05-15-2017, 11:30 PM
(05-15-2017, 03:53 PM)Cormanus_imp Wrote: It doesn't surprise me at all that this bike appeals to an older demographic. High on the list of reasons I bought it was its appeal to that part of my soul that never got over owning a Honda 4 in the early 1970s.
It's somehow comforting that it has an appeal to younger people.
I don't know if I'm all that young, but as my colleagues always tell me, "I've been here longer than you've been alive."
As for the appeal, I think some things never go out of style. I admired my friends father's CB400-4 and CB750 for years, then I got a chance to ride the 400 and fell in love.
Despite the pushback against millennials (not here, but in the world), I think there are many of us who value motorcycling for the sport, emotion and mechanical beauty rather than the image of speed and machismo. I personally take umbrage with many of the folks I tend to see on the roads with whom I share a generational definition; t-shirts, flip flops, no training, and an overwhelming air of scofflaw mentality when riding their 600s. In PA, helmets are optional, and many choose to forgo them for style. I find it bewildering and frustrating as the stigma is palpable in the public. The CB1100 seems to cut through that stigma like few bikes can. It draws attention from across demographic lines and elicits conversation and appreciation. It's one of the things that I adore most about it. Police wave to me, truckers stop to talk, college kids swoon (I'm a college professor, so maybe my experience is swayed by my level of interaction), and folks of a certain vintage are constantly talking about how they either miss their CB or wish they had bought one when they were my age in the 70s and 80s. The hooligan stigma is completely avoided on this bike.