09-25-2020, 11:25 PM
Follow on to first ride (post-mods) impression. Last Wednesday with a forecast having the thermometer glancing 80, I played hooky from work after morning meetings and took off. After many rides of scouring the landscape for fun and interesting roads, I have developed a "circuit" that takes me through mostly back roads by farms and outlying suburbia meandering north, with alternate roads back. Lots of switchbacks, long sweepers with decreasing/increasing radii, tight turns, and narrow and some not-so-well paved back roads. I spent a couple hours on the bike doing this circuit that is about 90 miles. Since it was mid-week afternoon, I had the roads mostly to myself to play. I tried to work on my smoothness of controls, while still somewhat pushing the bike. I definitely confirmed two things I observed in the first ride:
1) The fueling and setup with the Delkevic and PCV really is pretty good as it is.
2) The suspension is fairly lacking.
Still wondering if the bike will benefit or lose through the addition of the K&N, and that will "force" me to need to employ the Autotuner. Pulling the mid-pipe and welding on the WB O2 sensor is a pain. Then it is the whole investment of ride/tune until satisfied. I said last time the CB was in no danger of lofting the front wheel. Wrong! Getting hard on the gas, bike upright in first gear, I actually felt it start to lift the wheel. It might have been 5-6K rpms. That was surprising, and it was not like I was attempting that. There is plenty of thrust to this motor. I still guess I am in the mid-nineties hp wise. In any gear from 3K up, a roll on of the throttle is met with instant thrust. Honda tuning this motor "for torque", coupled with uncorking results in a very snappy and fun response. No dead spots are noticeable.
After the ride, and with the weather so nice, I decided to resist the urge to get back on the laptop to address the overbearing work, and just sat outside on the deck with the CB1100 manual in hand. I need to order the Helm for sure. When I was doing the work and side panels off, I was looking aft of the box wondering how the K&N goes in. Looking at the wrong side dummy! Just inserting that looks easy as it should be. I think I will install that, leaving the full Delkevic with stock O2 in place, mapped with the CB1100 +Yosh "standard" map in place and do a ride like that, and report back. I kind of like making smaller changes at a time, as opposed to the wholesale stock exhaust + PCV swap I actually did. Then evaluate the next steps. If it seems to lean things, I will have to arrange to pull the mid-pipe and take the bung for a weld.
Question: Has anyone done this with the Delkevic yet? My thoughts are to leave the factory welded bung as is to retain the ability to plug the stock O2, and install the Delkevic provided brass plug into it, and drilling a new hole near it to accommodate the WB O2 provided with the Dynojet Autotuner module. I figure pilot holes followed by stepping up bits until getting the desired diameter for the bung is needed. Then I could do some back and forth as desired. That whole thing is anticipated to be a real pain.
As to the suspension. Some of the roads on my "circuit" have a lot of poorly done patching and rough surfaces. I am 180 lbs suited, and I have the rear shocks fully out with PL, and the front on line three. I was thinking of putting the front full out (soft) and seeing what change there is. The stock suspension under spirited riding on those surfaces pounds you. I am not sure if it is because there is not enough travel (and why I want to try full soft), or it is generally lacking in fast enough rebound. I am wondering if simple viscosity changes make any difference and what people have tried. I need to endeavor to search the threads here to see what there is to learn from what others have tried. I am not looking forward to disassembling the forks. For a long-term keeper though, I feel it definitely needs some improvement. I am also wondering if significant improvements are made with just addressing only the rear as that is low-hanging fruit effort wise. The Ohlins are way expensive. Of course I would love the fully adjustable, but $1500 is pretty steep. The Ikons are more reasonable, and I read the rear suspension thread. Not sure if the issue is mostly front, rear, or both.
1) The fueling and setup with the Delkevic and PCV really is pretty good as it is.
2) The suspension is fairly lacking.
Still wondering if the bike will benefit or lose through the addition of the K&N, and that will "force" me to need to employ the Autotuner. Pulling the mid-pipe and welding on the WB O2 sensor is a pain. Then it is the whole investment of ride/tune until satisfied. I said last time the CB was in no danger of lofting the front wheel. Wrong! Getting hard on the gas, bike upright in first gear, I actually felt it start to lift the wheel. It might have been 5-6K rpms. That was surprising, and it was not like I was attempting that. There is plenty of thrust to this motor. I still guess I am in the mid-nineties hp wise. In any gear from 3K up, a roll on of the throttle is met with instant thrust. Honda tuning this motor "for torque", coupled with uncorking results in a very snappy and fun response. No dead spots are noticeable.
After the ride, and with the weather so nice, I decided to resist the urge to get back on the laptop to address the overbearing work, and just sat outside on the deck with the CB1100 manual in hand. I need to order the Helm for sure. When I was doing the work and side panels off, I was looking aft of the box wondering how the K&N goes in. Looking at the wrong side dummy! Just inserting that looks easy as it should be. I think I will install that, leaving the full Delkevic with stock O2 in place, mapped with the CB1100 +Yosh "standard" map in place and do a ride like that, and report back. I kind of like making smaller changes at a time, as opposed to the wholesale stock exhaust + PCV swap I actually did. Then evaluate the next steps. If it seems to lean things, I will have to arrange to pull the mid-pipe and take the bung for a weld.
Question: Has anyone done this with the Delkevic yet? My thoughts are to leave the factory welded bung as is to retain the ability to plug the stock O2, and install the Delkevic provided brass plug into it, and drilling a new hole near it to accommodate the WB O2 provided with the Dynojet Autotuner module. I figure pilot holes followed by stepping up bits until getting the desired diameter for the bung is needed. Then I could do some back and forth as desired. That whole thing is anticipated to be a real pain.
As to the suspension. Some of the roads on my "circuit" have a lot of poorly done patching and rough surfaces. I am 180 lbs suited, and I have the rear shocks fully out with PL, and the front on line three. I was thinking of putting the front full out (soft) and seeing what change there is. The stock suspension under spirited riding on those surfaces pounds you. I am not sure if it is because there is not enough travel (and why I want to try full soft), or it is generally lacking in fast enough rebound. I am wondering if simple viscosity changes make any difference and what people have tried. I need to endeavor to search the threads here to see what there is to learn from what others have tried. I am not looking forward to disassembling the forks. For a long-term keeper though, I feel it definitely needs some improvement. I am also wondering if significant improvements are made with just addressing only the rear as that is low-hanging fruit effort wise. The Ohlins are way expensive. Of course I would love the fully adjustable, but $1500 is pretty steep. The Ikons are more reasonable, and I read the rear suspension thread. Not sure if the issue is mostly front, rear, or both.