Is your CB a keeper?

[Ulvetanna_imp]

@The ferret. Shaking, sound, slow speed maneuvering, low center of gravity. I had a feeling that CB is quite top heavy. I tried sportster 72, fatboy and low rider. Fatboy weights approx. 60kg more than CB, but it felt very maneuverable also in "walking" speed. Much more maneuverable than CB for me. On CB I always worn full gear, because I was little affraid of her, of that top heavy feeling. But with HD I was not afraid about anything after 10 metres. I was really surprised how easy it turns. And that feeling about engine full of life under you, engine you can feel, feeling that engine will jump out of frame and run away...(sportster 72) I wish I could keep CB, she is best looking bike, eye pleasing. I loved looking at her every morning and evening in garage. But riding on CB didn't bring any emotion for me. She is very powerfull bike, accelerates faster than harley, but for me she is (emotionally) something like ford mustang with 2.0 ecoboost engine and HD is shelby with 5L V8 (roaring...).

I had a couple HD's, Sportster 1200 Roadster and 2006 Dyna SuperGlide. I loved them both. That Sporster had a very cool engine, pulled real nice, and made great noises. Same with SuperGlide, I rode those all over CA, never had a bad moment. Never wondered whether I had bought a dud, which for about 8000 miles was how I felt about the very plain vanilla CB1100. The HD's were great right out of the dealer and stayed great until I sold them, only reason was I got out of riding for about 3 years.

This CB1100 is just a WEIRD motorcycle. Visually it looks like something from the past but its coolness doesn't translate into the ride for the majority of owners. Look at the terrible resale values.

If I still had that 2005 Roadster today, with the average mileage of about 48,000, it would be worth around $4,400. I only paid about $8,000 for it. It has kept over 50% of the purchase price in 11 years and 50K miles. You look at what the CB1100s are bringing used now, only 2-3 years old. Less than that.

It is not just about the character of the HD Roadster, of which it has tons. The bike was reliable, easy to work on, and looked great.

The problem with the CB1100 is not that it's not a great motorcycle -- it's actually beyond great -- but that it is TOO GOOD a motorcycle, in terms of function. I have said this before in some other threads here. It is so good, so well-made, so competent in every area, and its visual is so COMMON with respect to motorcycles, that even enthusiastic owners quickly get over that initial excitement and sell, taking a giant hit in the wallet and swallowing a rather bitter pill in the bargain.

Now take this [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=9879]SYM Wolf Classic 150 I just bought. It is more fun and gets me thinking about riding more than any other bike I own (six in all). Every bike is different and very competent in its own area. They all have great pedigrees and technical specs but this Wolf Classic just engages a rider, draws him or her in. It's accessible. I can mess with it and don't need an OBD connection to find out what I broke.

The CB1100 DOES have this appeal but it is so [url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intrinsic]intrinsic that it's lost on most owners and they give up on it.

I finally figured this out after the 8K valve check. You tear into this machine, it tells a story. That story is of a people and nation completely wiped out, brought to their knees at the conclusion of a world war. A people who decided to get strong, be resilient, innovative, intelligent, and cooperative, and build a product that was BETTER than what we could get right here. [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck9wBHW2160]A product that was FUN and reliable.

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soichiro_Honda]Mr. Honda got down to business and figured out how to engineer things efficiently. [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming]Mr. Deming, an American, worked with Mr. Honda and others to extract the highest quality from Japanese goods post-war. You can read this story of two of the boldest minds in manufacturing and product appeal in the guts of the CB1100. It takes a while to get there, though and most never do.

Honda has addressed this problem with the CB1100RS, which is exactly the counterpart of the Sportster 1200 Roadster. They souped it up visually, gave it a bunch of performance parts that can be seen and touched, discussed and debated, all while leaving the powerplant exactly the same. Not one more horsepower was added.

Those changes are going to make that bike more like the Sym Wolf Classic 150, a COOL motorcycle, not a PLAIN motorcycle.

The CB1100 in any form remains the last of the true classic "sport heritage" bikes with an air-cooled inline four-cylinder, and that alone makes it much more "authentic" than any of its competition. The engine, to me, has always been the central showpiece of this bike, its foundation and cornerstone. The rest, not so much.

I think the new RS is going to sell much better because the designers have recognized that and made the engine become the focus, by drawing the eye and mind with the new, sporty parts. The fat rims and tires, big, gold forks with radially-mounted brakes, the gold shocks with piggyback reservoirs, and large sleek tank, seamless, svelte. The low bars complete the "cafe' racer" package.

Now, maybe, Honda will have a competitive entry into the category, and develop an appeal among owners who don't have the backstory or time to understand and appreciate the confluence of W. Edwards Deming and Soichiro Honda.
As an aside, that compilation of restored Honda commercials has a number of very recognizable California locations. I also think that the chap, Douglas Rains, who voiced "HAL 9000" is one of the voice actors. That part of the clip starts at about 4:00. At one point the actor says, "Good Morning." I could just hear "Dave" following that. Looks like they've got San Francisco, Griffith Park, Santa Paula/126 corridor, and many other locations.