2017 CB1100 EX First Ride Review

[Ulvetanna_imp]

rotor, believe me, as I stood there trying to frame those pics on my camera, I was flipping my phone back and forth. I ended up going with the vertical aspect because it was the only way to get the full scope of the trees, without pulling back too far and minimizing the bike. In particular, the shot with the Reading Tree kept including too many other things when I tried holding the camera horizontally.

Normally, though, you're absolutely correct.

Ulvetanna, the only explanation I could come up with as to why nothing ever touched down echoes what you're saying about the importance of a properly dialed chassis and overall setup. I've had other bikes with greater ground clearance scrape pegs, centerstands, exhausts, whatever, and it usually occurs when the bike unweights itself and comes back down too quickly in response to a sudden dip in the road, or in an off-camber corner riddled with bumps. Too little rebound damping is often the culprit, or the bike pitches back and forth as a result of choppy throttle response.

It was the utter absence of these factors that I first noticed during the initial bumpy section in the foothills, and was cemented for me on Mosquito Ridge. So many times I would physically and mentally prepare myself for the jolt or rough patch that I'm accustomed to having to ride through, but with this CB there was no need. Nothing ever upset the chassis. Rolling on and off the throttle creates no chassis pitch whatsoever, because there is no drive lash or abruptness from the fueling. In terms of the suspension, most bumps simply become non-bumps. No matter what I threw at her, her chassis remained level and unflustered, her forward momentum resolute.

It was the opposite of the usual racy feeling one experiences from something like a Street Triple, in which you're constantly on and off the throttle, shifting gears, braking hard, throwing the bike around.

You know...sport riding.

With the CB there was none of that. I simply left it in third gear and rolled on and off the throttle. Rather than a sudden slowing followed by a massive rush of acceleration, there was almost no engine braking or big hits of power, so the speed remained relatively constant. It was like riding a monorail, rather than driving a go-kart. When I did snick down to second gear to bring the revs up into the 5-7K range, it was more of the same, the only differences being the higher-pitched engine note and increased acceleration.

It's the seamless integration of each system working together to create a perfectly balanced package. The bike simply never strays from its appointed path, and without those sudden oscillations to upset the chassis the relative lack of ground clearance ceases to be an issue.

All I can think from watching the bike scrape in so many videos is that those guys are intentionally trying to make it scrape. They're doing something in their riding to upset the balance of the chassis.

Either that, or, yep, I just suck.

Even a bike with crap suspension can be ridden smoothly. All bikes had crap suspension back in day. My Sym Wolf Classic 150 has what one would think is crap suspension, but the bike can be ridden very smoothly, and in truth, the suspension on that bike is better suited to its purpose than the stock suspension on my 2013 Standard CB1100. I rode that Wolf Classic for several hours this weekend over a wide variety of twisting roads and the suspension is actually very compliant, especially for a lighter rider like myself. It doesn't get upset over hard acceleration because there is none, but the bike has an excellent front hydraulic disk, and the fork works quite well, even under sporting applications of brake. It's easy to control the front end on the brakes. The bike only weighs 260 lbs, but the key is being very smooth. It's hard to be that smooth on the first generation CB1100 if you ride in a sporting fashion, because the bike is quite heavy, has a lot of torque, and the suspension is neither sprung nor damped for any but the smoothest of roads and the most sedate riding style.

Just consider how bad bikes of yesteryear were made, with soda-straw forks, junk springs, practically no damping at all (the fork oil was just there to lubricate the parts) and zero adjustability. Yet those bikes could be ridden without bashing hard parts; Malcolm Smith, Freddie Spencer, and similar riders come to mind, guys who grew up having to adapt to those circumstances.

Honda have obviously done a supremely good job of re-engineering the CB1100 in 2017. It may look similar but clearly it's an entirely different motorcycle. It's become the bike I thought I was buying in 2013, and the one I will now seriously consider purchasing. I doubt seriously that it has any part numbers in common with the previous iteration.

rotor, believe me, as I stood there trying to frame those pics on my camera, I was flipping my phone back and forth. I ended up going with the vertical aspect because it was the only way to get the full scope of the trees, without pulling back too far and minimizing the bike. In particular, the shot with the Reading Tree kept including too many other things when I tried holding the camera horizontally.

Normally, though, you're absolutely correct.

