any cb owners use this setup yet
I have used this kit on my fz-07 and it was awesome makes a huge diff in the bikes handling and stopping
also I just installed these progressshocks-for-triumph-thruxton-2004-2015
http://www.progressivesuspension.com/pro...ort-series
now these are made for the thruxton but went right on
I could not find much in perf shocks for the cb so I went for it and they worked great
these are preload and rebound adjustable
I have only about a half mile ride just to make sure all was good and seem great
they fit real close to the muffler but don't hit. had to swivel it out to install but very easy install
I just want to say to all that suspension mods are not for everyone. nor is spending the money on something you think already works
there are a lot of opinions out there and everyone is right , just ask them
all I have to say is ride a bike that is fixed and then ride one that isn't and you will spend the money
and if you spend it, do it right. if you don't you will just be disappointed in the results. I have said it before on here springs only hold the bike up, you need to do something with the valving to make a real diff
this is my third bike that I am fixing the suspension on. and I wouldn't have it any other way
if I could figure out pics I would put them on here but I cant make them small enough. I'm real dum

I was curious as to how many are considering selling or trading their current CB1100 for a new 2017 CB1100.

Dunno if this has been posted elsewhere but, ran across this news item on Webike:

“King of Urban Flat Track Circuits”


http://japan.webike.net/moto_news/honda-...ilan-show/




-Kirk Out

In [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=10069&pid=160453#pid160453]another thread I made mention of ‘speed-limited corners’. Rolls asked me:

My short answer was no, but I answered it in a reflective frame of mind early in the morning and found I’d written a great deal more than was relevant to that thread. I didn't post it at the time, but it occurred to me it might amuse northern hemisphere members, confined by snow and filthy weather to their haciendas, to ponder the question of speed limits.

So, with a warning that this is a ramble, my longer answer to Rolls’ question went something like this:

Australian Police services and traffic management agencies have got it into their heads that speed is the cause of nearly every traffic accident. I suppose, in a way, there's a rational basis for this view: if you weren't moving, you couldn't have an accident. From that, I suppose it follows that, given you were moving, had you been moving more slowly, the consequences of crashing would have been less severe. It’s not altogether persuasive.

As a result Australian police and traffic regulators have for years been very focussed on keeping speed down. Patrols and radars are used lots and anything much more than 2 or 3 kph over the limit will earn you a fine and a loss of demerit points. The more over the limit drivers are travelling, the greater the penalty. There’s not the tolerance US riders report for breaches of the speed limit.

Recently there seems to have been a rash of reducing speed limits on any section of road where there have been accidents. When it happens on a popular motorcycle road, there are howls of protest from motorcyclists. The change is effected by signage and there is then also increased enforcement activity, usually via patrols or mobile speed cameras. On roads around cities—like the Old Pacific Highway north of Sydney and the Mt Nebo Road near Brisbane—frequent patrols are said to spoil the fun of riders who want to race through the corners as quickly as they can. On country roads, there's less enforcement than on the freeways where there are lots of speed cameras, both fixed and mobile. As an aside, while, by law, motorists must be advised of the presence of fixed speed cameras—presumably so they can slow down and not offend—curiously the cameras still seem to catch an awful lot of speeding drivers.

There is another school of thought common amongst motorcyclists: any set of corners sufficiently attractive to motorcyclists in numbers and in or on which there are consequently lots of accidents must immediately have the speed limit reduced to spoil everyone else's fun. A happy by-product for authorities is that speed traps can then be used to raise much-needed revenue. That view tends to hold that any form of traffic law enforcement is more about revenue raising than road safety.

I'm not sure I buy either thesis. It's asserted from time to time that there’s not really any good evidence about the nexus between speed and accidents. But I really don’t know; I’ve not really looked into it. Many accidents—whatever the cause—may have been less severe if people had been going more slowly. But that’s a statement of the bleeding obvious rather than having any form evidence base.

It’s also the case that many of those who argue they are being inconvenienced in some way tend to assume they’re the only person who’s view matters. They’re competent to drive the road higher than the posted speed limit, so why should it be so low? They forget, I think, that road usage is a complex system involving drivers, their behaviour and ever-changing conditions that authorities must address as best they can.

I’m also not persuaded police consider only revenue raising. Traffic offences are seen by the community as serious. If you think that’s a joke, see the levels of fines and demerit points for many breaches of traffic regulations. Police have a job to do it’s fair for them to get on and do it. Do they exercise enough discretion? Who knows? Such questions are difficult: we’ll never really know how much discretion is exercised. Are the laws unreasonable and silly? Yes, many of them are, but that’s hardly the police’s fault. There are many others involved in that policy process. Ultimately the politicians need to take responsibility for the state of the statute book.

