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

[Ulvetanna_imp]

I have a 17 EX and I bought this motorcycle for exactly what it is. And what it is not.
Build quality is excellent and the cost reflects a lot of that. There is a plethora of excellent motorcycles that you can get for the same $$ or less.
But they don't offer (me) what the CB does.
The motor is a sweetheart. Full boat of torque right off idle with one of the flattest torque plots I have ever seen. 2 up perfection.
I didn't want a super sport, but I would still consider this(my EX) a sports bike. It handles the twisties just as well as the present tires and suspension will allow. The ABS prevents stoppies, but we all make sacrifices.
I really do like the look (wished it would have been closer to the Whitehouse K10 though), but I have put my own touch on her because that is what we do.
Most people really don't know what to think of this motorcycle which is perfect because I couldn't care crap what anyone else thinks about her. The looks I get from the HD lifestylers are priceless! Maybe I should have bought a "real" motorcycle? LOL!
We live in the most wonderful age of motorcycles. What/How/Where do you want to ride? Take your pick. How can you go wrong?

Well, yeah, folks that think their motorcycle is the only one worth owning are everywhere, I guess. No one on this forum, we're strictly non-partisan, lol.

One of the reasons I got the CB1100 at first was for two-up riding, which it's great at. I did a really long ride up Highway 1, Skaggs Springs Road, back down to Cloverdale and Petaluma on the bike with a passenger. Easy, it loves every kind of road.

Anyone knows Skaggs Springs knows what I mean. Also harassed some BMW riders, two-up with a pillion...all in fun of course.

The CB1100 is not a sports bike, that's already been decided around here.

But don't tell anyone. It'll be our little secret.

[pdedse]

Thanks pdedse! I'm glad that you're sticking around. Hopefully I can get a chance to check out the new Triumph some time — maybe let me know if you're planning another day ride over to Astoria this summer.

Will do.

Guth I am also one of the early members and thank you very much for you starting this forum . However I am some what of a decenter on the
bikes looks.
Very early on I think I posted why I bought my 2013 . I had just retired and wanted a retirement bike after closing my motorcycle acc.
shop. My plan was to find a very used BMW sport touring bike. Sport touring bikes have always been my fav. . I had a PC800 ,a Wing , and about 2 or 3 bikes before I retired I bought a ST1100 which turned out
to be a bit much for me because of its weight.
I guess we all age at different rates. I know when I say this it will upset some people but is the way I feel. I am sure I have said on here on the
past when I was in the industry I used to make fun "retro" bikes.
I always said can't the Mfg. come up with something new?
I do like the way my bike looks but it was not the main reason I bought it. It was the right weight ,size and had the right ergos . and if
I sold a bike and a car I could afford to get it and retire and live on SS.
Don't get me wrong I do like UJMs , for sure I had many back in the 80s. Their looks never thrilled me.
I still like to ride my CB1100 and will remain my main ride till I have stop but its looks is not my main reason for owning it.
Sorry if this upsets any one.

That's funny! The MAIN reason I bought the CB1100 was for its looks. I don't think I even knew what an in-line 4 was--it's ergos weren't the best for me...but it just looked...right.

I hope the following isn't too pedantic, but it helps me understand preferences people have for things in general: I teach Spanish for a living. In grad school I first learned of a term called "markedness theory". This theory holds that when there is a contrast between two or more members of a category, one of the members is called "marked" if it has something extra or different than another member that is considered more basic, or "unmarked". This expains why in Spanish you start off learning regular verbs (unmarked: more of them, not too difficult in structure) before irregular verbs (marked: fewer of them, more difficult structure).

Consider a category such as "birds", for example. For me, growing up in the midwest U.S., if you asked me what the most common, basic bird would be, the first one to come to my mind at hearing the word "bird"...the answer would have been "robin", which would be "unmarked" for me--it has all the characterstics that a bird "should have": of a certain size and color, can fly, proportioned beak and tail, etc. But penguins are also birds: but they are black/white, can't fly, they swim great. So while I would agree that penguins do fit in the category of "birds", for me they would be "marked"--they have characteristics I don't normally associate with "birds".

