top speed, quarter mile

[Mike Bee_imp]

I seriously doubt Honda left the speed limiter installed as a "legacy" piece of equipment. Never seen that written up anywhere except on this forum. If the company can afford to modify the CB1100 to meet widely different government regulations, change paint colors on tanks, engines & wheels, they could remove or re-program the limiter on some of their exported CB1100's. We know the company manufactures many motorcycles that will exceed 112 mph. The limiter (and oil cooler) is there to manage engine heat under extreme conditions - nothing else. Properly enrich the fuel mixture, and this precaution would be unnecessary.

~ The Bee

Thanks for your response. By "legacy equipment" I mean the limiter existed in prior versions of the bike, as opposed to subsequently being added onto the US version only.

Certainly Honda has the technical expertise to remove the limiter or make other changes to the original version. And it makes business sense to retool the bike to meet US regulatory requirements (won't be allowed here otherwise), and so forth. The question is whether it makes similar business sense for Honda to remove the limiter on the US version. It costs money and resources to retool a bike. If Honda thought the majority of the intended US audience for the CB1100 wanted to go faster than 112 mph, they would have incurred that expense and removed the limiter in the US version. If their business projections didn't perceive such a desire, the limiter doesn't get removed. This assumes the idea of the limiter even approached Honda's radar at all. As many posters to this thread noted, its only this forum where the limiter issue came up. Not on anyone else's radar. I hope this clarification helps.

Thanks for your response. By "legacy equipment" I mean the limiter existed in prior versions of the bike, as opposed to subsequently being added onto the US version only.

Certainly Honda has the technical expertise to remove the limiter or make other changes to the original version. And it makes business sense to retool the bike to meet US regulatory requirements (won't be allowed here otherwise), and so forth. The question is whether it makes similar business sense for Honda to remove the limiter on the US version. It costs money and resources to retool a bike. If Honda thought the majority of the intended US audience for the CB1100 wanted to go faster than 112 mph, they would have incurred that expense and removed the limiter in the US version. If their business projections didn't perceive such a desire, the limiter doesn't get removed. This assumes the idea of the limiter even approached Honda's radar at all. As many posters to this thread noted, its only this forum where the limiter issue came up. Not on anyone else's radar. I hope this clarification helps.
I guess I didn't make myself clear in my post. Yes, a retool costs money but that is exactly what they have done repeatedly with different versions appearing in different countries.

The speed limiter and the oil cooler were installed because the CB1100 has an air-cooled engine that is mandated to run lean and therefore hot. You can be absolutely sure the limiter more than entered Honda's radar. They installed the limiter (and cooler) by design so the CB1100 would run reliably under the strictures of government clean air requirements. That's all there is to it.

~ The Bee

[the Ferret]

Mike Bee the limiter is for speed, not stress. You could ride it around all day at redline in 1st, 2 nd or 3rd. Is the bike running any richer at redline in 3 rd than in 5 th ?

Have you read somewhere that Honda installed it in our bikes to help meet epa regs or lessen stress because I have not. I'd believe that about the oil cooler, but that doesn't seem logical about the limiter. Logically the Legacy equipment theory for the limiter makes more sense to me.

Could Honda have reprogrammed it for no limiter? Sure. My guess is they market researched it, discussed it, and felt it wasn't necessary to do so.

[Mike Bee_imp]

Mike Bee the limiter is for speed, not stress. You could ride it around all day at redline in 1st, 2 nd or 3rd. Is the bike running any richer at redline in 3 rd than in 5 th ?

Have you read somewhere that Honda installed it in our bikes to help meet epa regs or lessen stress because I have not. I'd believe that about the oil cooler, but that doesn't seem logical about the limiter. Logically the Legacy equipment theory for the limiter makes more sense to me.

Could Honda have reprogrammed it for no limiter? Sure. My guess is they market researched it, discussed it, and felt it wasn't necessary to do so.

The bike runs lean all of the time, so the potential for overheating would be a prime design concern, rpm's notwithstanding. Kudos to Honda for producing such a sweet/lean running engine! Yes, more rpm's, or explosions per minute, will produce more heat, but so would increased engine load in higher gears. But the heat produced is countered by an air/fuel intake charge that will cool the cylinder head - more of them per minute will cool it even more. A leaner air/fuel mixture will defeat this intake cooling effect to some degree (pun intended).

And yes, I have seen this explanation for having a speed limiter written up in a motorcycle mag. See the July 2013 issue of "Motorcycle Consumer News", pg. 12 in a review written by Dave Searle. This was not his opinion - it was a Honda design goal.

~ The Bee

[Guth_imp]

Regardless of whether or not I buy into this, here is the text from the July 2013 issue of Motorcycle Consumer News mentioned by Mike:

"Its top speed is governed, bouncing off a soft limiter between 108–110 mph. The engine will only pull 6900 rpm in top gear, and fourth won’t make it go any faster. The reason, we are told, is to reduce engine temperatures, so as to insure the reliability of its air-cooled engine."

[the Ferret]

Well, there you go then.

