Is it a sport bike?

[Ulvetanna_imp]

Believe I read recently that Yellow wolf had gone down and was seriously injured.

If the only two choices to categorize the CB1100 were sport or cruiser I'm afraid I would have to respond yes.

I don't know of Yellow Wolf, but I have known many, many riders who rode the wheels off of very unlikely motorcycles. Being fast was very important to these riders. Some rode only one category, some rode several. I can think at the moment of two guys who had 1980's GSX-R 1100s, with the "superbike" bars, and also had the Yamaha Venture Royale touring bikes.

No matter what bike these guys were riding, they always used every bit of capability the bike had. Every smidgen of lean angle, every bit of power.

That stuff looks impressive and some guys get away with it for a fair while, but eventually, riding at the very limit of what your bike can give you will end badly.

However one chooses to ride a bike, it's just plain bad judgment to use it all, all the time.

One true characteristic of a sporting motorcycle is that it has a good deal more than anyone will ever need: power, handling, brakes. It has a margin for control. Any bike can be over-ridden no matter how good it is. The place to try that stuff is on the track.

A sport bike, even the mighty ZX-10R, YZF-R1, or Panigale 1299, provides an exhilarating ride on the street with a wide margin for error.

Some people say it is more fun to ride a slow bike fast than to ride a fast bike slow. I say that a brisk (maybe even fast) ride is fun, if the bike offers good control and a good margin for error within the limits of what the rider can do, and what the conditions allow.

I think the CB1100 does the latter very, very well. The bike itself prevents the rider from reaching very far into the "go to jail" area of triple-digit speeds, but its 0-60 and 0-100 times, and roll-on performance, are excellent by any standard. Throttle response is snappy and torquey. The handling is light and precise and stable. The brakes are excellent. The lean angle may be limited as compared to production racebikes or naked superbikes, but I've never found it to be a limitation. Hauling into a blind turn at max lean is just not something I do, that stuff gets you hurt. In slow, out fast. Look where you want to go.

I have other bikes with lots of power, power that I just cannot often use. While each has its appeal, none is any more fun to ride on the street than the CB1100.