12-30-2015, 02:12 AM
(12-29-2015, 11:31 AM)Rboe_imp Wrote: There are a LOT of good bikes out there so you can't just bring a "good" bike to market and do well without a great hook. The CB1100 had very good hook, but the target audience was small and it appears no effort was made to expand it. When the original CB came out it killed the Bonnie in price and performance. In the retro market looks is much more important and the Bonnie has a classier classic look than the CB. It has a couple generations of British singles and twins behind it; the CB just has the UJM inline four look going for it - not quite the linage and history going for it. So in this redo the Bonnie is doing better. In my ever so humble opinion anyway.
But it makes me wonder how a redo of the CB-450 Black Bomber would do. And for Pete's sake, bring the GB500 back! Maybe as a 650.
The CB1100 is a reminder of the most legendary bike ever made, the CB750, if that isn't linage and history, I don't know what is.
Marketing plays a great deal in image building and sales, and Honda didn't do their best in that area for this specific bike.