01-16-2022, 11:14 PM
The Cool kids don't care if they're cool
What Tommy said is true though, Most of long time CB1100 owners are rabid fans of the bike and this bike alone does "the thing" for them. That's why the sales numbers were what they were and why you get such polar opinions on the bike. I've ridden and even owned loads of bikes that are OBJECTIVELY better than my CB1100 and come away from all of them with no desire to trade my CB out. There's always another bike where i'm like "that might be better than the CB. It'll probably be so good i'll want to trade the CB." and then I go ride it and it's every bit as good as i thought it was but i'd still rather ride my CB. I can't explain it, really.
right now it's a Thruxton 1200 R. I have a sinking feeling that if i ever ride a thruxton 1200 R i will no longer be a CB owner, but i've thought that countless times. I thought it about the MT10. I thought it about the FTR1200. I thought it about the BMW R9t. I thought it about the Kawasaki Z900RS. thought it about the Bonneville t120. ALL off those bikes were great, to varying degrees, and all of them are objectively better than the CB1100 in its class but...they just didn't have all the elements I wanted. MT10 had no character. the FTR1200 was a dog down low, the BMW sounded like crap and was boring, the Z900 was a less interesting higher stress version of the CB, the Bonneville lacked poise, and on and on and on.
TLDR: the CB1100 is a deeply personal bike
What Tommy said is true though, Most of long time CB1100 owners are rabid fans of the bike and this bike alone does "the thing" for them. That's why the sales numbers were what they were and why you get such polar opinions on the bike. I've ridden and even owned loads of bikes that are OBJECTIVELY better than my CB1100 and come away from all of them with no desire to trade my CB out. There's always another bike where i'm like "that might be better than the CB. It'll probably be so good i'll want to trade the CB." and then I go ride it and it's every bit as good as i thought it was but i'd still rather ride my CB. I can't explain it, really.
right now it's a Thruxton 1200 R. I have a sinking feeling that if i ever ride a thruxton 1200 R i will no longer be a CB owner, but i've thought that countless times. I thought it about the MT10. I thought it about the FTR1200. I thought it about the BMW R9t. I thought it about the Kawasaki Z900RS. thought it about the Bonneville t120. ALL off those bikes were great, to varying degrees, and all of them are objectively better than the CB1100 in its class but...they just didn't have all the elements I wanted. MT10 had no character. the FTR1200 was a dog down low, the BMW sounded like crap and was boring, the Z900 was a less interesting higher stress version of the CB, the Bonneville lacked poise, and on and on and on.
TLDR: the CB1100 is a deeply personal bike