Police and emergency services workers constantly have to deal with the hideous consequences of road accidents. They deserve some sympathy in all this. If they can reduce the number of times they have to clean up accident sites and then tell some poor person their child or significant other won't be coming home, it’s reasonable to expect they will do so.

Whether all this is the over-zealous encroachment of the nanny state is, if course, another consideration. I’m not going there on an international forum as there are too many cultural considerations to make much sense of it. I know it’s a faint hope, but it would be nice if anyone who feels the urge to respond to this ramble could stay away from this tricky question.

Introduction

EmptySea’s [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=9826]Letters from West Virginia have established a new literary benchmark for the forum. All yours, mate.

Meanwhile, here’s a description of a modest little ride I took during October and November 2016.

I wrote a lengthy introduction about the year leading up to this trip, but, blah, blah, blah. I don’t care now. Why should you? Suffice it to say that, other than ([url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=8661]a brief sortie into the central highlands of Queensland in April it’s been slim pickings for decent rides this year. So a leave pass to ride to the Phillip Island MotoGP and then keep going across Bass Straight for a couple of weeks with my favourite pillion rider was a lovely gift.

So I took it.
Day 1: 12 October 2016
Brisbane to Uralla (531.9 kms)


[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1O3YZ4OKgYH1Yql_x4XD1iAwhyTo&usp=sharing]Day 1: Link to Map

It’s different living in the country. You turn out of the drive and within minutes you’re on the freeway heading south at the speed limit. In the city you have to navigate the traffic and the lights and the pedestrians and the cars just to get to the freeway. When you get on it, there’s way more traffic; hundreds of cars jostling for position. And trucks, all offering the possibility of throwing a retread at a hapless motorcyclist.

On the other hand, I’m at least an hour and a half closer to where I wanted to be than had I started back in the country; probably more because I couldn’t have resisted a quieter ride down more peaceful but longer country roads.

So, by 08:30 I’ve arrived in Kyogle where it’s time to refuel and have a cup of coffee.

But it’s actually 09:30 as I’ve crossed the Queensland-New South Wales border and they have daylight saving time and we don’t.

When I was a lad and living way down south, Queensland had something of a reputation of being a land of rednecks. It was known for its artfully constructed gerrymander and generally authoritarian approach to anyone with an opinion that didn’t align with the government of the day. All that came to an end in 1989 when the populace, fed up with the corruption of the incumbent government finally voted it out of office.

Some years later I had moved to Queensland and was at a function in the summer months when daylight saving was under way south of the border. It was being opened by a former Prime Minister of Australia who, by then, was into his eighties. He was introduced by the former Premier of Queensland—the man who succeeded in pushing out the corrupt cabal in 1989—who relayed that in the car on the way in from the airport, the former PM had said, ‘It’s so much easier coming to Queensland now. I only have to put my watch back an hour not a whole generation.’

I’ve written before of the dilemma of crossing the border from Rathdowney. There is the difficult choice of the Lions Road or the Mt Lindsay Highway. Bits of the Lions Road are treacherous: narrow with blind corners, nothing resembling a centre marking and some crappy surface, but, on a nice day it’s a very pretty ride. The Mt Lindsay Highway takes you between a couple of spectacular mountains and, on the New South Wales side at least, is a great ride. On the northern side of the border, it should be a great ride, but the road surface is so appalling in places that great care is needed.

It was a lovely day, and I took the Lions Road arriving in Kyogle, as I said, at around 0830.

The chronicler’s dilemma: tell again and again of roads of which you’ve already told or skip over them with references to earlier reports? Given two factors: first there’s a fair bit of repetition in my route to Sydney this time; and, secondly, my innate laziness, I’m opting for an indication that there’s another description somewhere unless there’s something special to report. The Lions Road is the first of these rides. If you missed it—or, more likely, went to sleep—there’s a sort of description of its history [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3443&pid=50696#pid50696]in this post. There are other tales of adventures on the Lions Road which I’m happy to share. A search of the forum should reveal them, or ask and I’ll post links.

[url=https://postimage.org]






Some views of the Lions Road. The final picture shows the collection box on the border where users are asked to contribute to the upkeep.

