Report on K&N Filters

[CIP57_imp]

Discussing, not arguing......

We have 1600 members or at least people who have joined. Lets say 10% of those don't have a CB but want one. Lets say the other 90% have purchased a CB. You are looking at 1440 CB owners. Of the 1440 you think more than 770 have made a performance change like pipe or PCV? ( often the first 2 performance mods right?

My figure at 5% would be 72. That may be a little low, but I'm betting of the 1440 there are no more than 150 who have modded their bike the a power commander or pipe. Performance mods are usually a young guys thing 18-30 year olds and this is an old guys bike.

When we did the age survey something like 85% of owners were between 47 and 70. Hardly the group to be performance modding. Many in the age group to buy a CB 1100 have no idea what a PCV does, or where it goes, or how to program it for that matter. They would understand a pipe, but Honda saw fit to include a sexy 4 into 1 on the 13's and beautiful chrome 4 into 2s on the 14 dlx. If Honda would have made their pipes louder from the factory I bet less than 1% would spend $1000-$1500 on a pipe just to gain 3 or 4 hp.

Like has been said many times before, this isn't the bike for performance enthusiasts. Those looking for more power, in any substantial amount, would benefit from looking at other bikes. Heck from what I have seen, with a pipe, a PCV and a reflash the 3 owners who have done this I can think of ( maybe you know of more?) are still barely breaking the 90 hp barrier. About a 6 HP gain according to dyno charts I have seen. Hardly worth the expense and effort, when you can walk into any of the big 4 Japanese bike shops, plop down similar money that was paid for a CB 1100 and walk out with between 140 and 160 HP.

I'm betting more of our members have bought comfort items (seat, windshield) than have bought performance items. Having said that, I still believe the CB 1100 can be made to run better, stronger than it came from the factory for the reasons you mentioned..federally mandated epa stuff. How much better, or if the effort is worth the expense has yet to be seen.

Don't go by the HP gain, its how fast you get there. I have documented the bike is a full second faster 0-100 which is equivalent to 8-10 bikes. This probably doesn't matter to you and many other members, but it does matter to some. Its really just enjoyment and excitement, its not that big of a deal. Some people are performance oriented and some could careless. But i think when i write a report weather it's for performance, tires, etc. its for the benefit of our members.
Cheers

[the Ferret]

Never thought of it like that, a full second 0-100 would be quite substantial. Drag racers work their very hard for a tenth of a second.

I agree your reports on tires and performance mods benefit us all, even those members not caught up in performance gains per se. Please continue to do so. Thanks to you, I am considering the Pilot Road 3s for my next set of tires, and I do appreciate your pushing the boundaries. like I said, it helps us all.

Also your windshield mod, which I still have not done..arrgghh. Will probably get cold soon and I will be wishing I had done it sooner lol

[dlhmatt_imp]

I'd say more people, even out of the "modifying for power" demographic, switch to a k&n filter for the "better flow than stock" and being able to wash and reuse. So it's great to have a proper review of whats gained or lost. Is there anyone that has made new cams yet? Quick Google search proved nothing yet... cams, exhaust, intake system revamp, and a ecu flash should pummel the 90hp hurtle.

[rboe]

A properly tuned bike will be a clean running bike. Now a cold bike would run better if it was a tad richer but in general, with EFI, we can have darn good running motors and meet EPA regs as a happy side affect. I'm sure, that without the EPA we'd still be running those damn carbs. Now we get better mileage, cleaner air (Look how much better LA air is today compared to years ago when folks wore gas masks for Pete's sake!, and look at Beijing today. You want that sort of air?

This bike, stock, runs better than my 650L (carb) and Griso (hasty mapping, improved upon by owners after the fact) stock. If I want a faster bike, I ride the Griso. A bit more expensive to buy a second bike for a different riding style, but in the end I have two machines that two different things AND I get to spend that time riding, not fussing with mods and experimenting (normally something I'd be all for, but now life is short so I look for more turn key solutions).

With so many fine sporting and sport bikes (and racers with license plates) available new and used, I really have a hard time understanding the urge to hot rod the CB. While it has fine brakes (dang fine!), the frame is not up to serious sport riding, not like a Ninja or GSX etc.

[dlhmatt_imp]

A properly tuned bike will be a clean running bike. Now a cold bike would run better if it was a tad richer but in general, with EFI, we can have darn good running motors and meet EPA regs as a happy side affect. I'm sure, that without the EPA we'd still be running those damn carbs. Now we get better mileage, cleaner air (Look how much better LA air is today compared to years ago when folks wore gas masks for Pete's sake!, and look at Beijing today. You want that sort of air?

