Modifying your bike

[the Ferret]

Told ya lol

[VLJ_imp]

misterprofessionality, I think that in the case of the CB1100 the lure for most people certainly isn't that it provides the most engine for the dollar, even if you're talking about a heavily discounted 2014 Standard model. Honestly, 550 lbs divided by 85 low-revving ponies is not that difficult to beat, even at the Honda's deeply discounted price. The new Z900 or FZ-09, for example, can be purchased for the same price as a discounted CB1100, and they won't be four model years old, and their engines will annihilate the CB's big mill. Factor in the CB's 25% higher curb weight, and the motor/performance disparity grows that much larger.

Plain and simple, people buy the CB because they think it looks really cool. From there, further justifications such as comfort, Honda build quality, a relaxing ride, etc., are added, but the alpha and omega of any CB1100 purchase is the buyer's fondness for the Honda's timeless, classy style.

not true. cheapest i found a z900 was out the door 11,800. i paid 6400 otd for my '14 cb1100 with 1 mile on it. fz09 was more as well. But i didnt buy the cb1100 to go super fast on, my 19 year old concourse is faster top speed wise, stock to stock, by quite a bit. But i will eventually get my ecu done.

improving otherwise slow bikes is fun, but i usually do that to smaller vintage models.
.02

not true. cheapest i found a z900 was out the door 11,800. i paid 6400 otd for my '14 cb1100 with 1 mile on it. fz09 was more as well.
I don't know where you live, but here in California leftover Z900s and FZ-09s can easily be had for less than $8k out the door, which is fairly similar to the out-the-door total (including dealer set-up, tax, and registration fees) for a 2014 CB1100 Standard.

[misterprofessionality]

i think it depends on the year. if you find a 2-3 year holdover in a dealership, just like the '14 CB11's, then you'll encounter steep discounts in the same vein, but comparing a brand new 18 or 19 FZ09 to a '14 CB1100, there's no way you're going to pay the same price.

[jitaylor_imp]

misterprofessionality, I think that in the case of the CB1100 the lure for most people certainly isn't that it provides the most engine for the dollar, even if you're talking about a heavily discounted 2014 Standard model. Honestly, 550 lbs divided by 85 low-revving ponies is not that difficult to beat, even at the Honda's deeply discounted price. The new Z900 or FZ-09, for example, can be purchased for the same price as a discounted CB1100, and they won't be four model years old, and their engines will annihilate the CB's big mill. Factor in the CB's 25% higher curb weight, and the motor/performance disparity grows that much larger.

Plain and simple, people buy the CB because they think it looks really cool. From there, further justifications such as comfort, Honda build quality, a relaxing ride, etc., are added, but the alpha and omega of any CB1100 purchase is the buyer's fondness for the Honda's timeless, classy style.

not true. cheapest i found a z900 was out the door 11,800. i paid 6400 otd for my '14 cb1100 with 1 mile on it. fz09 was more as well. But i didnt buy the cb1100 to go super fast on, my 19 year old concourse is faster top speed wise, stock to stock, by quite a bit. But i will eventually get my ecu done.

improving otherwise slow bikes is fun, but i usually do that to smaller vintage models.
.02

not true. cheapest i found a z900 was out the door 11,800. i paid 6400 otd for my '14 cb1100 with 1 mile on it. fz09 was more as well.
I don't know where you live, but here in California leftover Z900s and FZ-09s can easily be had for less than $8k out the door, which is fairly similar to the out-the-door total (including dealer set-up, tax, and registration fees) for a 2014 CB1100 Standard.

not true. cheapest i found a z900 was out the door 11,800. i paid 6400 otd for my '14 cb1100 with 1 mile on it. fz09 was more as well.
I don't know where you live, but here in California leftover Z900s and FZ-09s can easily be had for less than $8k out the door, which is fairly similar to the out-the-door total (including dealer set-up, tax, and registration fees) for a 2014 CB1100 Standard.
not now. Mine was 5980 list price, so it was a tad over 7 OTD. There are bunches of 2014's between 5800 and 5999. Where I got mine, Cycles of Jacksonville, they had 12, and they sold them all.

