Lean and Mean

[DGShannon_imp]

I have always felt " something" in the 2800 to 3200 rpm range that felt like something was holding it back (and that is right in the rev range I like to ride). Others have mentioned it too saying it was the lean condition set at the factory. It wasn't until I read the design article that I found out Honda purposefully did something with the fi that made it " growl" in that rpm range. Now it makes perfect sense to me, why myself and others felt something there, but it's not factory lean...its factory mean

Read eveyone involved in a 3000 rpm rhapsody

http://world.honda.com/CB1100/engineer-talk/episode3/

"We maintained, and improved on the best aspect of the previous CB1100, the feel between 2,800 and 3,200 rpm, or between 80 and 100 km/h."

They also adjusted the valve timing

http://world.honda.com/CB1100/engineer-talk/episode1/

"Basically, straight-four engines run smooth as long as all four pistons move the same way. My initial thoughts were, to give the engine a deep rumble, we'd have to change the movement a bit.
We ended up shifting the valve timing of cylinders 1 and 2, compared to cylinders 3 and 4, and by continuing to change the gap, found the right combustion out-of-sync feel."

Granted, I am still in break-in mode, and not venturing above 4k rpm, so no clue how it runs up there, but I have concern for the 3,250 to 4,000 rpm range. Up to 3,250 mine is amazing! Smooth torque, almost doesn't care what gear you in, or how low you lug it down. But, at around 3,250 things change. The feeling that "something was holding it back" is spot on. Given that this is the 65 to 70 mph range, it makes riding at that speed unpleasant because it is as if you are asking the engine to do something it doesn't really want to do. If Honda engineered this in on purpose, then I would say they made a very stupid mistake. Who wants their large displacement 4 cylinder to feel strained and held back only half way to it's redline?

Does the PCV, or flash remap, gets rid of this feeling?

As it stands, I am not a happy camper. It is absurd that my KTM SuperDuke twin would constantly force me to slow down, since going too fast was way too easy, while a larger (supposedly smoother) inline 4 is constantly forcing me to try and speed up as it seems to hate running at 65 to 70 mph highway speeds.

Solutions guys? Love this bike, but that is a deal killer for me.