The road from Kyogle south to Casino and then Grafton is mostly straight and, on the bike, relatively uninteresting. It’s pretty, pleasant, but ultimately a bit boring. This day it was uneventful too.
[url=https://postimg.org/image/4n8ffinr3/]
A view of the Summerland way between Casino and Grafton. Pretty, easy riding, but ultimately uninspiring

Grafton is famous for its wonderful display of purple jacarandas, but I was a bit early in the season for them to be in great display. Children in Queensland (and probably northern New South Wales) hate the advent of the jacaranda blooms as it signals time for their major exams.

[url=https://postimage.org]
A jacaranda entering Grafton. They were not at their spectacular best

I took a break in Grafton and enjoyed a brief wander along the banks of the Clarence River and a bite to eat. The CB was rewarded for its good work with the second tank of fuel for the day.

Then it was time for the best part of the day’s ride: the Grafton-Armidale Road that winds its way uphill from Grafton, through Nymboida and Dundurrabin to Ebor at the top of the Waterfall Way and thence across the top of the Great Dividing Range to Armidale. It’s all good really. It’s an easy ride out of Grafton to Coutts Crossing and then to Nymboida. The road then starts to climb and finds its way through lovely Australian bush and some magnificent twists and turns. Shortly before Ebor and the turn off to Dorrigo the road flattens out and it’s a quick run through farming country until you reach Ebor. It is one of the better roads between Brisbane and Sydney and worth the investment of the couple of hours it takes to ride it.
[url=https://postimage.org]
At Nymboida


The road south of Nymboida


How can you not enjoy a road like this?


At the top of the range the road flattens and straightens

I had a welcome cup of tea at the biker friendly Fusspots Café in Ebor and added the thermal lining to my jacket. It was considerably colder up here and I had a way to go to Armidale where I planned to spend the night.

It’s a pretty good ride to Armidale too. There are some excellent twist and turns and some very fast sweepers during the 80 kilometres or so until Armidale. It’s always further than I think it will be; and a better ride too.

I met some other bikers on the way—maybe they passed me as I am generally careful about speed limits and I find others are not—and I followed one into the poplar-lined streets of Armidale.


As I arrived in Armidale it was about 5 pm (or 4 pm where I’d come from) and I’d ridden about 530 kms. I intended to stop and filled up with petrol in preparation for the morning.

I rode south looking for a motel or a hotel where I could stop and get a meal and remembered that Uralla—one of my favourite towns for no reason I’ve ever understood—was not terribly far away. I’d spent a comfortable night in the Top Pub there on the way home from the MotoGP in 2014. Why not repeat the experience?

Twenty minutes later I was in Uralla where I again checked into the Top Pub and came face to face with one of those fundamental philosophical questions that confront us all from time to time: why, when you’re on a motorcycle and have heaps of gear, do they always put you in an upstairs room? At least three trips later, my gear was safe so I had a shower and headed for the bar.

I forget what I had for dinner; but it was better than ordinary and I slept reasonably well.
Day 2: 13 October 2016
Uralla to Singleton (396 kms)


[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1uBAiZsKoaUIRkNtY3pBtcdpZLHA&usp=sharing]Day 2: Link to Map

Although I’ve ridden on various bits of the New England Highway, I’ve never ridden the stretch between Uralla and Tamworth. In the cool of the morning, it was a lovely ride. The road surface is good; there are some good hills and corners to make the trip interesting; and, finally, you get to ride down the Moonbi mountains. One day, I’ll be sure to ride up them.



Down the Moonbis and into Tamworth. The road is much more fun before this, but with my heavy winter gloves on, I found it very hard to turn the camera on and I needed both hands for riding

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamworth,_New_South_Wales]Tamworth is the home of both my wife’s family and Australia’s major country music festival which is held for a week or so in January each year. It was, I think, also the first place in Australia to have public street lighting.

My plan was to turn off at the northern end of the town and head for Dungowan so I could ride through the Port Stephens Cutting to Thunderbolt’s Way. As I rode into Tamworth, though, it occurred to me that there was a bit of family business I should attend to, so I kept going into the town. That detour does not show on my map.

After a bit, I returned to Nemingah, filled up the tank and headed for Dungowan.

I discovered the Port Stephens Cutting some years ago when I was driving my son’s car to Sydney. I suppose I should really say I came across it as I didn’t ‘discover’ it in the way James Cook is said to have discovered Australia. I missed a turn to Hanging Rock and found myself on a stretch of road winding up the range to join Thunderbolt’s Way. I’ve been meaning to ride it for some time.

