The true beauty of this motorcycle. (another LONG read)

[pdedse]

pdedse, you must have added your markedness theory comments after I saw your initial post. I'm not sure that I totally understand what it is that you're trying to explain, but at least it did get me thinking. Ever since i was a little kid, I've been hung up on the way things look. I pay attention to how almost everything has been designed, but cars and motorcycles in particular have always been of keen interest to me. In fact, I have a couple of books from my childhood that I've hung on to for many decades now.

- The Golden Guide to Sports Cars (published in 1966)
- Motorcycles, Knowledge Through Color (published in 1975)

(The Sports Car book shown in the photos is actually my backup copy that a friend purchased for me years ago as my original copy was marked up with my personal notes and highlights and then browsed to the point that it is now almost unusable.)

At any rate, if you look at my original Sports Car book, you can definitely tell pretty quickly what designs appealed to me (by way of my highlighting). By the time I acquired the Motorcycle book, I had stopped drawing in my books. But I can still remember which bikes featured in the book really appealed to me way back then. Now here I am over four decades later and what do I own? A sports car and motorcycles of course, lol. I'm certain that if I took photos of the car and the bikes that I own today and I were able to send them back in time to my little kid self, I would have loved the way they looked without knowing anything else about them. My mind had been programmed this kind of stuff long ago. I definitely have a bias.

Wile I love the way my CB1100 looks, I certainly don't consider it to be one of the most absolutely beautiful motorcycles ever made. It should be obvious by now that I dig it, but it can't compare to something like a number of the late 60's Triumphs. But my dad was a Honda guy, so I tended to pay more attention to Hondas when I was a kid. Amongst the old CBs that really stand out for me are the 1970 CB350 (my dad owned one), the first CB400F that I ever laid eyes on in person (my dad and i both admired that one quite a bit) and then on to the CB750F and CB900F of the early 80s. There are others of course — I personally paid more attention to dirt bikes back then. But motorcycles in general always tended to catch my eye (along with cars).

If we are simply comparing motorcycles that are available today, then the I must admit that I find the CB1100 to be like a fine jewel. The way Honda went about designing and building this bike, it reminds me of a fine mechanical watch amongst a sea of really nice quartz watches. The quartz watches perform better, but there's an inherit beauty to the mechanical watch that is hard to define. By today's design standards, I find this bike to be amazing because it comes the closest in terms of looks and appeal of those bikes that appealed to me when I first became aware of motorcycles. I'm guessing that might have something to do with markedness theory, but I'm not really sure.

That makes two of us! : )

I was hesitant to bring it up because "markedness" is a theory from linguistics and other social sciences. It's defined as "the state of standing out as unusual or difficult (marked) in comparison to a more common or regular form (unmarked)." So for me , the CB is an example of an "unmarked" mc because it looks regular to me, normal, "the way a bike should look" based on perhaps very early, positive experiences. And a "marked" motorcycle for me would be one that is unusual, or even "difficult" to accept as being a well designed mc. Something like this:


or this:


I look at the above photos and wince..."those aren't motorcycles!". Obviously they are because they have sufficient characteristics to make them so. I can even the appreciate the technology behind them. I guess they have a certain "coolness" about them...for some...but not really for me.

Now this is a motorcycle!



Ok, I promise, no more theory.

[the Ferret]

Also to pdese's point as I understand it.. The marked thing means normal to the person doing the describing. As in his example describe a bird, ... Small, covered in feathers, some color, flys, eats worms would be his description of a bird. Yet a penguin is also a bird.. Useless wings, doesn't fly, no feathers, no color, swims eats fish. Yes the penguin is a bird, but it's not what comes to his mind when asked to describe a bird. You may get the exact opposite if you ask an inuit lol

His norm or marked thingy for a motorcycle is sit up, round headlight, flat seat, no plastic...like a CB1100, yet a lay down, crotch rocket, low bars, covered in plastic is also a motorcycle... But it is not the norm that he would describe to someone.

You know I was big into archery. My father was a bowyer and tought me the craft. One day in the early 70's I bought one of the new fangled compound bows with wheels and cables and brought it home. My dad took a look at it and said what is that? I replied its a bow. And he snorted in derision thats not a bow. Truth is it was, but it didn't resemble the graceful wood long bows my dad was used to making and shooting, therefore he didn't recognize it as such. CB vs Ninja

Just another way of saying bias's or preferences.

[CA200_imp]

Guth so glad to see you had a early fondness of sports cars, I did also (because my older brothers always had car mags. around the house) I was way to young to drive but could
cheat by getting a motorbike. Did have a couple sport cars but that's another subject .

[Guth_imp]

Guth back in the beginning of the forum we had a member that had corresponded with Mr Kohama if memory serves me and had recieved hand written letters.

Found it.. Nhawk7504 post 3 so it must be possible to contact him

http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread....ght=Kohama

Awesome! Hey Nhawk7504, if you happen to see this, perhaps you could PM me with any contact information that you might have.

Mr. T is also looking into possible avenues of contact as well so perhaps I can put together some sort of Q&A with Mr. Kohama now that we are a few more years down the road.

[LongRanger_imp]

In society, markedness, by its own definition, is necessarily fluid. We each have our own first experiences at different times. Therefore, the CB's of the 1970's, which many of us identify as "real motorcycles," can never be identified as "real motorcycles" to a teen growing up today. His influence, his reference point, is contemporary. Instead, the plastic-shrouded, tail-in-the-air street fighter will be his "real motorcycle," and our beloved CB's will appear as relics. I suppose in the same way that I view a Vincent or early BMW with a heavy Earles fork as a relic.

[Nortoon_imp]

Guth back in the beginning of the forum we had a member that had corresponded with Mr Kohama if memory serves me and had recieved hand written letters.

