03-23-2018, 05:35 AM
(03-23-2018, 04:21 AM)VLJ_imp Wrote: pdedse, in regards to whether Honda's product planners listen to the motojournos and forum comments, the one item about which we can be certain they took to heart was the oft-repeated criticism of the previous models' seamed tank. For the 2017 model Honda specifically addressed this complaint, touting in no uncertain terms the upgrade to an all-new seamless tank.
They listened. They responded.
I think it's safe to say that the creation of the RS model was a similar attempt to answer all those requests from the peanut gallery for a sportier CB. Unfortunately, Honda proved willing only to dip a toe in that particular pond. They didn't step up and definitively answer the criticism with a significantly lighter, more powerful, much sportier model. Instead, they simply gave their new "sportier" model smaller wheels and a few suspension/brake upgrades, and called it a day.
Undoubtedly. And I'm glad they did. I mentioned in a previous post in this thread that I like for a bike to have something funky on it, something that stands out, I mean, it can't be too crazy, but noticeable...the tank does that for me. I look at it, I almost love it from one angle, I question the decision seen from another angle, I appreciate its paint quality when the sun hits it...wow! It's liquid...and then go for a ride and I forget all my nonsense about the tank...and simply enjoy being on a CB1100 again.
In the end, the poll here is for fun.
(03-23-2018, 05:29 AM)baxtercat_imp Wrote: At the risk of contradicting myself, sometimes I think our speculations are too much driven by market logic. Back in its heyday, Honda offered an amazing number of different models, and introduced new models each year at a rate that defied the imperative of profit alone. It was so dominant in the marketplace that it COULD experiment. Some auto companies, like Lotus, have always been motivated more by a quest to see what could be done with good engineering than by a bottom line. The CB1100 seems like a prestige project for Honda--an homage to its own history and motorcycling's past, a testament to its brilliant designers and engineers, a statement of sorts about what a modern-day retro bike can be. If you listen to the people on the original team, pride in taking up such a challenge and doing it well seems to have been a driver. Who in their right mind would propose a project for a fairly expensive, heavy, air- and -oil cooled I4, one that needed its own new factory and castings, in the face of impending Euro regulations? I've never seen sales figures for the bike, let alone a comparison of North American sales vs the world, but the fact that a re-design even happened suggests the project was not a total loss, nor, as we've surmised, all that popular. But I don't think either iteration was because of consumers and their demands alone. The fly-on-the-wall that Pdedse would like to have been probably witnessed the engineers and designers arguing in furious Japanese with the money people, sales figures in hand. We're just lucky that the money people didn't kill the project on the drawing board.
Very true. I try to imagine--knowing how I feel about the CB1100--wanting to purchase a new bike and NOT having it available as an option...a very real possibility. I guess this is why I decided to move now on a '17 instead of waiting to see if unsold '17s would be available at slightly better prices in November.