Ulvetanna, the only explanation I could come up with as to why nothing ever touched down echoes what you're saying about the importance of a properly dialed chassis and overall setup. I've had other bikes with greater ground clearance scrape pegs, centerstands, exhausts, whatever, and it usually occurs when the bike unweights itself and comes back down too quickly in response to a sudden dip in the road, or in an off-camber corner riddled with bumps. Too little rebound damping is often the culprit, or the bike pitches back and forth as a result of choppy throttle response.

It was the utter absence of these factors that I first noticed during the initial bumpy section in the foothills, and was cemented for me on Mosquito Ridge. So many times I would physically and mentally prepare myself for the jolt or rough patch that I'm accustomed to having to ride through, but with this CB there was no need. Nothing ever upset the chassis. Rolling on and off the throttle creates no chassis pitch whatsoever, because there is no drive lash or abruptness from the fueling. In terms of the suspension, most bumps simply become non-bumps. No matter what I threw at her, her chassis remained level and unflustered, her forward momentum resolute.

It was the opposite of the usual racy feeling one experiences from something like a Street Triple, in which you're constantly on and off the throttle, shifting gears, braking hard, throwing the bike around.

You know...sport riding.

With the CB there was none of that. I simply left it in third gear and rolled on and off the throttle. Rather than a sudden slowing followed by a massive rush of acceleration, there was almost no engine braking or big hits of power, so the speed remained relatively constant. It was like riding a monorail, rather than driving a go-kart. When I did snick down to second gear to bring the revs up into the 5-7K range, it was more of the same, the only differences being the higher-pitched engine note and increased acceleration.

It's the seamless integration of each system working together to create a perfectly balanced package. The bike simply never strays from its appointed path, and without those sudden oscillations to upset the chassis the relative lack of ground clearance ceases to be an issue.

All I can think from watching the bike scrape in so many videos is that those guys are intentionally trying to make it scrape. They're doing something in their riding to upset the balance of the chassis.

Either that, or, yep, I just suck.

So many have the wrong impression of sport riding.

Freddie Spencer used this term in teaching riders to be faster:

"The fastest rider has the slowest hands."

No matter what kind of bike one is riding, being incredibly smooth is the key to riding fast in a way that looks easy and is also safer. The new CB helps the rider in that regard by being so well-engineered that even our mistakes are erased, or at least muted, by the bike.

Any rider who slams a bike around is a rider I want nothing to do with, that's an accident waiting to happen.

rotor, believe me, as I stood there trying to frame those pics on my camera, I was flipping my phone back and forth. I ended up going with the vertical aspect because it was the only way to get the full scope of the trees, without pulling back too far and minimizing the bike. In particular, the shot with the Reading Tree kept including too many other things when I tried holding the camera horizontally.

Normally, though, you're absolutely correct.

Ulvetanna, the only explanation I could come up with as to why nothing ever touched down echoes what you're saying about the importance of a properly dialed chassis and overall setup. I've had other bikes with greater ground clearance scrape pegs, centerstands, exhausts, whatever, and it usually occurs when the bike unweights itself and comes back down too quickly in response to a sudden dip in the road, or in an off-camber corner riddled with bumps. Too little rebound damping is often the culprit, or the bike pitches back and forth as a result of choppy throttle response.

It was the utter absence of these factors that I first noticed during the initial bumpy section in the foothills, and was cemented for me on Mosquito Ridge. So many times I would physically and mentally prepare myself for the jolt or rough patch that I'm accustomed to having to ride through, but with this CB there was no need. Nothing ever upset the chassis. Rolling on and off the throttle creates no chassis pitch whatsoever, because there is no drive lash or abruptness from the fueling. In terms of the suspension, most bumps simply become non-bumps. No matter what I threw at her, her chassis remained level and unflustered, her forward momentum resolute.

It was the opposite of the usual racy feeling one experiences from something like a Street Triple, in which you're constantly on and off the throttle, shifting gears, braking hard, throwing the bike around.

You know...sport riding.

With the CB there was none of that. I simply left it in third gear and rolled on and off the throttle. Rather than a sudden slowing followed by a massive rush of acceleration, there was almost no engine braking or big hits of power, so the speed remained relatively constant. It was like riding a monorail, rather than driving a go-kart. When I did snick down to second gear to bring the revs up into the 5-7K range, it was more of the same, the only differences being the higher-pitched engine note and increased acceleration.