This bike, stock, runs better than my 650L (carb) and Griso (hasty mapping, improved upon by owners after the fact) stock. If I want a faster bike, I ride the Griso. A bit more expensive to buy a second bike for a different riding style, but in the end I have two machines that two different things AND I get to spend that time riding, not fussing with mods and experimenting (normally something I'd be all for, but now life is short so I look for more turn key solutions).

With so many fine sporting and sport bikes (and racers with license plates) available new and used, I really have a hard time understanding the urge to hot rod the CB. While it has fine brakes (dang fine!), the frame is not up to serious sport riding, not like a Ninja or GSX etc.

Because it's fun. I'd rather wrench than waste time playing video games.

[Cormanus]

The casual visitor to this site and others like it could be forgiven for reaching the conclusion that companies manufacturing motorcycles have no idea at all what they're doing. Examples: the mixture's all wrong so you have to get a reflash or install a PC; the air filter's rubbish, so you have to get a new one; what were they thinking about when they put that exhaust system on; what did they put that oil in it for? I could go on.

Lets start out with Honda making a perfectly good motorcycle. And thats lets add do to EPA regulations they had there hands tied as to the direction they had to go to meet these regulations.

Fuel efficiency was a no brainier, its a motorcycle but we need to meet emissions. So they put in restriction at idle and other places to meet the guidelines so they can sell this unit in the states. This is why a flash, Exhaust, PCV makes the bike run better. The gains are there but not as big as other models ( 8% ) do to the cam Honda put in the CB1100 which is the biggest restriction.

Lets also educate the casual visitor and let them know they also put into place a speed limiter so they can make an better decision on ownership.

My point is all information on this site is educational to people who visit this site with intentions of buying, at least 50% will modify a bike for performance so lets let them know what works and what does not.

I agree. I also appreciate the time you and others take to tell us about the modifications you make to your bikes. I'm unlikely to do many of them, but I'm interested nonetheless. If my post suggested otherwise, I apologise.

My point was that many people seem to buy motorcycles as a partly completed canvas and then set about completing it. Sometimes they describe/rationalise their additions or changes in a way that may lead the reader to believe they think the original bike or a part of it was no good.

[DAC]

A properly tuned bike will be a clean running bike. Now a cold bike would run better if it was a tad richer but in general, with EFI, we can have darn good running motors and meet EPA regs as a happy side affect. I'm sure, that without the EPA we'd still be running those damn carbs. Now we get better mileage, cleaner air (Look how much better LA air is today compared to years ago when folks wore gas masks for Pete's sake!, and look at Beijing today. You want that sort of air?

This bike, stock, runs better than my 650L (carb) and Griso (hasty mapping, improved upon by owners after the fact) stock. If I want a faster bike, I ride the Griso. A bit more expensive to buy a second bike for a different riding style, but in the end I have two machines that two different things AND I get to spend that time riding, not fussing with mods and experimenting (normally something I'd be all for, but now life is short so I look for more turn key solutions).

With so many fine sporting and sport bikes (and racers with license plates) available new and used, I really have a hard time understanding the urge to hot rod the CB. While it has fine brakes (dang fine!), the frame is not up to serious sport riding, not like a Ninja or GSX etc.

Dunno -the rider means a lot too. A good pilot on a CB can hang with some alleged sport riders on a gixxer.

Agreement here with many of the above comments, pro and con. It's great that people tinker and report the results - good, bad or indifferent.

For my part, there will be a few mods in the years to come based on the experiences of members here, the reporting of which I am very grateful.

[rboe]

I gotta pull the trigger on the Mirror mods Chipbeck had a thread on. Those bug eyed antenna units on her now are starting to bug me.

The rider: dang good point. We have a group of gals in town that will ride circles around me (one showed up at the Grotto this weekend on a Hayabusa and she rides the bolts off of it. I'm pretty sure my skill set is somewhere south of what the CB is capable of. Not unlike my old target pistols. All capable of better shooting than my skill set allowed. Which may lead one to wonder why I put crash bars on my bike......

[Dakota_imp]

I understand the desire for tinkering. I have lots of money tied up in frivolous things. I justify it as fun. However, paying large sums of money for what is really inferior equipment is a pet peeve of mine. Ironic that we have several threads proclaiming the engineering that went into this bike and then buy junk because we think it will improve it (and tests show it doesn't).