So how does "markedness theory" apply to motorcycles? I'm 54 years old. In the early '70s I began to notice that motorcycles looked "cool" and wanted to ride them, own them even one day. The "look" that existed at that time made that look "normal, expected" for me. The brain begins to believe that motorcycles "should" look a certain way. The look that I speak of is either an enduro type bike...or something that existed back then...Honda CBs. Both these styles of bikes are what comes to mind when I hear "motorcycle". Honda CBs and enduro type bikes are the "unmarked" bikes of the category "motorcycle". A crotch-rocket bike has something extra, a sporty look, speed that's unnecessary for me, lots of plastic on it, engines covered up--my mind doesn't conjure up the image of "crotch-rocket bike" (or any of the futuristic, transformer look of many MCs) when I hear "motorcycle"--these bikes would be "marked" for me...but maybe "unmarked" for my son, who did grow seeing "transformer bikes".

So...the CB1100 fits my expectations of what a "true" mc should look like...going all the way back to my childhood; not that I ever owned one back then, but I was around them. Its look was burned into my brain. As an adult...I didn't care that the ergos on it were off for me being tall. I didn't care that an in-line 4 would feel different that a twin. It looked...right. So I bought one.

My other bike? A KLR650, another throw-back bike with that "enduro" type look that I grew up with. In fact, my first and only bike as a teenager was a Kawasaki KLE250. I didn't stray far with the KLR.

Fun to think about what shapes our tastes. If I were designing courses for those studying business-marketing, I would insist that students study "markedness theory". We might get some really clever advertising.

Will do.

Guth I am also one of the early members and thank you very much for you starting this forum . However I am some what of a decenter on the
bikes looks.
Very early on I think I posted why I bought my 2013 . I had just retired and wanted a retirement bike after closing my motorcycle acc.
shop. My plan was to find a very used BMW sport touring bike. Sport touring bikes have always been my fav. . I had a PC800 ,a Wing , and about 2 or 3 bikes before I retired I bought a ST1100 which turned out
to be a bit much for me because of its weight.
I guess we all age at different rates. I know when I say this it will upset some people but is the way I feel. I am sure I have said on here on the
past when I was in the industry I used to make fun "retro" bikes.
I always said can't the Mfg. come up with something new?
I do like the way my bike looks but it was not the main reason I bought it. It was the right weight ,size and had the right ergos . and if
I sold a bike and a car I could afford to get it and retire and live on SS.
Don't get me wrong I do like UJMs , for sure I had many back in the 80s. Their looks never thrilled me.
I still like to ride my CB1100 and will remain my main ride till I have stop but its looks is not my main reason for owning it.
Sorry if this upsets any one.

That's funny! The MAIN reason I bought the CB1100 was for its looks. I don't think I even knew what an in-line 4 was--it's ergos weren't the best for me...but it just looked...right.

I hope the following isn't too pedantic... Just a tad, perhaps. What you've described, if one can divorce himself from pedantry, is bias.

It's a pretty long way around to say you don't like something, lol!

Can I just say that there are all kinds of motorcycles, in all kinds of sizes, colors, shapes and sizes? Kind of like people.

I never met a motorcycle I didn't like.

Guth I am also one of the early members and thank you very much for you starting this forum . However I am some what of a decenter on the
bikes looks.
Very early on I think I posted why I bought my 2013 . I had just retired and wanted a retirement bike after closing my motorcycle acc.
shop. My plan was to find a very used BMW sport touring bike. Sport touring bikes have always been my fav. . I had a PC800 ,a Wing , and about 2 or 3 bikes before I retired I bought a ST1100 which turned out
to be a bit much for me because of its weight.
I guess we all age at different rates. I know when I say this it will upset some people but is the way I feel. I am sure I have said on here on the
past when I was in the industry I used to make fun "retro" bikes.
I always said can't the Mfg. come up with something new?
I do like the way my bike looks but it was not the main reason I bought it. It was the right weight ,size and had the right ergos . and if
I sold a bike and a car I could afford to get it and retire and live on SS.
Don't get me wrong I do like UJMs , for sure I had many back in the 80s. Their looks never thrilled me.
I still like to ride my CB1100 and will remain my main ride till I have stop but its looks is not my main reason for owning it.
Sorry if this upsets any one.

