Buying 2014 CB1100 and have questions

[Gone in 60]

This thread has taken an interesting direction with RPM.

Being the land of freeways, I realistically can't get anywhere without sustained speeds around 70, with stints of 80+ to enter fast-moving traffic or to cross to get to a left-side ramp without getting hit from behind. So, I guess my valves are pretty darn clean, and with a '13 five-speed, I'm in the 4500-5000 range regularly. But at surface street speeds, I love that this bike can trundle along like a tractor if it wants to.

Living "freeway adjacent" is very convenient for commuting, and I have three around me. Late at night, even miles away, you can hear anyone making a Banzai run, probably running triple-digits. Frequently, it's an inline-4 sport bike howling at what has to be above nine grand.

[the Ferret]

As stated, one can ride this bike spirited if they WANT to, nothing says they HAVE to .... or that they can't

One can ride this bike lazily if they WANT to, and nowhere does it say they HAVE to .... or that they can't,

Nowhere does it say one has to ride this motorcycle at or near peak hp or at or near peak torque.

Those are just numbers on a graph and have nothing to do with or any impact on how one HAS to ride, because there is no ONE WAY that someone HAS to ride this motorcycle. It's purely up to the individual owner's discretion if they want to ride it aggressively or conservatively.

[misterprofessionality]

One of the things that always made the CB my favorite motorcycle was how smooth and effective it is OUTSIDE the power band. So you can kinda hum along smoothly in high gear or let it drop to 600 rpms in a corner and it won't even lug. And when you feel like having fun you can can roll up to 5k and party, and it will also do that with perfection.

I can't say the same for my triumph. It has stonking torque but still demands you ride it "correctly". The CB doesn't care at all. The satisfaction derive from the triumph is seeing how close I can get to how it wants to be ridden.

[Wisedrum]

1) we have guys with close to 150,000 miles on their CB's with no major work. My personal bike is at 76K miles and the valves have never needed adjusting. Spec is every 16K I believe. Oil and filter every 4,000.

Hi Ferret, I am impressed that your bike reached 76K miles and never needed a valve adjustment. I am curious as to how you achieved this; my guess is you keep your engine RPMs low. I am convinced that valve wear is directly related to engine RPM - the higher the RPM, the greater the valve wear. I remember a post you made a long time ago where your gas mileage was pretty incredible also. Can you please share with us some details about how you ride? What is the typical RPM you ride? Is there a maximum RPM that you don't exceed? What RPM do you typically shift?

Also, can you please share at what intervals your valves were checked?

Thank you.

Dave, I ride a lot like Wisedrum. Typically in the 2500-3500 rpm range, normally shift about 3200 rpms, and although I haven't checked it lately I average about 57 mpg if memory serves me.

Valve cover has never been off. I go by symptoms as advised by my tech with 30 years experience working in motorcycle shops...it starts easily, runs great, gets good gas mileage, no weird noises. I also ride my NC 750 like that and I did have the valves inspected at 40,000 even though there were no strange symptoms, and not surprisingly all were in spec. I also had the valves on my ST 1300 inspected at 50,000 again with no bad symptoms, and again all were in spec. I also believe low rpms keep valves in spec but now it's the nature of how I ride anyway, and have for the last oh...25 years or so. For the first 30 years or so I rode a little let's say "wilder" racing here and there, seeing what every bike would do...but now I just cruise. Been there, done that so to speak .......

I believe engines are a lot like hearts...they only get so many beats/revolutions

The Chinese have a saying and I'll paraphrase: an elephant and a mouse get the same number of heartbeats in their lifetime. The mouse uses his up very quickly and doesn't live very long, the elephant uses his up very slowly, and lives a long time.

YMMV

Ferret, I like your analogy. If it's true or not, doesn't matter to me. Comparing animals with machines will probably fail, but I know, what you want say with your picture.

I prefer riding and driving my motorcycles and car within a commod rev range or with lows revs, if the engines will allow this way of riding. Only the Bullet doesn't really like too low revs as an old constructed one cylinder So why? I believe that all spare parts and the whole vehicle will last much longer, which matters a lot to me. It saves money also for fuel and I intend to keep them for as long as they will work without what we call in German a GAU. That means, without them having a very bad disease like a heart attack that will keep the engine or other very important and expensive but life necesassary parts from running and working. If this happens it will or may be the time to say goodbye to them.

Of course, you can rev the CB up high to the redline and I do it from time to time in a choosen gear 1, 2 or 3 to remind me of how strong and fast the Honda can accelerate and pull. 3,9sec from 0-100km/h. Fast like a
sport bike. This will certainly do the CB no harm. But mostly I don't like be sitting on a cannon ball and been shot away like mad. Definitely not my riding style.