The road runs through pretty agricultural country through Dungowan, which is now pretty much a ghost town, before climbing sharply through the Port Stephens Cutting onto the plateau of the Great Dividing Range. The road joins Thunderbolt’s Way (about which I’ve written before) around 50 kilometres before the road gets steep and twisting on its way down into the Manning River valley and then up the other side and on into Gloucester.





Looking back down the Port Stephens Cutting

Looking up the Cutting

It’s worth a brief digression here to make mention of the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Dividing_Range]Great Dividing Range which separate’s the Eastern seaboard of Australia from the great big often very flat inland. It’s not actually a single range; rather a number of them all loosely joined to form a barrier. It’s said by Wikipedia to be the third longest land-based mountain range in the world, and is the reason Australia’s east coast is blessed with so many great motorcycle roads: the old timers found the only way up hills was to turn regularly. Generously for their descendants, they built a goodly number of them.

After I made it through the Port Stephens Cutting, it became clear the ominous looking grey clouds were getting lower and I was going to get wet. So somewhere near the highest point of the road, I stopped and hauled on my hitherto unused and highly recommended Frogg Toggs. I’m tempted to say I may as well not have bothered. They were nearly useless and it was not terribly long before my crotch was sodden, my boots full of water and the front of my jacket soaked.

The rain wasn’t much fun, particularly as it was combined with occasional patches of mist. Nor was the road surface. I hadn’t been on Thunderbolt’s Way since late 2014 when parts of the road were not good. Now more parts of the road were not good. I was careful on my way down and up and then down again into Gloucester.

It’s a great ride from Gloucester to Singleton, although on this afternoon it was marred by patches of rain. Luckily, I guess, there was more dry than wet and my outer layers were a bit drier by the time I got into Cessnock and checked into a motel room at the rear of The Royal Hotel. The stairs were rickety, but there was plenty of room to dry gear and undercover parking for a very, very dirty CB1100.

There were few photos from the afternoon as the camera was tucked away out of the rain, but I did pull over and take a couple.


Between Dungog and Singleton: one of those palindromic shots


Between Dungog and Singleton a few minutes later: a milestone shot

I ate acceptably and then slept.
Day 3: 14 October 2016
Singleton to Sydney (202 kms)


[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PpAMmXb4xGkoddIoGfpp_abmrzY&usp=sharing]Day 3: Link to Map

It was a truly gorgeous morning and I was on the road early, riding quickly to Broke where I stopped for fuel. On the way there, the road has been reconstructed, I suspect to suit the needs of a coal mine and probably at its expense. The result is one enormously long, sweeping corner which, with the knee down and the right rider could probably be taken at a speed faster than the CB1100 is capable of. Even with my limited talents, the corner was a lot of fun.


Early morning just south of Singleton


The Broke Village Store sells everything—petrol, beer, food. What else is there?

South of Broke begins a wonderful journey. The pretty, winding road runs alongside and crosses Wollombi Brook. From Broke to the start of Paynes Crossing Road was heaven on a stick—great road, great surface, lovely day, no traffic. From there on, the road is excellent and enjoyable, but it’s narrower and there is no centre line which increases the likelihood of finding a large ute or SUV on the wrong side of the road.


Looking back from the start of Paynes Crossing Rd: you can see the change in road quality


A section of Paynes Crossing Rd

All too soon I came to Wollombi where I once had lunch with Perodactyl. This was a week day and the population was greatly reduced as I passed through.

At the town boundary of Wollombi

The road south from Wollombi is a favourite of motorcyclists as it winds its way through the pretty bushland. It is particularly famous for Lemming Corner in which it would be humiliating beyond measure to come to grief. Pterodactyl has [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3758%20]written of the corner, although I don’t know what’s become of the photographs. The following is taken on the other side of the corner and I did not fall off on the way through.



Having survived I continued my ride. In my view, the road gets better to the south of Lemming Corner. It still winds happily, but the surface is better and the corners are more sweeping. It is possible to maintain a cracking pace while enjoying the ride.

The next bit of motorcycle road I was aiming for was the Old Pacific Highway. The new freeway is fast and wide and, well, a slab. The old road, which I had not ridden is a gem, even if the regulators have hacked away at the speed limit until. (Grits teeth) To be fair, it’s a very winding road at the northern end and a great many cyclists use it, so the limit is not completely without merit.

