Beginner questions

[ceeko_imp]

Hello all. I bought a new '17 CB1100EX a couple months ago and have some questions. I've put 600 miles one it. Before this bike, I had a '74 350F for 5 years. Other than a Bonneville for about a month between the two, that's the extent of my limited experience, so some of these questions will be more on the beginner side, if you don't mind bearing with me. Many thanks for chiming in on any/all of them that you might have input on.

1) When pushing the bike around, off and in neutral, I hear a slight 'shhhhh' coming from the front wheel. Does this objectively mean the brakes are too close, or can this be normal? My other bikes were silent in this regard.

2) Around 50mph, I hear a relatively quiet (but loud enough to be heard at speed obviously) very high-pitched intermittent mousey squeak. It sounds like it's coming from in front of me but hard to say. Any ideas?

3) What are the practical implications/benefits of having a sixth gear? This is my first bike with it.

4) Related to #3, any rules of thumb about gearing and when to shift on an engine of this size? I'm just following my intuition. Is there a good 'cruising' RPM that's good on the engine?

5) This one will be hard to explain, but if i'm cruising along at a steady speed & rpm, no acceleration, sometimes I feel an intermittent 'falter'. Like it loses power for a 'blip'. Doesn't happen during acceleration. Might also happen during deceleration without braking. Any ideas what might cause this?

6) I find myself stalling when taking off from a stop, in first gear, occasionally. I'd assume it's user error and not mention it, and it doesn't happen that often, but it'd never happened to me before on the other bikes I've ridden. It feels kind of random so I can't tie it to any technique other than noticing: if it's gonna happen, it'll probably be when I'm on an incline and dirt/gravel terrain. Is it just that I'm not used to the weight or might it reflect an adjustment that needs to be made?

Other than these lingering questions, it's been really nice. I'm still getting a feel for it obviously but it seems comfortable, stable, and good handling for what I'm doing with it. Mainly back roads, county roads, and state highways in a rural area.

[Gone in 60]

Welcome, ceeko. Congrats on your purchase, you'll find a lot of good advice here.

Most of what you are describing - weird noises, power coming in/out as you come on/off the throttle, etc, are just the regular dynamics of a motorcycle. Brake pads are always in slight contact with the rotors, so a little noise pushing it around in the garage is normal too. Basically, you just need to ride it and get more miles under you to get used to the bike. You'll figure out when to shift based on the feel, revs, etc, it will just come naturally. As you get used to it, you'll stall less as well, as you figure out how much throttle to apply as you release the clutch. It's a hydraulic clutch, so there's no adjustment, like there is on the Bonneville and probably the older Honda you mentioned.

As far as a sixth gear, it reduces RPM at high speed, which has plenty of benefits. There are probably hundreds of threads on this forum talking about the difference between five speed (2013 only) and six speed (2014 and later).

Since my other bike is a Bonneville, I'd say that the characteristics of both bikes are similar, but the CB1100 is more stable at speed, and a bit smoother as well. Both have a very neutral feel, and are great for riders who need to gain experience. The CB has more power, of course, but it's very tractable, and Honda did a good job managing fuel delivery, so the throttle is very smooth.

Go out and ride, carefully, and it will all become second nature in no time.

[peterbaron]

ceeko and congrats!!

As to Q1&2, I would place the bike on the centre stand and check if the front wheel is free spinning and brakes not binding. If binding, you may have answer to #2.
Check rear as well.

Have a safe and enjoyable

[2017EX_imp]

+1 on Peterbarons reply. With the bike on the center stand, have someone hold the rear end of the bike down, so that the front wheel is off the ground. Give the front wheel a good hard spin by hand. The wheel should spin somewhere around 5 to six full revolutions with just slight "SHHHHHH" sound of the brake pads against the rotors. The rear wheel is dragging the chain so you will not get nearly as many revolutions as the front, but you will be able to tell if it is dragging or not. The other stuff is probably primarily just getting used to the bike.

[LongRanger_imp]

Excellent responses, guys! +1

[zirconxi_imp]

Hi, congrate on your cb1100, I am no expert but I would do the following....

1) My brake does the same with slight noise but no binding and spin freely. Just check your bike like others had advice.

2) Try feather squeeze the brake at that speed and see if the noise is louder, if yes, its the brake, if not, maybe wheel bearing, can check bearing and brake drag same method as others had advice.

3) More fuel saving on long cruise, more calf exercise on gear shift.

4) While you follow intuition, I follow my mood. Its either aggressive mood day or relax chilling mood day.

5) Maybe should check you chain if it is too loose. But I do get this "falter" feeling when cruising at extreme slow speed like around 20mph while holding the throttle dead lock steady. its like skip a beat but in very short period.

6) Most probably just not accustomed to the clutch feel yet. CB1100 low end torque is actually quite good where you can even slowly release the clutch in idle, without opening the throttle and the bike will start rolling away.