I'm not. There are as many reasons to ride as there are riders.

Haha...It was a bit much...if "markedness" is limited to likes/dislikes, then maybe it can be reduced to "bias". But as a theory it's a lot more: in the world of motorcycles it might help a group of engineers agree on what makes for good engine design and what would be overly complex. The same engineers using principles of markedness might decide one exhaust design is elegant and another ungainly. Come on, run with me on this...

...or I didn't learn anything of value in grad school.

: )

[rotor]

The thread on "how dealers lose the sale" located elsewhere on this forum has proven to be rather entertaining in my opinion. We've found ourselves going back and forth a bit about whether or not the "N" (for Neutral) lights up on the gear indicator display. Well guys, in my mind a gear indicator is just one more thing that isn't really needed and almost out of place on a retro motorcycle. Nice to have? You guys tell me — I've actually never had one*. I guess that I've never needed such a thing. How big of a deal could the "N" not lighting up like the rest of the numbers really be? That answer is pretty obvious, not a big deal at all. Honda only added this sort of thing later on to appease people who had grown accustomed to such conveniences on other bikes they've owned. Which led me back to thinking about the true beauty of the CB1100 and why I'm grateful to Honda for creating it.

I have to laugh just a bit at a gear indicator discussion. I know that no one really thinks that how the the "N" is displayed is a big deal. But let me be clear, I'm not laughing at the guys discussing such matters. I'm laughing more at the thought of how nice is it to own this motorcycle (or any vehicle for that matter) where we end up focusing on something like how neutral is indicated on our bikes with so little else to go on about. That might be true of many Hondas, or many modern motorcycles in general (I've heard many people hear say things to the effect that they just don't make a bad motorcycle any more). But when you stop to think about what kind of motorcycle the CB1100 is perhaps this thought is just a bit more significant. That's not meant to make light of some of the other problems that some people have actually experienced with this bike. Ironically, I alone have probably experienced a total of more problems/issues with my CB1100 than any other person on this forum (just read through the entirety of my [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=11859]LONG post). And I know that we've already covered that it's nice to have little to complain about many times over in the past. But when I stop to think about just what kind of motorcycle the CB1100 really is I start to realize the true significance of such thoughts. This got me thinking about the true beauty of this motorcycle. Ponder this with me for a moment if you care to do so (heck I'm surprised that you've read this far, lol).

Honda created this machine as a homage to it's own motorcycling heritage in general and to their CB line of motorcycles in particular. They went to great lengths to deliver to us a modern motorcycle that replicates as many of the qualities of their CB series of motorcycles from the past as possible. But the resulting bike also had to pass muster with regards to the regulations placed upon the motorcycles of today. Just think about what a huge undertaking that was. Just as motorcycles themselves have evolved over the years, so too have the skills and knowledge of the people working within the motorcycle industry. It's not just the bikes themselves that have changed.

Engineers working on rame designs have grown more accustomed to making use of a number of that weren't part of the makeup of the CBs of the past. Things that are at the the modern engineers disposal like aluminum spar frames, steel trellis frames , monoshock configurations and more are now all at the disposal of today's engineers for creation of nice handling motorcycles. Engine designers have long made use of water cooling for a variety of reasons. In many cases today, what appears to be the fuel tank of a motorcycle is actually something else. Now I realize that a all of these things have been around for quite some time and are no longer considered modern innovations. But that's exactly my point. Honda actually made the effort and found the right team of people to assemble a bike that made as much use of old-school design (not styling — not the way it looks, but the way it functions ) as possible. Sure they blended it with a significant amount of modern engineering prowess and there is plenty of modern technology that exists on the CB1100. Honda's engineers still had to deliver a certain level of safety and performance and they still had to ensure that the bike could pass modern regulatory standards. But when I stop to actually think about the great lengths that they went to in order to make the CB1100 a retro machine it still kind of blows my mind. From the all-new air-cooled mill, to the double downtube steel frame with the twin shocks in the back. This was a big step backwards for them. I could almost be convinced that they would have made this bike carbureted if they could have gotten away with it and found a way to still pass modern emission standards. Aside from the advanced technology at their disposal in terms of computing power, etc., I'm guessing that more than a few engineers at Honda felt like they were in a bit of a time-warp when designing this bike. There were probably a number of engineers and the like who worked on the CB1100 project that wouldn't even have been familiar with the CBs of the 60's and 70's if they didn't work at Honda. I'm guessing that I'm not the only one who ponders these things. I know that Honda really wasn't concerned with marketing this bike, and I came to grips with that long ago. While I love the end result of all of their efforts: the CB1100 itself. The story that I wish Honda did a better job of telling is the story of the effort they went to to provide us with this bike.

