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

[emptysea]

This kind of conversation, more so the philosophical parts about motorcycle archetypes than the practical parts about shift indicators, is what I hope to have at the Kentucky rally. However, has anyone else noticed that the vast majority of the philosophical contributions to this thread, including the original post, have come from folks on or nearer to our west coast and that most of the practical contributions are from folks east of the Mississippi? Is it possible that getting high before posting is the "unmarked" behavior on one side of the country?

[use2b_imp]

cool old picture Guth , penny loafers

[chowtoo_imp]

I started motorcycling when I was 42 (married with 3 kids). My mom never let me have a motorcycle. I moved from a large city in another state to a farm near a couple of small towns in the Midwest where I grew up. I bought a TW200 on-off road bike and a new 1996 Suzuki Katana, just because of the looks. I never rode the Katana much until I resurrected it in 2015 after 9 years in the barn. It is now my favorite bike in my stable of 2014 Hondas (CB1000R, 650F, VFR800 Interceptor and my latest, the CB11000). I wanted the CB1100 since the day I saw it. Now being 63, the looks got to me and made me feel like a young man again. I liked the chrome wheels and other parts of the 2013 but it did not have a six speed or a gear indicator. I like modern technology but that retro look of my 2014 CB1100 I could not pass up. When a Wisconsin dealer reduced the price of a new 2014 CB1100 to $6K, it was time to get it and I met him in Chicago to ride it back to Michigan! I love riding it and just looking at it. I have also caught other riders admiring it, so I am not the only one to appreciate a good thing when I see it. One guy asked if it was a retro bike or an old bike that had been updated. To me it's a make-me-feel-good retro!

[Ulvetanna_imp]

I started motorcycling when I was 42 (married with 3 kids). My mom never let me have a motorcycle. I moved from a large city in another state to a farm near a couple of small towns in the Midwest where I grew up. I bought a TW200 on-off road bike and a new 1996 Suzuki Katana, just because of the looks. I never rode the Katana much until I resurrected it in 2015 after 9 years in the barn. It is now my favorite bike in my stable of 2014 Hondas (CB1000R, 650F, VFR800 Interceptor and my latest, the CB11000). I wanted the CB1100 since the day I saw it. Now being 63, the looks got to me and made me feel like a young man again. I liked the chrome wheels and other parts of the 2013 but it did not have a six speed or a gear indicator. I like modern technology but that retro look of my 2014 CB1100 I could not pass up. When a Wisconsin dealer reduced the price of a new 2014 CB1100 to $6K, it was time to get it and I met him in Chicago to ride it back to Michigan! I love riding it and just looking at it. I have also caught other riders admiring it, so I am not the only one to appreciate a good thing when I see it. One guy asked if it was a retro bike or an old bike that had been updated. To me it's a make-me-feel-good retro!

Way to go on that. I had a 1989 Katana, excellent motorcycle.

[nhawk7504_imp]

[/quote]I agree. I own the Z900R, which "is what it is" (a very homely super naked), but have zero interest in owning a Z900RS.

Now, if they was to bring the "Cafe" version around...mebbe.


[/quote]

That Café is a nice machine!

[the Ferret]

Hey Nhawk7504 see post # 44 this thread please

[LongRanger_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.

That was a great episode. I was particularly taken by SJP's reaction to the car Jerry picked her up in (mid-70's Ford station wagon), just like her mom had when she was growing up. She waxed poetically about the clicking sound of the turn signals, and fell into heavy reminence once she heard the horn. For those into classic cars, especially exquisite vintage sports cars (not the Ford wagon!), this is a series not to be missed.

[pdedse]

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.

Yep!

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.

Kind of, I would suggest MT attempts at explaining why one would prefer this or that.

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.

Not only of academia, but yes...and then it's their job to make something practical out of the theory. In linguistics, markedness theory is behind good foreign language textbook design...what vocab and grammar should be presented first, then next, what can wait, what can't, etc. It's a very practical application for language teachers.

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.

I added the boldface...hmmmm, we diverge here. I would argue that there's a large number of folks that do not think of the CB1100 as simple, easy to ride, easy to look at--that's why they didn't sell a large number of them. So markedness theory might have been used (consciously or not) by marketers and sales people to exclaim "whoa, we're gonna export how many '14 Standard CB1100s to the U.S? Are we sure about that number? Maybe we should export more of the '14 DLX because they are more in line with what our target audience wants." Hind sight, I know, but I could see two guys arguing which version would sell more: "everybody's buying blacked out bikes, man" vs. "you're crazy, they want the DLX because it looks 'more standard / nostalgic' and THAT'S the group we're trying to reach!"

Fun to talk about : )

[Acrobat_imp]

1AM , 56 Deg working in my garage listening to to 60-70's rock while changing spark plugs and wires on my 1933 model A ford Truck.
the whole time glancing at the CB1100 and in awe of how simple and reliable that big air cooled engine is . I have had some super fast bikes = turba Busa and rock solid bikes i could not kill = CB / CL 350's but no bike has even made me as happy as the CB1100.

just happy to be alive and a simple man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMmTkKz60W8

use2b , you're for sure know how to live. Thanks for this nice music intermezzo. I played this song in vinyl to my older son when he was small (translating the lyrics to him). So I was super happy when this Christmas came back home from University and sat together listening again those old records. Anyway I 'm totally with you , I also had fast bikes in the past. My latest (Husqvarna Nuda 900) was not only very fast but also very demanding physically and mentally. Like a Lolita in a bikini. I had a GREAT time with her. Sometimes she was letting me take my wife together on our rendezvous despite the very small and hard saddle . Strong and torque engine and a sound like a husky bark . On the road could feel the respect and the jealous eyes of the other riders. But in the end the love became...HATE... maybe because she was happy only on full throttle or because she was never letting me enjoy anything else besides her. Oooff.. As for CB1100 , everything has been said in this I must say apocalyptic thread. Gorgeous looks, so balanced, engineering to the bone, great proportions, real motorcycle, an archetype...etc..In comparison my Nuda 900 was to me as I said before a Lolita in a bikini ( living for her and her wishes ). CB1100 is to me a Japanese Geisha ( living for me and my wishes ). You said it : NO bike has ever made me as happy as the CB1100. And if sometime fail i'll forgive her because this is real love. My contribution to your music reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpoHBTeyFxg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsVWXZGFZPY

[cooldrum_imp]

I joined this forum back in June 2013. At that time, it was the first year the CB1100 arrived in the states. I was immediately drawn to its styling and the flow of the design. Honda's official video also had me thinking of future rides I could take the bike on.
At the time, I was riding a '74 CB750, flake sunrise orange, all stock even with the 4 into 4 exhausts. I knew if I was patient, nice pre-owned examples of the CB1100 would show up someday. Fast forward to June 2016 and I found one in Gilbert, Arizona. I kept searching for one in the Portland area and neighboring cities with no success. After some negotiation, I took a Greyhound and picked up the bike and took a 4 day road trip. The Honda ran flawlessly all the way home and the smoothness and linear torque was similar to the 750 motor. With fuel injection, acceleration was more brisk and warm up easier.
I still have and ride the 750. When I then switch over to the CB1100, one can truly appreciate how far bikes have come. Each of these motors are amazing in their design and they're both air cooled! Just like a motorcycle should be.
I now have the pleasure of riding both old and new or is it old that is new? Anyway, I'm just grateful to be riding at this season of life!
This forum is a great place to land for information and to share our experiences with the CB. Thanks Guth! and thank you moderators too!
A safe 2018 riding season to everyone!