Report on K&N Filters

[CIP57_imp]

Discussing, not arguing......

We have 1600 members or at least people who have joined. Lets say 10% of those don't have a CB but want one. Lets say the other 90% have purchased a CB. You are looking at 1440 CB owners. Of the 1440 you think more than 770 have made a performance change like pipe or PCV? ( often the first 2 performance mods right?

My figure at 5% would be 72. That may be a little low, but I'm betting of the 1440 there are no more than 150 who have modded their bike the a power commander or pipe. Performance mods are usually a young guys thing 18-30 year olds and this is an old guys bike.

When we did the age survey something like 85% of owners were between 47 and 70. Hardly the group to be performance modding. Many in the age group to buy a CB 1100 have no idea what a PCV does, or where it goes, or how to program it for that matter. They would understand a pipe, but Honda saw fit to include a sexy 4 into 1 on the 13's and beautiful chrome 4 into 2s on the 14 dlx. If Honda would have made their pipes louder from the factory I bet less than 1% would spend $1000-$1500 on a pipe just to gain 3 or 4 hp.

Like has been said many times before, this isn't the bike for performance enthusiasts. Those looking for more power, in any substantial amount, would benefit from looking at other bikes. Heck from what I have seen, with a pipe, a PCV and a reflash the 3 owners who have done this I can think of ( maybe you know of more?) are still barely breaking the 90 hp barrier. About a 6 HP gain according to dyno charts I have seen. Hardly worth the expense and effort, when you can walk into any of the big 4 Japanese bike shops, plop down similar money that was paid for a CB 1100 and walk out with between 140 and 160 HP.

I'm betting more of our members have bought comfort items (seat, windshield) than have bought performance items. Having said that, I still believe the CB 1100 can be made to run better, stronger than it came from the factory for the reasons you mentioned..federally mandated epa stuff. How much better, or if the effort is worth the expense has yet to be seen.

Don't go by the HP gain, its how fast you get there. I have documented the bike is a full second faster 0-100 which is equivalent to 8-10 bikes. This probably doesn't matter to you and many other members, but it does matter to some. Its really just enjoyment and excitement, its not that big of a deal. Some people are performance oriented and some could careless. But i think when i write a report weather it's for performance, tires, etc. its for the benefit of our members.
Cheers