I know that many of us poured over these types of thoughts when the CB1100 was first released. Things like how Honda even spec'ed out tires of a certain cross profile to match up perfectly with the 18" wheels for the overall type of experience that they wanted to provide the rider with. But I think a lot of people have lost sight of this sort of thing over time. Not people on this forum, but folks elsewhere in the motorcycling world. I feel that the guys who are wanting to compare the CB1100 directly with something like the Kawasaki Z900RS really don't understand the true beauty of the CB1100. Nor do they understand the intentions Honda had for this bike to begin with. It's a bit of a shame that so many people have lost sight of this story (of course many of them were probably never aware of this story to begin with). If someone realizes all of this and they just don't care, that's actually fine by me as that's a different matter. I'm not one of those guys however and every once in a while I'm happy to be reminded of what a beautiful and meaningful motorcycle the CB1100 truly is. All of which has nothing to do with the actual styling of the bike which I also happen to think is a thing of beauty as well. I still remain grateful that Honda went to the lengths that they did in order to provide us with a bit of their past wrapped up in a machine that is still available to many of us today.

Alright then, enough of my rambling. I'll now return you all to our regularly scheduled programming. And if you've read this far, I might just have to think about re-issuing the CB1100 Forum decoder rings once again (sorry popgun) as they might be needed just to help people navigate their way through my incredibly lengthy posts. I never start out with the intentions of carrying on for so long. I'm proud to own a motorcycle that still brings so many positive thought to mind for me.


*Now that I think about it, in all of the years since I've owned my license to ride/drive, the only illuminated gear indicator of any sort in/on any of my vehicles has been of the "PRNDL" variety that currently resides in my Tundra truck. Every other vehicle that I've ever owned has been a manual gearbox of some sort and none of them have had gear indicators of any sort. The lone exception was my old 1967 Camaro Convertible — it had an automatic transmission, but even it didn't have any sort of indicator on the instrument cluster. Man, the CB1100 is cool being retro and all, but I guess that I'm truly an antique.

...and the original motivation to design and build it.

Guth, everything else you wrote in that post is absolutely true. But, if I may, you glossed over the discrepancy between the inspiration and the effort that went into the CB1100 design and production and the almost total lack of any marketing effort for this particular motorcycle. To me, this remains a puzzle. Not that it bothers me personally - if anything, I find the exclusivity of riding and owning this motorcycle a small bonus.

The number of CB1100s is too small and geographically dispersed to organize an event that would justify the cost (given the obvious meager CB1100 marketing budget of someone from Honda to attend with a bit of model creation inside info presentation and Q&A. But in this day and age an on-line streamed event of that sort might be entirely practical, and this forum and your position as a dean of this fine group of motorists makes you a natural catalyst for making this happen.

I would be quite surprised if someone from Honda is not lurking from across the ocean. (Despite the limitations of CB1100 marketing budget

[VLJ_imp]

I have a 17 EX and I bought this motorcycle for exactly what it is. And what it is not.
Build quality is excellent and the cost reflects a lot of that. There is a plethora of excellent motorcycles that you can get for the same $$ or less.
But they don't offer (me) what the CB does.
The motor is a sweetheart. Full boat of torque right off idle with one of the flattest torque plots I have ever seen. 2 up perfection.
I didn't want a super sport, but I would still consider this(my EX) a sports bike. It handles the twisties just as well as the present tires and suspension will allow. The ABS prevents stoppies, but we all make sacrifices.
I really do like the look (wished it would have been closer to the Whitehouse K10 though), but I have put my own touch on her because that is what we do.
Most people really don't know what to think of this motorcycle which is perfect because I couldn't care crap what anyone else thinks about her. The looks I get from the HD lifestylers are priceless! Maybe I should have bought a "real" motorcycle? LOL!
We live in the most wonderful age of motorcycles. What/How/Where do you want to ride? Take your pick. How can you go wrong?

