07-29-2018, 12:06 PM
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.
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.