[rjk555_imp]

I seriously doubt Honda left the speed limiter installed as a "legacy" piece of equipment. Never seen that written up anywhere except on this forum. If the company can afford to modify the CB1100 to meet widely different government regulations, change paint colors on tanks, engines & wheels, they could remove or re-program the limiter on some of their exported CB1100's. We know the company manufactures many motorcycles that will exceed 112 mph. The limiter (and oil cooler) is there to manage engine heat under extreme conditions - nothing else. Properly enrich the fuel mixture, and this precaution would be unnecessary.

~ The Bee

Thanks for your response. By "legacy equipment" I mean the limiter existed in prior versions of the bike, as opposed to subsequently being added onto the US version only.

Certainly Honda has the technical expertise to remove the limiter or make other changes to the original version. And it makes business sense to retool the bike to meet US regulatory requirements (won't be allowed here otherwise), and so forth. The question is whether it makes similar business sense for Honda to remove the limiter on the US version. It costs money and resources to retool a bike. If Honda thought the majority of the intended US audience for the CB1100 wanted to go faster than 112 mph, they would have incurred that expense and removed the limiter in the US version. If their business projections didn't perceive such a desire, the limiter doesn't get removed. This assumes the idea of the limiter even approached Honda's radar at all. As many posters to this thread noted, its only this forum where the limiter issue came up. Not on anyone else's radar. I hope this clarification helps.

Thanks for your response. By "legacy equipment" I mean the limiter existed in prior versions of the bike, as opposed to subsequently being added onto the US version only.

Certainly Honda has the technical expertise to remove the limiter or make other changes to the original version. And it makes business sense to retool the bike to meet US regulatory requirements (won't be allowed here otherwise), and so forth. The question is whether it makes similar business sense for Honda to remove the limiter on the US version. It costs money and resources to retool a bike. If Honda thought the majority of the intended US audience for the CB1100 wanted to go faster than 112 mph, they would have incurred that expense and removed the limiter in the US version. If their business projections didn't perceive such a desire, the limiter doesn't get removed. This assumes the idea of the limiter even approached Honda's radar at all. As many posters to this thread noted, its only this forum where the limiter issue came up. Not on anyone else's radar. I hope this clarification helps.
I guess I didn't make myself clear in my post. Yes, a retool costs money but that is exactly what they have done repeatedly with different versions appearing in different countries.

The speed limiter and the oil cooler were installed because the CB1100 has an air-cooled engine that is mandated to run lean and therefore hot. You can be absolutely sure the limiter more than entered Honda's radar. They installed the limiter (and cooler) by design so the CB1100 would run reliably under the strictures of government clean air requirements. That's all there is to it.

~ The Bee

Thanks for your response. By "legacy equipment" I mean the limiter existed in prior versions of the bike, as opposed to subsequently being added onto the US version only.

Certainly Honda has the technical expertise to remove the limiter or make other changes to the original version. And it makes business sense to retool the bike to meet US regulatory requirements (won't be allowed here otherwise), and so forth. The question is whether it makes similar business sense for Honda to remove the limiter on the US version. It costs money and resources to retool a bike. If Honda thought the majority of the intended US audience for the CB1100 wanted to go faster than 112 mph, they would have incurred that expense and removed the limiter in the US version. If their business projections didn't perceive such a desire, the limiter doesn't get removed. This assumes the idea of the limiter even approached Honda's radar at all. As many posters to this thread noted, its only this forum where the limiter issue came up. Not on anyone else's radar. I hope this clarification helps.
I guess I didn't make myself clear in my post. Yes, a retool costs money but that is exactly what they have done repeatedly with different versions appearing in different countries.

The speed limiter and the oil cooler were installed because the CB1100 has an air-cooled engine that is mandated to run lean and therefore hot. You can be absolutely sure the limiter more than entered Honda's radar. They installed the limiter (and cooler) by design so the CB1100 would run reliably under the strictures of government clean air requirements. That's all there is to it.

~ The Bee

Bee,

Your explanation works for me. In fact, we're in the same ballpark. You said the limiter was included in the bike by design. That's similar to what I said that the limiter was part of the original version of the bike, and was not added onto the US version as some kind of "big brother" public safety component intended to protect the US public from itself as some forum posters appear to believe.

When I said the limiter didn't enter into Honda's radar, I meant Honda had no business reason to remove the limiter in the US version for export. It would cost them money to retool, for no discernible return (ie no profit). If I read your message correctly, you're also indicating Honda has little engineering reason to retool as well. So again I think we're in the same ballpark. I hope this clarification helps, as yours did.

[Deanohh_imp]

So is running crappy at a slow steady speed something they programmed into the ecu just for the USA or is that the same for everybody?

[the Ferret]

So is running crappy at a slow steady speed something they programmed into the ecu just for the USA or is that the same for everybody?

It's domestic legacy.

Seriously, does yours run crappy at slow steady speed?

[Deanohh_imp]

So is running crappy at a slow steady speed something they programmed into the ecu just for the USA or is that the same for everybody?

It's domestic legacy.

Seriously, does yours run crappy at slow steady speed?

It's domestic legacy.

Seriously, does yours run crappy at slow steady speed?
going 2blocks from my house in 1or 2nd, 1600-2100 rpm was perfect when cold then running rough and sputtering when warm and coming home.... Until the power commander... Now good all the time.

also see hondajon on low rpm stumble.

[Guth_imp]

Crap or not, I posted this so that people could see what Mike Bee was referring to. But yes, an extra large grain of salt would seem to be appropriate to accompany this noted statement.