Well, yeah, folks that think their motorcycle is the only one worth owning are everywhere, I guess. No one on this forum, we're strictly non-partisan, lol.

One of the reasons I got the CB1100 at first was for two-up riding, which it's great at. I did a really long ride up Highway 1, Skaggs Springs Road, back down to Cloverdale and Petaluma on the bike with a passenger. Easy, it loves every kind of road.

Anyone knows Skaggs Springs knows what I mean. Also harassed some BMW riders, two-up with a pillion...all in fun of course.

The CB1100 is not a sports bike, that's already been decided around here.

But don't tell anyone. It'll be our little secret.

Whoa! A Skaggs Springs mention! Nice!

And here I thought I was the only one.

Seriously, though, Skaggs Springs Rd, Rockpile Rd, and Spanish Flat Rd around Lake Berryessa are a few of the roads that worry me when I think about the CB1100. I've ridden those roads for the past two decades, almost always on sport bikes or sporty sport-tourers. Having watched the videos of the CB1100, which show how early and easily the CB scrapes pegs, I just can't imagine that it would let me do anything like my ride a week or two ago on my XSR900 up there on Skaggs.

I'm pretty much resigned to giving up those sorts of rides, if I get a CB1100. Or, if I do continue to ride those roads, I figure I'll just have to start riding them in a slow, leisurely, sight-seeing manner, like the BMW/GoldWing/cruiser riders I see up there.

And I'm okay with that...I think.

[emptysea]

If we agree that one's like or dislike for a thing can be referred to as 'bias', then I contend that one's bias is a function of it's markedness, not a synonym for it. The UJM was the style of motorcycle I knew growing up...it is the unmarked version of the motorcycles of that time. An image of the archetypal motorcycle becomes ingrained in my mind and that image is of the UJM (a Kawasaki in my particular case, as it happens). It is only after I have decided what a motorcycle should look like that my bias toward them, or possibly against them I suppose, comes forth.

Now, I didn't go to grad school and didn't pay much attention in undergrad, either, so I may not have "Markedness Theory" completely understood, so feel free to let me know if I have strayed someplace along the way.

Again...thanks for the interesting post.

[pdedse]

If we agree that one's like or dislike for a thing can be referred to as 'bias', then I contend that one's bias is a function of it's markedness, not a synonym for it. The UJM was the style of motorcycle I knew growing up...it is the unmarked version of the motorcycles of that time. An image of the archetypal motorcycle becomes ingrained in my mind and that image is of the UJM (a Kawasaki in my particular case, as it happens). It is only after I have decided what a motorcycle should look like that my bias toward them, or possibly against them I suppose, comes forth.

Now, I didn't go to grad school and didn't pay much attention in undergrad, either, so I may not have "Markedness Theory" completely understood, so feel free to let me know if I have strayed someplace along the way.

Again...thanks for the interesting post.

Yes, this...I think you understood just fine. And with that, I'll crawl back into my unmarked hole.

[Guth_imp]

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.

[use2b_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

[Guth_imp]

The thread on "how dealers lose the sale" located elsewhere on this forum has proven to be rather entertaining in my opinion. We've found ourselves going back and forth a bit about whether or not the "N" (for Neutral) lights up on the gear indicator display. Well guys, in my mind a gear indicator is just one more thing that isn't really needed and almost out of place on a retro motorcycle. Nice to have? You guys tell me — I've actually never had one*. I guess that I've never needed such a thing. How big of a deal could the "N" not lighting up like the rest of the numbers really be? That answer is pretty obvious, not a big deal at all. Honda only added this sort of thing later on to appease people who had grown accustomed to such conveniences on other bikes they've owned. Which led me back to thinking about the true beauty of the CB1100 and why I'm grateful to Honda for creating it.