Found it.. Nhawk7504 post 3 so it must be possible to contact him

http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread....ght=Kohama

Mr. Kohama sure understood what would draw people to the CB1100. The only thing he did not mention in this letter was the beautiful retro looks.

[Guth_imp]

Guth so glad to see you had a early fondness of sports cars, I did also (because my older brothers always had car mags. around the house) I was way to young to drive but could
cheat by getting a motorbike. Did have a couple sport cars but that's another subject .

This is really funny and sort of weird (and I promise you that I'm not making this up). Just last night not long after I typed up my post about my old books, my wife and I were watching a few episodes of Jerry Seinfeld's "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee". In one episode, the actress Sarah Jessica Parker was his guest for the show. She asked him if he ever cared about a motorcycle (Seinfeld is a huge car nut). Jerry replied that he has several motorcycles. Then he went on to tell a story of how when he was young, he obsessed over whether he should become a "motorcycle guy" or a "sports car guy". One day when he was a teenager, he was at his father's shop and it happened to be raining that day. One of the guys that worked for his father was a "motorcycle guy" and had just arrived for work. The guy was soaking wet and the then teenager Seinfeld asked him "So today, don't you wish that you had a car?". Apparently the guy just looked at him and said "Nope, just wish it wasn't raining".

Seinfeld then went on to talk about the old TV show "Then Came Bronson" and he reenacted the opening scene to the show. He stated that when he first watched the opening to Then Came Bronson it was the coolest thing he had ever seen in his life. Needless to say, it was a pretty entertaining show.

In society, markedness, by its own definition, is necessarily fluid. We each have our own first experiences at different times. Therefore, the CB's of the 1970's, which many of us identify as "real motorcycles," can never be identified as "real motorcycles" to a teen growing up today. His influence, his reference point, is contemporary. Instead, the plastic-shrouded, tail-in-the-air street fighter will be his "real motorcycle," and our beloved CB's will appear as relics. I suppose in the same way that I view a Vincent or early BMW with a heavy Earles fork as a relic.

I had this exact same thought. For me, one of the coolest things about the CB1100 is that it has a direct lineage, both visually and historically, to my Dad's 1970 CB350. That bike was one of the coolest things that I had ever laid my eyes upon at that point in time (heck, to me it still is, lol). I'd love to have a CB350 just like his sitting next to my CB1100 out in the garage. Now that would be awesome.

[emptysea]

The short-sleeve mock turtleneck is almost as cool as the bike

[Ulvetanna_imp]

Also to pdese's point as I understand it.. The marked thing means normal to the person doing the describing. As in his example describe a bird, ... Small, covered in feathers, some color, flys, eats worms would be his description of a bird. Yet a penguin is also a bird.. Useless wings, doesn't fly, no feathers, no color, swims eats fish. Yes the penguin is a bird, but it's not what comes to his mind when asked to describe a bird. You may get the exact opposite if you ask an inuit lol

His norm or marked thingy for a motorcycle is sit up, round headlight, flat seat, no plastic...like a CB1100, yet a lay down, crotch rocket, low bars, covered in plastic is also a motorcycle... But it is not the norm that he would describe to someone.

You know I was big into archery. My father was a bowyer and tought me the craft. One day in the early 70's I bought one of the new fangled compound bows with wheels and cables and brought it home. My dad took a look at it and said what is that? I replied its a bow. And he snorted in derision thats not a bow. Truth is it was, but it didn't resemble the graceful wood long bows my dad was used to making and shooting, therefore he didn't recognize it as such. CB vs Ninja

Just another way of saying bias's or preferences.

My goodness, something, somewhere, has definitely frozen over. The Ferret and I are in complete agreement! It is the province of academia to over-analyze and over-complicate things.

I have to say that is extraordinarily ironic give that the Honda CB1100 (as we see in the posts to follow from the designer himself) was designed very specifically to be a motorcycle that most folks would readily take as a simple, standard, easy to ride, easy to look at vehicle. Nothing at all pedantic, theoretical, arcane, or steeped in jargon.

Just the essential elements of a motorcycle.

Ride, enjoy. Smell cherry blossoms. Repeat.

In society, markedness, by its own definition, is necessarily fluid. We each have our own first experiences at different times. Therefore, the CB's of the 1970's, which many of us identify as "real motorcycles," can never be identified as "real motorcycles" to a teen growing up today. His influence, his reference point, is contemporary. Instead, the plastic-shrouded, tail-in-the-air street fighter will be his "real motorcycle," and our beloved CB's will appear as relics. I suppose in the same way that I view a Vincent or early BMW with a heavy Earles fork as a relic.

Well-said. Actually I have no idea what in heck we're talking about any more, but I'll say my Z900R is parked next to my Street Cup. Both have two wheels and an engine.

[Guth_imp]

Human nature is what it is I suppose.

As far as the biases or preferences are concerned, I do try to always be careful to state they I refer to things such as the design of the CB1100 from the standpoint of "my preference", "to my eye" or "my opinion", etc. as we all like what we like. Every CB1100 is a thing of beauty to me at a certain level, even though I have my preferences within the variations that exist within this set of motorcycles that are "CB1100s". To me, the CB1100 is far more organic looking than most any other motorcycle available today. It is just a very straightforward machine with a straightforward design. By this I mean that almost everything appearing on the CB1100 has a purpose, and very little if anything has been added simply for the sake of style. Honda didn't resort to disguising some parts of the motorcycle to look like something else. They didn't need to. I believe this same quality was still very much a piece of so many of the motorcycles that I find so appealing from the late 60's and 70's in particular.

I suppose that part of the true beauty of the CB1100 is that it spurs on conversations such as this. Man, I could really stand to go for a ride right now, lol. Two-wheeled therapy time is near.