Winter thread...how long?

[Ollie]

A great story, Ollie.  For me it's neat to hear how owners came across the CB1100, a bike that didn't receive a lot of fanfare. 

When I get comments at a gas station that begin with "I had me one of those back in the day..." or something similar, I can't really relate.  Guys who look whistfully at my '17ex always seem to be about 10 years older than me.  I'm 62 at present, and I think I was just a few years behind the UJM era as far as wanting / noticing motorcycles.  When I first started thinking of buying a motorcycle, I remember gathering brochures of one bike in particular: the Honda XR250, must haven been in '79 or '80 right when they first came out.  I would go to the dealership and ask for brochures and drool over the bike.  I couldn't understand why my older brothers were interested in street bikes, when you could have a bike that would ride trails and street.....


23 years later and I just bought a green Kawasaki KLX300...something about it hearkens back to a day when I was 18 and eating up the country roads outside of Topeka, Kansas I guess.  I feel like I've come full circle! 

It seems like there were a lot of initial buyers that been anticipating the CB1100 coming to the US. I know one of my friends was and when it was announced immediately gave his deposit. After his came in the dealer received one more for the year and it was pre-sold when it came in so early on the CB1100 was a hot item when brought over in limited numbers.

Yeah I get the occasional person that tells me of the CB750 they had back in the 1970's as they look over my CB1100.
In addition to the Nighthawk, I had a 1974 CB750 back in 1975. My best friend traded his CB350 on it then less than a year later needed money to buy an engagement ring and asked if I'd be interested in buying the bike which was like new, so I did. After 12 years of marriage and 3 children his wife decided she wanted a divorce, LOL he often complains about selling that bike to fund the engagement ring!

Your interest in an XR250 as a first bike hits a chord with me. I'm about 10 years older than you and was looking to buy my first motorcycle in 1972. All my friends had Honda CB350's but, like you, I wanted a bike that would be easy to learn on and also be fun on dirt roads so I bought a new XL250. When riding with my friends we'd take turns leading and sometimes I couldn't stay with them up hills at 65+ mph on highways. But when it came time for me to lead I always ended up finding a broken up road with potholes and when they slowed down banging on all the rough places I just kept riding along at 50 mph.

I now have a Yamaha XT250 and often when riding it around I think back to 1972 and that XL250.