04-29-2014, 08:07 AM
I outgrew the Shadow wayyyyyy quicker than I thought I would. The puny engine made me lose interest in the bike long before I ever would have needed to maintain a chain (assuming I had a Shadow RS and not the Aero, which is of course shaft-driven like all of the non-RS Shadows).
I do also like the ability to change the rear gearing with chain drive. What you see is what you get with shaft-drive.
To me I suppose the bike itself is more important than how it transmits that power to the wheel. Shafts seem to work well for BMW.
As far as the fenders go, there are plenty of mod options on samurider.com and others. You can also go ACK's way and do the White House conversion on it, turning it into a totally different bike. Sky's the limit. A number of people on here are removing the cluster of reflectors holding the license plate.
I am about to choose a bike for myself and Im debating between CB1100DLX and Shadow Spirit ABS. Overall CB1100 outstands in many aspects. But the maintenance issue with chain final drive concerns me when Honda web page for Shadow Spirit emphasizes on the fact that it's got virtually maintenance free shaft drive.
There is no comparing the two bikes, honestly. Only thing they share in common is Honda build quality. It's disturbing how similar in price the two are; If the Shadow is an $8299 bike then the CB should be $16k. Don't tell Honda I said that. You get tremendously "more" motorcycle for your money with the CB. The Shadow is a great looking cruiser, and they advertise it like it's adequately sized, but it really falls short of expectation. For example, the engine would peg out at 90 on the highway (which translates to 'revs way to high' at cruising speeds). The CB1100 sits around 4K RPM at 70, and is much more comfortable for cruising than the cruiser is!
I do also like the ability to change the rear gearing with chain drive. What you see is what you get with shaft-drive.
To me I suppose the bike itself is more important than how it transmits that power to the wheel. Shafts seem to work well for BMW.
As far as the fenders go, there are plenty of mod options on samurider.com and others. You can also go ACK's way and do the White House conversion on it, turning it into a totally different bike. Sky's the limit. A number of people on here are removing the cluster of reflectors holding the license plate.
(04-29-2014, 02:39 AM)EatChikeen_imp Wrote:(04-28-2014, 04:54 AM)shdwghst457_imp Wrote: I'm with Cormanus on coming from a Shadow 750. The CB1100 has amazed me from my first time riding it and continues to do so. Wicked faster than the Shadow off the line through the entire RPM band and super light on its feet. It's comfortable, easier to move in the garage, gets nearly as good gas mileage. Plus, being a Honda, it's no doubt going to spend less time being worked on than the HD. Fantastic bike.
I bought mine having never ridden one. I knew it was perfect the moment I saw it on Honda's website =]
I am about to choose a bike for myself and Im debating between CB1100DLX and Shadow Spirit ABS. Overall CB1100 outstands in many aspects. But the maintenance issue with chain final drive concerns me when Honda web page for Shadow Spirit emphasizes on the fact that it's got virtually maintenance free shaft drive. I see that you traded in your shadow for the CB1100 but does the chain final drive cause more hassles than the shaft drive significantly from your experience? Help me on this, gentlemen!!!
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I am about to choose a bike for myself and Im debating between CB1100DLX and Shadow Spirit ABS. Overall CB1100 outstands in many aspects. But the maintenance issue with chain final drive concerns me when Honda web page for Shadow Spirit emphasizes on the fact that it's got virtually maintenance free shaft drive.
There is no comparing the two bikes, honestly. Only thing they share in common is Honda build quality. It's disturbing how similar in price the two are; If the Shadow is an $8299 bike then the CB should be $16k. Don't tell Honda I said that. You get tremendously "more" motorcycle for your money with the CB. The Shadow is a great looking cruiser, and they advertise it like it's adequately sized, but it really falls short of expectation. For example, the engine would peg out at 90 on the highway (which translates to 'revs way to high' at cruising speeds). The CB1100 sits around 4K RPM at 70, and is much more comfortable for cruising than the cruiser is!