[MagnaRider]

1) we have guys with close to 150,000 miles on their CB's with no major work. My personal bike is at 76K miles and the valves have never needed adjusting. Spec is every 16K I believe. Oil and filter every 4,000.

Hi Ferret, I am impressed that your bike reached 76K miles and never needed a valve adjustment. I am curious as to how you achieved this; my guess is you keep your engine RPMs low. I am convinced that valve wear is directly related to engine RPM - the higher the RPM, the greater the valve wear. I remember a post you made a long time ago where your gas mileage was pretty incredible also. Can you please share with us some details about how you ride? What is the typical RPM you ride? Is there a maximum RPM that you don't exceed? What RPM do you typically shift?

Also, can you please share at what intervals your valves were checked?

Thank you.

Dave, I ride a lot like Wisedrum. Typically in the 2500-3500 rpm range, normally shift about 3200 rpms, and although I haven't checked it lately I average about 57 mpg if memory serves me.

Valve cover has never been off. I go by symptoms as advised by my tech with 30 years experience working in motorcycle shops...it starts easily, runs great, gets good gas mileage, no weird noises. I also ride my NC 750 like that and I did have the valves inspected at 40,000 even though there were no strange symptoms, and not surprisingly all were in spec. I also had the valves on my ST 1300 inspected at 50,000 again with no bad symptoms, and again all were in spec. I also believe low rpms keep valves in spec but now it's the nature of how I ride anyway, and have for the last oh...25 years or so. For the first 30 years or so I rode a little let's say "wilder" racing here and there, seeing what every bike would do...but now I just cruise. Been there, done that so to speak .......

I believe engines are a lot like hearts...they only get so many beats/revolutions

The Chinese have a saying and I'll paraphrase: an elephant and a mouse get the same number of heartbeats in their lifetime. The mouse uses his up very quickly and doesn't live very long, the elephant uses his up very slowly, and lives a long time.

YMMV

Ferret, I like your analogy. If it's true or not, doesn't matter to me. Comparing animals with machines will probably fail, but I know, what you want say with your picture.

I prefer riding and driving my motorcycles and car within a commod rev range or with lows revs, if the engines will allow this way of riding. Only the Bullet doesn't really like too low revs as an old constructed one cylinder So why? I believe that all spare parts and the whole vehicle will last much longer, which matters a lot to me. It saves money also for fuel and I intend to keep them for as long as they will work without what we call in German a GAU. That means, without them having a very bad disease like a heart attack that will keep the engine or other very important and expensive but life necesassary parts from running and working. If this happens it will or may be the time to say goodbye to them.

Of course, you can rev the CB up high to the redline and I do it from time to time in a choosen gear 1, 2 or 3 to remind me of how strong and fast the Honda can accelerate and pull. 3,9sec from 0-100km/h. Fast like a
sport bike. This will certainly do the CB no harm. But mostly I don't like be sitting on a cannon ball and been shot away like mad. Definitely not my riding style.

I like this quote too, but then I kinda don't.

Me as a human, if I don't exercise and get my heartrate up daily (Lifting, running or manual labor - most days all 3) I feel my body start to slow down and my energy will crash hard. (I'm still a young buck at 25). And I know plenty of older folks who should've thrown in the towel years ago, but they keep going because they stay active. And I've seen the opposite true with a guy retiring so he can watch TV every day, then pass away shortly after retirement.

Obviously, an engine isn't a living thing in the same sense we are alive. But I think its good to give them some wide-open pulls now and again. I've dyno'd plenty of performance engines at my previous job, and setting rings is long hard low pulls, you make the engine work hard right from the get-go. I feel the same for letting it rev up to the redline now and again, maybe it doesn't clean valves or other internals as much as I'd like to think, since I have no data to back it up besides other old mechanics saying it's good to do so who knows?

[the Ferret]

In the old days, when things were fueled by carbs, things were different. Carbs are rather rudimentary as far as fueling goes, and things could run rich at low rpms causing carbon build up issues on the valves, heads and top of the pistons. In the old days an Italian Tune up or running it up to high revs for a period of time could actually do some good. My older brother, (rest in peace, he would be 86 now) a hot rodder from the 50's, white T shirts, tight jeans, a pack of Lucky's rolled up in his sleeve, black pointed shoes, greasy hair..you know the stereotype) used to do this, plus pour water down the carb to cause steam to burn off carbon and all kinds of things that aren't necessary in modern day fuel injected engines where computers control everything. Too, we are no longer burning leaded gasoline.

