Is it a sport bike?

[Ulvetanna_imp]

A "sport bike" compared to what, a '73 CB350? Sure. Compared to a S1000RR? Seriously?

This isn't to say the CB can't be ridden swiftly, even sportingly, but to categorize it as a de facto "sport bike" is a stretch. It's a "standard."

Judging a bike as to its purpose based on a single characteristic might lead to an inaccurate conclusion.

One post cited Encarta's definition of a sportbike as high-powered, having a riding position well-leaned into the tank.

That sounds like a racing motorcycle.

Then again, there all all kinds of examples of racing motorcycles that don't have high power nor an extreme riding position. A racing motorcycle need only meet the standards of the sanctioning body, so a vintage motorcycle, properly set up and safety-wired, and sporting number plates, is a racing motorcycle. So we can definitely have racebikes with more of a standard riding position and any degree of power.

Can the CB1100 be a racebike? Yes. If it can be a racebike, it can be a sportbike.

I believe this line of thinking applies even more to the street. Any bike can be ridden well beyond reasonable speeds on the street; no rider on any streetbike, whether it be the S1000RR (whose thunder has been stolen of late by the 2016 ZX-10R and YZF-R1) or Ninja 300, can ride anywhere near racetrack cornering speeds. (In a straight line, it's just the amount of asphalt and foolishness that dictates top speed so that part of performance is not relevant here, and at any rate that's "go to jail" antics.)

This being the case, the Ninja 300 or KTM RC390 can certainly corner faster than a ZX-10R or any superbike, for that matter. But those first two bikes don't have high power, they just have what seems to be a forward-leaning riding position. But they really don't. The bars are quite high. They don't meet either feature required by Encarta, but they can corner faster than a superbike. On many racetracks, they are a better racebike, too.

Street riding is not a race, so what the CB1100 delivers is a sporting ride; it's got a lot more power than a Ninja 300, brakes which are much better than, say, an FZ-09 (they were sourced from the pre-2012 CBR1000RR parts bin), excellent composure even at triple-digit speeds while cornering (once the suspension has been sorted and good tires fitted) and very good, neutral, predictable handling. It turns extremely well whilst on the brakes and has a terrific dose of torque everywhere, and thus gets out of a turn better than many so-called sportbikes.

Within the limitations of any kind of sane street riding, the CB1100, properly set up, acquits itself in grand style, as the "Je Suis Freddie Spencer" video shows.