New Model Year CB1100's??

[nhawk7504_imp]

I asked a sales person what sold well and he said the 250's the 500's, not sport bikes, the CTX 700's did ok, they sold a few NC700X standards, but you don't even see a ton of Honda cruisers on the road. Dirt bikes. Four tracks. Triumph dealer had leftover Bonnevilles and 800 Adventures. SUZ VStrom 650 did ok with a 1000 here and there. But I see a lot of dealers with plenty of leftover everything. In the USA we still drink the Harley Koolaid. Street Glide. Road Glide. Here in the Northeast I see gangs of em thundering down the highway and the dealer has rows of em. Also Road Kings are prevalent. Commute to work on any beltway around our cities. Cars cars and more cars including US! My brother says the same in FL. "Too hot" "Too cold" "Too rainy". He sweats and gets wet now and then. Woop dee doo!

[silverbub_imp]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^"I don't know what they could do better except maybe raise the horsepower"... question: on the '14 models... did "they" keep the "on purpose" slightly offset valve timing on a couple cylinders to cause a "lumpity-lump" exhaust & some vibration because they think the "market" demands some "roughness" rather than "vanilla-smoothness"... me...I. prefer NOT purposely designing in "roughness" & count such as a "demerit"...

[TonUp_imp]

I have a CB1100ex 2014 and it is as near perfect as I could wish for. The engine runs nice and smooth, the 'offset' is there to give a slight burble to the engine note. Trust me, it sounds great. Makes me smile everytime I start it up. :-)

[NightRider_imp]

Yes. I like the sound she makes. Surprisingly mellow but strong exhaust note, at least coming from the single pipe where I can hear all four cylinders from a single vantage point and can appreciate how they got a four to purr and yet sound great at the same time. I read the design write-up you all have seen where the engineers spent a lot of time on getting everything right, even the small things, like getting the engine to make that tink tink tink sound when she is off and cooling down, just like the old 750 did and they also spent time getting the cylinders to run a little uneven so we can hear her rumble a little bit more than a smooth Honda four has a right to. This bike is a work of art and love and dedication by Honda to the goal of making at least one more air cooled old school four four you and me.

[gossman_imp]

Yes. I like the sound she makes. Surprisingly mellow but strong exhaust note, at least coming from the single pipe where I can hear all four cylinders from a single vantage point and can appreciate how they got a four to purr and yet sound great at the same time. I read the design write-up you all have seen where the engineers spent a lot of time on getting everything right, even the small things, like getting the engine to make that tink tink tink sound when she is off and cooling down, just like the old 750 did and they also spent time getting the cylinders to run a little uneven so we can hear her rumble a little bit more than a smooth Honda four has a right to. This bike is a work of art and love and dedication by Honda to the goal of making at least one more air cooled old school four four you and me.

^^^^^^^^^ I think it's a fine motorcycle and a shame that there was no real ad campaign here in the US

[flynrider]

I suspect that since we haven't heard anything by now, we're not going to see a CB1100 in '15. It's a niche bike and it looks like that niche has been filled for the time being.

That doesn't necessarily mean it'll be gone forever. The CB750 Nighthawk was also a UJM niche bike. After 3 model years, Honda didn't produce one in '94. To everyone's surprise, the bike came back in '95 and stayed in production (in low numbers) for another 14 years.

Never say never!

[DAC]

Not knowing the business side of motorcycling well, it seems odd that there was so much care in the design of this beautiful bike but almost no effort in marketing it. There are lots of middle aged guys who gave up riding some time back that would be very interested in this bike if they knew it existed.

[Motogeezer1949_imp]

It's moot to me. Eric has what he wants and I get to play with it. I don't spend a lot of time rationalizing things I have no control over. Judging from all the members world wide on the FB page, Honda sold plenty CB's.

[Cormanus]

I reckon you're right Motogeezer. I'd love to know how many there are in Japan and Taiwan. I'm also not surprised there's no 2015 model. Aside from the sales question, there's a limited amount they could do to improve it, so why not sell the ones they've made or keep manufacturing the 2014 models if there's demand for them?

[Jeephoto_imp]

I am so happy with my DLX and I will probably never buy another large bike, so whether Honda brings out a 2015 CB1100 is not a big concern for me. As has been said, we don't know exactly how many CB's there are unsold worldwide; there might be enough left-overs to satisfy every buyers need for 2015.

Honda is funny how they do business with their motorcycles. If you look back, there are several models that were only here in the "states" for a year or two (TLR200, Transalp, etc). But there are some bikes that "go on forever" (XR650L). I don't know Honda's reasoning on that issue. But, they are a business and the goal of business is to make money.

I absolutely LOVE my CB and would like the line to continue. Possibly one or two smaller model CB's (CB300 or CB650) to satisfy the needs of smaller, younger riders. Then they can "graduate" to the 1100. I see a resurgence of the Retro/UJM bikes because they are so useful and "universal" in our specialized world. Yamaha has a nice SR400 UJM that I love to look at and sit on everytime I'm in a Yamaha shop.