[PowerDubs_imp]

You paid for the bike, you get to do whatever you want with it. No judgment here.

As for me, I modified the first two bikes I owned and learned how quickly doing so can turn into a money pit situation. Lots of cash spent trying to ‘re-engineer’ perfectly sound machines with less than stellar results.

From that point on I have spent $0.00 on bike mods.

IMO, a modern bike is a very well tuned and integrated system. If I could wave a magic wand and get 25% more power out of the motor (but still had to pay to bring the suspension, brakes and frame up to snuff), I wouldn’t do it. This is only partially due to the cost. I’d be more concerned as to how many further mods, tweaks and trials it would take to get the bike, overall, to feel,ride and handle as brilliantly as the stock machine. All the while obsessing over some minor (but expensive) detail that’ll just make it great!

I’m not an engineer, I don’t think I’m an engineer and I don’t want to be one. I just want to ride.

I’ve owned some of the top sport bikes ever offered. I knew what the CB was before I bought it and right out of the box it performed as expected. Five seasons in, un-modded. I’m happy with it.

Glad you are happy with your bike, but not going to lie- every time I read a post like this, I wish I could put that person on my bike and let them ride it for a full tank of gas.

I promise you- if you just rode down the street and back, OK- you would say yea your stocker is good enough. But put put 100+ miles on mine and I'd bet a paycheck you would admit it was better in almost every measurable tangible metric.

Sure you may not want to pay for those improvements- but I promise you a long ride would make you it admit they are there- if you were an honest man.

[Bheezy27403_imp]

Get on that thing and ride Dubs

[Roper_imp]

At least two ways to look at this:

I play the piano. I've had an upright for years. I've never done any modifications to it. Just a yearly tuning. There's no way I can ever make my old upright sound like a Steinway grand. The best I can do is to invest in my own skills to become a better pianist. Maybe when I can play all of Rachmaninoff's preludes, then I can justify a Steinway.

I build my own computers. I bought a decent tower several years ago. Since then, I have upgraded the power supply, the case fans, the motherboard, the CPU, the RAM, the graphics card, the sound card, the drives, the monitor, the keyboard, and the mouse. Probably the only things left original are the case and some of the cables. I now have the exact PC I want, and there's probably not another one like it anywhere. I've spent way more money on it than it would cost just to buy a new system. But, I've learned an awful lot along the way.

So, when it comes to motorcycles, are you a musician? Or are you a computer geek? Whichever it is, it makes zero sense to expect someone else to see things your way.

[MM300_imp]

PD, I’m sure your CB is awesome. I putt around with mine on the country roads surrounding my town. 45 - 50mph tops. I don’t ride it anywhere. I don’t push it to it’s limits. It really is perfect for the way I use it. No improvement needed.

Me 19 years ago is another story: Hayabusa, 175 mph on local roads. Riding like an idiot on a bike that was made for it.

Before that, Ninja 900 and prior to that GSXR 750 SRAD. I was that knucklehead busting in and out of traffic at a buck forty, every day.

I can neither be trusted with, nor do I need, super HP and razor edge handling.

I’m sure your bike is awesome and Kudos to you for that. I’ve yet to bump into a deficiency in the CB but if tomorrow comes and I want to start lane splitting and further po'ing my fellow Pennsylvania drivers I’ll get a real sport bike. ‘Cause I’m way too lazy to try to build one.

[the Ferret]

Been pondering this and with regards to modifying the CB 1100

some people are interested in the CB for it's heritage, and history, it's link to the past and to the bike that changed the world. How important it's development was to Honda, how hard the engineers worked and the problems they overcame to bring a modern air cooled 4 cylinder that passed all the stringent environmental tests, how they sweated the details over design, wheel sizes, paint, engine charachter, overall imagery and sound...

.... and some people are only interested in it, because it was a large displacement motorcycle they could buy rather cheaply.

I think serious modification of the CB 1100 is something less appealing to the first group, but maybe not to the second group.

[LongRanger_imp]

Roper, great analogy!

Signed, a pianist.