In fact a lot of people say modern motorcycles and cars are made to run lean at low rpms for emissions sake (I'm sure you've heard that..or you can google it) that you have to enrich them at low rpms for performance. Hence the popularity of power commanders etc. If you do research on all this, you'll find "discussions" on both sides of the issue.

https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/does-...-too-lean/

Our bikes have sensors that measure everything important to running properly and compensate for it. It's why we don't have manual chokes anymore. We don't have to manually enrichen to start and then back off the choke as it warms up because the computers do it all for us.

m in sc is right, FI is very forgiving, and Honda does have brilliant engineers. They have taken all this tuning crap out of the inexperienced person's hands, and put it in the hands of computers, sensors and micro processors. We start the bike, we ride the bike. The computers control all the aspects of fueling.

Can you run it hard? Sure the computer compensates for that. Can you ride it easy? Sure the computer compensates for that.

At your age I was still in the " let's see what this thing can do" phase. At 74 I'm in the "I'm just going to ride the thing and let the fi and computers take care of it phase. We have quite a few guys on here with between 75,000 and 150,000 miles on them. No motor issues with their bikes. I'm sure my CB 1100 motor will still be going strong long after I am worm bait. It's how motorcycles are made these days. You may have an electrical malfunction, a sensor, or ECU or something might fail, But the motors internals will still be running strong.

[MagnaRider]

I am definitely in the "Lets see what this thing can do phase". I can't wait to actually ride one of these bikes and feel what you are talking about. Yes I am young, but pretty much all of my vehicles still have carbs so I am very familiar with their operation. Having it not bog out under load at 1k-2k rpm like some have mentioned in this thread would be new to me. My 84' magna is a dog under 3k, and doesn't really come alive until 5k and hits the powerband at 7k lol. Still gets 45 mpg which is nuts

[the Ferret]

No reason to get in a huff. I don't think anyone is saying anything derogatory towards you personally. I know I'm not.

Generally speaking...guys that are younger are less risk adverse than guys that are older. It's a fact and a matter of testosterone levels (plus a loss of certain skills like eyesight, hearing, balance, reaction times, elevated fear levels for older riders etc). Doesn't mean there aren't outlier examples at either end. I've yet to meet a motorcycle rider in his 60's that says he is a more aggressive rider now than he was in his 30's. I'm a lot smoother rider now, and forum members who have ridden with me like Offroad, Empty Sea, Inhouse Bob, Mountaineers, Sneaky Fast, and others will tell you I can still ride pretty quickly especially for my age, but I was certainly a more aggressive rider 30 years ago, riding at speeds I wouldn't dream of riding at today. I honestly have said many times that I was surprised I lived thru my 20s, 30's and 40's. I ran a 79 CBX at redline/135 mph. I got pulled over on it in a nearby town going 125 in a 25 when I was about 30. I have no idea if my CB 1100 will go 100, because I no longer have a desire to find out and never will. No desire to go that fast anymore. Plus, in the areas I ride the highest speed limit is 55,(except on the freeway in Northern Kentucky where the speed limit is 70) and I don't care to chance getting caught breaking the law and getting a very expensive ticket, risk getting my bike impounded, or losing my license. Plus I don't heal like I used to, injuries hurt a lot more these days, take a lot longer to heal so I'm pretty risk adverse.

Mid 30's is considered very old for a MotoGP racer. The average age of a MotoGP racer is 26.9. Why do you think there are NO 40,50, or 60 year old MotoGP riders? However, that doesn't mean older guys can't go to a track day on weekends once in awhile and still rip.

[Gone in 60]

Not gonna touch the age discussion. My name is Paul and that's between y'all.

But, the human comparison to an engine... I like that. At least twice a month at work, I'll get a parent dragging their kid up to "the expert" asking "Ok, Johnnie, you wanted to ask the man a question... go ahead." "How does an engine work?" I'll eyeball the kid for any genious waves, but I've never met a seven year old who could digest the concepts of compression and combustion and not walk away more confused than they were when they walked in. I say:

"You are now an engine. Take a deep breath in. That's your intake stroke. Move around a bit. There, now your engine is making power from that air you just took in. Exhale. That's your exhaust stroke. The cereal you ate for breakfast? That's your fuel."

[MagnaRider]

Sorry m in sc. Did not mean anything against age at all. I ride with one buddy my age, and then we ride with our fathers and their friends all 60+, and those guys are still crazy and a blast to ride with.
If it really does get you in a huff you may worry more about your age than others do. You do you man.
I only started this thread to see others opinions on the CB1100 for someone interested in buying one, not to find out who has the biggest nuts for their age or whatever.