You know this road will be good when you turn on to it.
It’s a beautiful road and there wasn’t much traffic at all as I made my way through the twisties and down the hill to the old b ridge across the Hawkesbury River. On the other side the road began to climb again and there was more evidence of energetic motorcycle activity. At the top of the hill you come to Pie in the Sky, a pie shop with great views. It’s also a resting place for motorcyclists. There were a few there when I pulled in, so I took some photos of their bikes.
















I had a pie and a coffee, looked at the bikes and then made my way through Sydney to Pterodactyl’s place. We talked about the ride south and agreed that I would stay Sunday night before we cleared out early on Monday morning. I left my large bag of camping gear in his garage and went across the city to find my son with whom I was to stay for the next two nights.

Honda sells so many great products, from Acura to lawn mowers,generators, we can't expect them to spend the money on marketing that many motorcycle only manufacturers spend. It's fine with me, I know the CB is superior to any Triumph, Harley,or Indian twin. If the rest of the world doesn't understand the engineering and quality it represents,that's fine. I've owned 50 bikes in 67 years and the CB is an exceptional machine. I'm prejudiced as my first bike was a CA105 fifty cc step through 3 speeds and an automatic clutch.

Riding streak that is. Don't think I'm going to make it out today after all. It's still raining pretty hard, supposed to rain until this evening, and the Cinti Bell man that is supposed to come permanantly fix our internet cable and had a show up window from 12pm-4pm and a 2 hour work window after showing up that I have to be here for, hasn't shown up yet...or called.

arrrggghhhh

01.02.2017
11:00 am
Local Temp 37f

Well folks, I have now ridden on 2 out of 2 days in 2017 and, if the mileage spreadsheet is up to date, I have more 2017 miles than TheFerret. Only our Australian friend, Cormanus has more recorded miles than do I, but it's hard enough to compete with riders in this hemisphere so I'm still proud of my accomplishment.

Even though my record will only stand for another 18 hours or so.

Today, I rode 92 miles in a loop that took me close to the Wisconsin border and ultimately to a new mileage milestone for my CB1100 of 27,000 miles. Incidentally, I do not have a windshield or heated gear of any kind (excepting heated hand grips).

My alpaca-clad feet were not he slightest bit cold for this ride, but I know know that I need a fleece layer under my jacket on days like today; the performance fabric quarter-zip was not quite enough. My fingers got quite cold, but I found out that if I stop, remove my gloves, and put my bare hands on the heated grips for a few minutes, I can warm them quite nicely. I also hold my gloved hands close to (or barely touching) the cooling fins when I'm at stoplights which helps a bit. Heated glove liners will be ordered, however.

I set out to have a short ride and a cup of coffee, but "Ferret Fever" caught me and I just kept heading north by northwest. Eventually, I noticed that if I rode just a little further out, I would pass 27,000 on my odometer by the time I got back home.

On our rides together, Cheryl and I often pass Lily Lake Road and as often as we pass it, she mentions that "..we should take that road someday because I like the way the name sounds and, oh by the way, do you think there is really a Lily Lake?" In a case of pure happenstance, I found Lily Lake today and it was there that i determined that a fairly direct route home would get me almost exactly to 27,000 miles.

I've been toying with Google Maps (My Maps version) along with the Windows Snipping Tool and MS Paint (Thanks to forum members Nortoon, Stithill, and Cormanus). Here's today's route with just a couple of enhancements I learned in this thread [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=10051]GOOGLE MAPS

[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Sunday%20Rides/Lilly%20Lake%20Loop%201.2.2017_zpslqylfq9f.jpg.html]

A view of Lily Lake (if you squint you can see ice fishermen on the barely frozen lake)
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Sunday%20Rides/Photo%20Jan%2002%2012%2016%2049%20PM_zpsbifi3lkp.jpg.html]

I turned 27,000 miles about 2 miles from home and about 1/4 mile from where Cheryl had her bike crash, both significant spots for the milestone, but fate would step in and provide me with a fairly apt backdrop for my odo pic.
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Sunday%20Rides/Photo%20Jan%2002%201%2027%2050%20PM_zpsjwfa8qai.jpg.html]

It started to drizzle about 1/2 mile short of home and was raining in earnest by the time I stripped off my gear and backed my bike into its resting spot. Never did stop for coffee, but Cheryl made me a cup of hot tea; an appropriate beverage after a day of chasing a Ferret.

[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Sunday%20Rides/Photo%20Jan%2002%201%2034%2055%20PM_zpshowjgcgk.jpg.html]

Guys. Looking to make a mod for safety this off season. Too many idiot texting drivers out here.

What is the best and brightest tail light flasher modules that flashes under breaking?

Thanks!


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