It's the seamless integration of each system working together to create a perfectly balanced package. The bike simply never strays from its appointed path, and without those sudden oscillations to upset the chassis the relative lack of ground clearance ceases to be an issue.

All I can think from watching the bike scrape in so many videos is that those guys are intentionally trying to make it scrape. They're doing something in their riding to upset the balance of the chassis.

Either that, or, yep, I just suck.

It certainly is. What a great job Honda have done, in finally at long last giving its flagship "Sport Heritage" the kind of handling and composure it deserved.

rotor, believe me, as I stood there trying to frame those pics on my camera, I was flipping my phone back and forth. I ended up going with the vertical aspect because it was the only way to get the full scope of the trees, without pulling back too far and minimizing the bike. In particular, the shot with the Reading Tree kept including too many other things when I tried holding the camera horizontally.

Normally, though, you're absolutely correct.

Ulvetanna, the only explanation I could come up with as to why nothing ever touched down echoes what you're saying about the importance of a properly dialed chassis and overall setup. I've had other bikes with greater ground clearance scrape pegs, centerstands, exhausts, whatever, and it usually occurs when the bike unweights itself and comes back down too quickly in response to a sudden dip in the road, or in an off-camber corner riddled with bumps. Too little rebound damping is often the culprit, or the bike pitches back and forth as a result of choppy throttle response.

It was the utter absence of these factors that I first noticed during the initial bumpy section in the foothills, and was cemented for me on Mosquito Ridge. So many times I would physically and mentally prepare myself for the jolt or rough patch that I'm accustomed to having to ride through, but with this CB there was no need. Nothing ever upset the chassis. Rolling on and off the throttle creates no chassis pitch whatsoever, because there is no drive lash or abruptness from the fueling. In terms of the suspension, most bumps simply become non-bumps. No matter what I threw at her, her chassis remained level and unflustered, her forward momentum resolute.

It was the opposite of the usual racy feeling one experiences from something like a Street Triple, in which you're constantly on and off the throttle, shifting gears, braking hard, throwing the bike around.

You know...sport riding.

With the CB there was none of that. I simply left it in third gear and rolled on and off the throttle. Rather than a sudden slowing followed by a massive rush of acceleration, there was almost no engine braking or big hits of power, so the speed remained relatively constant. It was like riding a monorail, rather than driving a go-kart. When I did snick down to second gear to bring the revs up into the 5-7K range, it was more of the same, the only differences being the higher-pitched engine note and increased acceleration.

It's the seamless integration of each system working together to create a perfectly balanced package. The bike simply never strays from its appointed path, and without those sudden oscillations to upset the chassis the relative lack of ground clearance ceases to be an issue.

All I can think from watching the bike scrape in so many videos is that those guys are intentionally trying to make it scrape. They're doing something in their riding to upset the balance of the chassis.

Either that, or, yep, I just suck.

Moto "journalists" tend to do that because it is spectacular and gives the impression they are great riders. They tend to be quite clownish, the culture being conducive to the creation of "cartoonish" personalities. Great riders never scrape anything and they can also be very quick, and they rarely have incidents.

I generally scrape a peg a few times on any new bike I own (with the exception of pure sporting machines which have far more cornering clearance than I could possibly use on a public road). It happens smoothly, and thereafter, I always remember that limitation and never scrape it again.

I think I touched a peg feeler down on my CB1100 maybe 3-4 times in over 10,000 miles.

Glad you approve.

Been saying it for 5 years, the CB1100 is just a great all around every man's motorcycle.

Can't wait to see how you handle dissenters, the next time a CB 1100 is reviewed by MCD

We have entered a new epoch in the story of the CB1100.

The 2017 version is so different than the previous models that we are really discussing an entirely different motorcycle altogether.

It is far more than just a bigger gas tank, a few odds and ends changed visually, suspension upgrades, and better lighting.

It's a totally different motorcycle that looks very similar visually.

It can certainly serve the purpose of being a great all-round standard, a yeoman's machine, but the outright sporting capabilities of the bike (which also translate exceptionally well to its capacity as an all-day tourer) are clearly drastically improved.

Honda did right on this bike; I'd rather have one than the Z900RS for sure.

This new CB1100 is truly a premium motorcycle in every sense of the word, unless VLJ or someone else uncovers some deep flaw.

Flagship stuff.