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Of all the bikes I’ve owned, I like the CB1100 front brakes the best. I’ve had bikes with some pretty impressive hardware, Brembo monoblock, radially mounted, blah blah blah, but it’s the CB with the humble, well-designed axial-mounted caliper that has the best feel when properly bled.
No slack, immediate response and very linear ramp-up. The bike with the second best front brakes was my old CB500x (neither had ABS). I’m thinking Honda must do something with the master cylinder to make the front brake feel so good, and it is frustrating that other bikes with supposedly “better” brakes don’t actually feel any better.
Side note—I feel a similar way about the front forks too. Despite not being inverted, they work better than a number of “fancier” fork setups I’ve had, though they don’t quite stand out as much as the brakes.
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Buddy just bought a Bimmer, F800R. The front brakes are so squishy! It really was so surprising how much I am now used to the big CB1100 stopping so well. I’ve owned sports and standards all my life and never thought much about the CBs brakes until feeling other new bikes. Good on Honda.
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(07-29-2018, 12:06 PM)Calcb_imp Wrote: Of all the bikes I’ve owned, I like the CB1100 front brakes the best. I’ve had bikes with some pretty impressive hardware, Brembo monoblock, radially mounted, blah blah blah, but it’s the CB with the humble, well-designed axial-mounted caliper that has the best feel when properly bled.
No slack, immediate response and very linear ramp-up. The bike with the second best front brakes was my old CB500x (neither had ABS). I’m thinking Honda must do something with the master cylinder to make the front brake feel so good, and it is frustrating that other bikes with supposedly “better” brakes don’t actually feel any better.
Side note—I feel a similar way about the front forks too. Despite not being inverted, they work better than a number of “fancier” fork setups I’ve had, though they don’t quite stand out as much as the brakes.
The ABS brakes on my CB500XA saved my life. I was on a 4 lane highway when a woman behind me in the other lane beside realized she was going to miss her exit. Instead of slowing down and changing lanes behind me, she speed up and headed right for me. If I had not spotted her out of the corner of my eye, she would have run right over me.
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Nortoon, I take it that, when you grabbed the brakes, the ABS cut in?
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I agree about the brakes, but the forks on my 2014 dlx are nothing to brag about, actually, I think they're not very good at all. I'm hoping that an oil change will make an improvement. I just don't have the time to rebuild the forks like some members have posted. If anybody has a recommendation concerning the oil (viscosity, brand, volume), I would like to hear it.
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Dave- buy the 2017 complete forks, swap em on in 10 minutes- sell your stock fork to recoup a good amount of the new forks cost.
If you go to
http://www.babbittsonline.com you can use the code eddie12 for 12% off.
Well worth it.
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2017 forks on the 2014 make a big difference , easy and fairly inexpensive if you sell the old ones.
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whom would be wanting 2014 forks? I'd like an upgrade too but.....what can you/should you get for the used forks?
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I sold my 2014 forks when I put my 2017 on- I forget what I sold them for but it was several hundred. $400 maybe?
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(07-30-2018, 07:02 AM)Cormanus_imp Wrote: Nortoon, I take it that, when you grabbed the brakes, the ABS cut in?
Yes. The ABS allows a for an emergency stop without any wheel lock-up which can cause a slide and loss of control. This stop was quick and straight. Unlike the CB1100 the CB500XA only has one front disk. But it weighs about 50 kilograms (110 pounds) less than the CB1100 which I am sure helps in an emergency stop.
