Here's what's in my garage for 2018

[Ulvetanna_imp]

Ikons are Koni. I thought that was well known?

KONI made motorcycle shock absorbers from 1967 which were imported into Australia by Proven Products Pty Ltd.

Koni decided to close it’s production of motorcycle shock absorbers in 2000.

This decision lead to a special licence agreement being struck between Proven and Koni allowing Proven to make the motorcycle shocks under its own name for the worldwide market- Ikon


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No, I knew that already, so it is fairly well-known but I imagine only to those having contact with the subject. Like hardly anyone knows Nissan used to be Datsun. Having installed Ikons on my own CB1100, I take it they are Ikons. I don't call them Koni, the guy I ordered 'em from didn't call 'em Konis, so I was confused.

All that pedantic drivel aside, Ikons are very good shocks and you have a most excellent setup.

[Lord Popgun]

Speaking of pedantic drivel, I had a Datsun 610 once! And to keep on a motorcycle topic, the car had a trailer hitch and I would pull a motorcycle trailer with my Yamaha XS750 on it. Or 850, can’t remember

[the Ferret]

Datsun 240Z's were quite the hot ticket back in the day, although they wouldn't out accelerate any good medium sized motorcycle

[DaSwami_imp]

It must be a weight thing. I'm almost twice your size and the CB1100 suspension is awesome for me, can't remember what the preload settings are on my bike but it is neither softest or highest setting.

When you talk about the CB1100 it's like you are describing my old 2013 Moto Guzzi V7 Stone. THAT was a harsh rear suspension!

[ohiorider_imp]

It must be a weight thing. I'm almost twice your size and the CB1100 suspension is awesome for me, can't remember what the preload settings are on my bike but it is neither softest or highest setting.

When you talk about the CB1100 it's like you are describing my old 2013 Moto Guzzi V7 Stone. THAT was a harsh rear suspension!

It probably is a weight thing. I weight in at about 160#, and the CB absolutely beats me up on anything but a perfectly smooth road. Unfortunately, many of the roads to and from my favorite small town destinations here in NE Ohio are not in the best of shape. My old BMW R100GS takes this in stride. I don't expect the Honda to do as well, but I do hope I can resolve the fork issue. Don't expect GS compliance, but I do need a more compliant ride.

Bob

[Ulvetanna_imp]

It must be a weight thing. I'm almost twice your size and the CB1100 suspension is awesome for me, can't remember what the preload settings are on my bike but it is neither softest or highest setting.

When you talk about the CB1100 it's like you are describing my old 2013 Moto Guzzi V7 Stone. THAT was a harsh rear suspension!

It probably is a weight thing. I weight in at about 160#, and the CB absolutely beats me up on anything but a perfectly smooth road. Unfortunately, many of the roads to and from my favorite small town destinations here in NE Ohio are not in the best of shape. My old BMW R100GS takes this in stride. I don't expect the Honda to do as well, but I do hope I can resolve the fork issue. Don't expect GS compliance, but I do need a more compliant ride.

Bob

It probably is a weight thing. I weight in at about 160#, and the CB absolutely beats me up on anything but a perfectly smooth road. Unfortunately, many of the roads to and from my favorite small town destinations here in NE Ohio are not in the best of shape. My old BMW R100GS takes this in stride. I don't expect the Honda to do as well, but I do hope I can resolve the fork issue. Don't expect GS compliance, but I do need a more compliant ride.

Bob Of course your R100GS takes it in stride! I had one, fantastic bike over any kind of surface, dirt roads, etcetera. I did install a Works Performance rear shock.

That bike had about the best ride of any bike I have ever owned. Way better than my 2013 F800GS, which I eventually traded in after it reached 10,000 miles.

I speculate the new F850GS will be a lot better, with the fuel tank moved back to the usual spot. That bike wanted to spit the back end out at the drop of a hat, so much weight over the rear tire due to the underseat tank. Which also swelled and cracked.

Looks very nice but no more big ADV bikes for me.

[Guth_imp]

I think that some guys are just much more sensitive to certain aspects of riding than others are. Take the stock seat for example: for some it's way too soft and for others it's way too hard. When it comes to the suspension, I'm guessing that it's much the same. And some guys simply like to change things up while other guys more or less adapt to whatever they happen to be riding without any issues. There is no right or wrong in such cases, these things just are what they are.

I remember going to watch the vintage motorcycle races a number of years ago out at Portland International Raceway. It was a great day as they had everything from road racing to motocross along with a bike show and swap meet (not to mention all of the cool bikes that everyone rode to the event). I saw a lot of memorable motorcycles there that day. I also saw a lot of guys racing a lot of neat old bikes. The most memorable rider that day was a guy racing motocross. The class he was racing in featured a wide span of year models and there were many guys on faster bikes than his with much nicer suspension setups. Yet this guy left everyone in his dust — quite literally in this case. He was just so much smoother than everyone else it wasn't even funny. I'm guessing that had he been on one of his competitor's bikes the difference would have been even more notable. But as it was I think he was already having more fun out there than anyone else. I have no idea who this guy was, but I found watching him to be rather inspirational. I sometimes think about that guy when I'm out riding. Not the fast part, but simply the fun part.

I recently changed out my seat and bars (going a bit lower in both cases). This didn't have anything to do with the handling or my comfort while riding the bike. I simply wanted to better be able to flat foot the thing while stopped or while moving it in and out of parking situations. My CB is already more than capable for how I ride, I figure the rest is up to me to continue to improve and get better. However, if I felt that some part of this machine was holding me back or causing me discomfort then I definitely wouldn't have a problem making a change if it meant the difference between selling the bike or keeping it.

[spacetiger_imp]

Bob,

Last time I swapped posts with you, you were making adjustments to your suspension. What did you finally settle on?

Jerry

It must be a weight thing. I'm almost twice your size and the CB1100 suspension is awesome for me, can't remember what the preload settings are on my bike but it is neither softest or highest setting.

When you talk about the CB1100 it's like you are describing my old 2013 Moto Guzzi V7 Stone. THAT was a harsh rear suspension!

It probably is a weight thing. I weight in at about 160#, and the CB absolutely beats me up on anything but a perfectly smooth road. Unfortunately, many of the roads to and from my favorite small town destinations here in NE Ohio are not in the best of shape. My old BMW R100GS takes this in stride. I don't expect the Honda to do as well, but I do hope I can resolve the fork issue. Don't expect GS compliance, but I do need a more compliant ride.

Bob

It probably is a weight thing. I weight in at about 160#, and the CB absolutely beats me up on anything but a perfectly smooth road. Unfortunately, many of the roads to and from my favorite small town destinations here in NE Ohio are not in the best of shape. My old BMW R100GS takes this in stride. I don't expect the Honda to do as well, but I do hope I can resolve the fork issue. Don't expect GS compliance, but I do need a more compliant ride.

Bob