Is your CB a keeper?

[Nightengale_imp]

Yep. It's way too underpowered for an 1100 (it should have 120+ hp, right?) and is way too heavy. It doesn't have a beak, traction control, ride by wire, ride modes, or stability control. Why would anyone want one? The old ones (pre-2017) don't even have LED lights for crying out loud.

Hmm ... (I know you're being facetious, but this gives me an opportunity to increase my low post count).

90 hp (give or take) is "underpowered"? I do remember the days of superbikes dreaming of having 90hp. Heavy? Then what? The bike is a LOT lighter then many road bikes that are thought of as "desirable" to ride and own.

Traction control? Lots of people turn that stuff off, it's not necessary and can sometimes not be the best option.

Ride by what? The difference between a cable and a wire is - mostly nothing. Certainly not even a "feature".

Ride modes are seriously overblown - marketing propaganda for people who think they need this. Setup the bike for your style, conditions and weight and forgetaboutit. No need to have multiple settings.

As for the LED lights - cheap to upgrade (and unnecessary). This is the only thing I opted to do (for safety and visibility, but I do not ride at night - headlight and tailight switch to LED because they are definitely brighter. My cost was a measly $60 or so to do front and rear.

Manufactures are really in the business to sell propaganda when they build new machines, right down to the shiny paint - and the masses of "must haves" follow along with all their sales pitches and adopt these as "requirements" and "essentials" for their bikes. It's mostly cuss.

There are great old bikes around, still hopping around the world, still putting the joy into riding on their owners faces. The CB1100 is actually one of those bikes - a modern retro with better brakes, performance, ride and economy then the original. Really a great platform to "do anything" except go boonie-hopping down some rutted side road.

It seems to be an American thing (and in developed countries) to demand the latest and greatest for our toys. I am not a fan anymore of this philosophy - it robs the joy and skill and experience that "good enough" or even "excellent" and "very good" machines (and tools, computers, whatever toy floats your boat) does for the owner. It's also incredibly wasteful. In other words - the problem is not the machine, the problem is us and what we think we "need". We need to have our heads examined.

They call it greed, avarice even jealousy in some circles. Or just profit-making opportunities by manufacturers (a certain orange company comes to mind) whose market pressure forces constant development.

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy in other words - they're the responsible ones for causing all of this, but we go along with it, which means we are responsible too.

I find it really cool to find riders that jump on machines that are absolutely the worst kind of bikes you could pick and go off on their adventure, living their lives, devil be damned. They're out living the life and having fun, not focusing and fantasizing and drooling over their toys. What they've got works - good enough. They've got their priorities straight - it's the rest of the greedy world that doesn't.

I already weighed in on the CB1100 as a "keeper" in this thread, even if it just sits in the garage. Definitely "good enough", definitely an excellent machine, definitely underappreciated by the idiotic masses that must have ridiculous features to enable their "fun" factor quotient and bragging rights.

Honda did a great job on this bike, and actually bucked the marketing trend noted above and this deserves some attention from riders. How often does this happen?

Quite frankly, those that can't see it aren't too bright. They're into form, fashion and other non-beneficial traits I won't mention.

Any bike will work, but the CB1100 is a great bike, no question about it.