I just bought a 2014 CB1100 Deluxe with 265 miles. It had popped up on Ebay as a Buy It Now Sunday (7/3 my birthday) at a reasonable price and I couldn't hit the Buy button fast enough!!!

It required a little 1660 mile round trip to pick it up from a nice couple who live out in the country south of Birmingham Alabama.

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My old buddy Tom came with to keep me company. Here we are ready to roll out, Tom on the left and my mug on the right.

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Before we left Tom asked me where Barber Motorsports Museum is. For some reason we both thought it was in Georgia. I checked and found out it was just outside of Birmingham about a 30 minute drive away from the bike! There was no way we were going to be in the museum's back yard and not stop. Barber Motorsports Museum has been on both our bucket lists for many years. I booked a room at a Hampton, we rested up, and left for Barber after breakfast. We got there about a 1/2 hour before it opened.

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The museum is so far beyond whatever you imagine it to be! Walking in your mind is blown!!

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We left Barber and began the 830 mile jaunt back home and rolled in at midnight Thursday (last night). During the trip down we were deluged in rain. I have an open trailer and thought the CB would drown on the return trip, but not one drop of rain on the way back. We threaded the needle through a few storms!

This morning I went to the DMV and transferred the title first thing. Illinois is great for Private Sale motorcycle transfers! The tax is a flat $25 regardless of how new or how expensive the motorcycle is. Dealer purchases are taxed much higher (a percentage rate).

Very cool to have landed my Deluxe! More to come.

Took the dash cam from my car and mounted it on the bars of my CB. First attempt at doing this. Might well do some more at a later date - on a more scenic road

...and the report is [url=http://karlvandervelden.com/]here if you'd like to have a gander! The CB1100, I'm happy to report, is a splendid touring platform. But I suppose I'm preaching to the choir, eh?

Summer is in full force and usually that means nothing but sunshine here in Oregon. Just not today, lol.

Looks like I'll have damp ride home to look forward to a bit later...




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I want to make custom CB t-shirts. It looks like I will need text on the design. I was having a tough time coming up with some text. I know you guys know the bike more than me and any cool text ideas would be appreciated. I've seen "The Legend" on other bike shirts so thats what I put for now. Thank you.

Wait..that doesn't sound right does it? Oh well...

I had to make a run over to the local Moto Guzzi dealer to pick up a can of Plexus for my brother. As I pulled up I spotted this (among others) sitting out front.

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Moto Guzzi 1200 Griso, often compared to the CB 1100 in road tests for some reason even though to me they wouldn't be on the same buyers radar, and as I type that, I again think of Rboe lol. Maybe they are.

Pretty color I thought. So I walk inside and buy the plastic polish and say "That's a pretty Griso out front" and the guy says 'you can test ride it". Reaaalllly! Sign me up. lol

So he makes a copy of my driv lic and makes me sign some papers saying they are not responsible if anything happens, but I or my heirs, are responsible if anything happens (that was ominous), gives me a few instructions, incl it won't run right and it won't shift right until it gets hot, so go for a good long ride. Sounds good, and off I go. Well off I tried to go. Legs were too short to get the side stand up. Took me several tries before I could get the sidestand up because it's waaay out front. Honestly the first two times I tried to get it, I got a cramp in my foot and had to let it go. On the third time I got it.

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Once rolling I put my foot on the pegs and noticed they are really high. I know Rboe has like a 37" inseam. How in the heck does he get his legs folded up to get his feet on these pegs? And the reach to the bars was long. I imagine Rboe has no problem with that. I turn out of the parking lot and accelerate down the road. He's right it doesn't run well, or shift well., and the gear shifter is really tucked in and hard to reach. I missed a lot of shifts in the first couple of miles. At first I thought it was only running on 1 cylinder. It was rough running, but seemed to pick up the other cylinder at 3500 rpms. The front and rear brakes were actually quite good but required a long pull/push to get them on. It shook and vibrated like a Harley. At a couple of lights I thought it was going to stall at idle, but it didn't. I went down a curvy road and it seemed to handle well. The exhaust note was quite loud compared to the CB but most would enjoy that. I rode about 10 miles on surface roads between 25 and 40 mph and really was not enjoying myself. I wound my way over to the freeway and ran it up to freeway speed.

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Here is where the Griso really came into it's own. At 4,000 rpms, about 70 mph it seemed to smooth out. It pulled well and made pleasant music. I thought this would make a good long distance mount. Everything seemed to come into focus. One could ride this bike a long way. I can see why Rboe likes it so much for trips.In another 10 miles I hit the exit to head back to the shop. Once on the surface roads, it became unpleasant for me again.

Definitely quirky and an acquired taste.

I handed back the keys, thanked them and mounted the CB for the ride home. Dang, what a nice bike, Smooth, quiet, comfortable to sit on, shifts well, brakes well. I hit the entrance ramp to the freeway, and shot up to 70 mph for the ride back home and thought yep, I made the right choice.

So far this year I have ridden XSR 900, FJ-09, FZ-09,FZ-07, Super Tenere, an Indian Scout and now this Griso, and each time the ride home on the CB made me realize what a great job Honda did with this bike. I love my CB..

Hi everyone!
My wife and I are looking forward to a great ride from Seattle down to Big Sur in September. I pretty much have the southbound route baked (we're riding the coast...woo hoo!), but I wanted us to head back north inland. That's where I need some help. I know that we'll want to swing through Crater Lake on our way home, and that per our schedule we have 4 days to get there upon leaving Big Sur. What I don't know is what the best route would be over those 4 days. By "best," my criteria is minimal or no interstate, great natural beauty as much as possible, decent lodging along the way (no camping - wife is along!), points of historical interest...that sort of thing.

So to any Cali natives or anyone else who knows the region well, if you had 4 days to ride from Big Sur to Crater Lake, what routes might you follow, or avoid, for that matter? Thanks so much!!

I dropped my CB last week and feel like my bars are a little bent. Nothing too bad. I saw on samurider the Honda type II bars. I was thinking of replacing mine.

IS there anywhere to buy these other than getting it from Japan?

I apologize if this is a redundant thread, but I looked , and could not find it.
I just ordered a Dart Fly Screen. I almost ordered a National Cycle shield, but I noticed that people were cutting them down, so that they liked them more. So thinking they looked a little big on the bike, I opted for the Dart Fly Screen.
My question to those of you using the Dart is, do you like it, and how hard was it to install. It mentioned that it comes with a new headlight mount. My concern is having to re align the headlight.

I'm looking for more power from my '11.
To this end I already have a set of Pipemasters four-into-fours and I'm planning on buying the TSR air funnel kit (which I would normally call velocity stacks, am I right here?), TSR air intake funnel and a K&N air filter just to be a cool kid. Once I've installed them I intend to have the ECU reflashed and dyno-tuned.
I've searched around and most people who've installed the air intake funnel seem pretty happy with it, the stacks however seem to be more complicated. Has anyone actually installed the stacks? Were they difficult to install and did they make any noticeable improvement? I've seen a few threads from members who've bought them but not installed due to having to expand holes in the airbox. Is this something an owner could realistically do or would I be better off having a mechanic take care of it?
TSR air intake funnel: http://www.samurider.com/?p=16803
TSR stacks: http://www.samurider.com/?p=16781