I have to laugh just a bit at a gear indicator discussion. I know that no one really thinks that how the the "N" is displayed is a big deal. But let me be clear, I'm not laughing at the guys discussing such matters. I'm laughing more at the thought of how nice is it to own this motorcycle (or any vehicle for that matter) where we end up focusing on something like how neutral is indicated on our bikes with so little else to go on about. That might be true of many Hondas, or many modern motorcycles in general (I've heard many people hear say things to the effect that they just don't make a bad motorcycle any more). But when you stop to think about what kind of motorcycle the CB1100 is perhaps this thought is just a bit more significant. That's not meant to make light of some of the other problems that some people have actually experienced with this bike. Ironically, I alone have probably experienced a total of more problems/issues with my CB1100 than any other person on this forum (just read through the entirety of my [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=11859]LONG post). And I know that we've already covered that it's nice to have little to complain about many times over in the past. But when I stop to think about just what kind of motorcycle the CB1100 really is I start to realize the true significance of such thoughts. This got me thinking about the true beauty of this motorcycle. Ponder this with me for a moment if you care to do so (heck I'm surprised that you've read this far, lol).

Honda created this machine as a homage to it's own motorcycling heritage in general and to their CB line of motorcycles in particular. They went to great lengths to deliver to us a modern motorcycle that replicates as many of the qualities of their CB series of motorcycles from the past as possible. But the resulting bike also had to pass muster with regards to the regulations placed upon the motorcycles of today. Just think about what a huge undertaking that was. Just as motorcycles themselves have evolved over the years, so too have the skills and knowledge of the people working within the motorcycle industry. It's not just the bikes themselves that have changed.

Engineers working on rame designs have grown more accustomed to making use of a number of that weren't part of the makeup of the CBs of the past. Things that are at the the modern engineers disposal like aluminum spar frames, steel trellis frames , monoshock configurations and more are now all at the disposal of today's engineers for creation of nice handling motorcycles. Engine designers have long made use of water cooling for a variety of reasons. In many cases today, what appears to be the fuel tank of a motorcycle is actually something else. Now I realize that a all of these things have been around for quite some time and are no longer considered modern innovations. But that's exactly my point. Honda actually made the effort and found the right team of people to assemble a bike that made as much use of old-school design (not styling — not the way it looks, but the way it functions ) as possible. Sure they blended it with a significant amount of modern engineering prowess and there is plenty of modern technology that exists on the CB1100. Honda's engineers still had to deliver a certain level of safety and performance and they still had to ensure that the bike could pass modern regulatory standards. But when I stop to actually think about the great lengths that they went to in order to make the CB1100 a retro machine it still kind of blows my mind. From the all-new air-cooled mill, to the double downtube steel frame with the twin shocks in the back. This was a big step backwards for them. I could almost be convinced that they would have made this bike carbureted if they could have gotten away with it and found a way to still pass modern emission standards. Aside from the advanced technology at their disposal in terms of computing power, etc., I'm guessing that more than a few engineers at Honda felt like they were in a bit of a time-warp when designing this bike. There were probably a number of engineers and the like who worked on the CB1100 project that wouldn't even have been familiar with the CBs of the 60's and 70's if they didn't work at Honda. I'm guessing that I'm not the only one who ponders these things. I know that Honda really wasn't concerned with marketing this bike, and I came to grips with that long ago. While I love the end result of all of their efforts: the CB1100 itself. The story that I wish Honda did a better job of telling is the story of the effort they went to to provide us with this bike.

I know that many of us poured over these types of thoughts when the CB1100 was first released. Things like how Honda even spec'ed out tires of a certain cross profile to match up perfectly with the 18" wheels for the overall type of experience that they wanted to provide the rider with. But I think a lot of people have lost sight of this sort of thing over time. Not people on this forum, but folks elsewhere in the motorcycling world. I feel that the guys who are wanting to compare the CB1100 directly with something like the Kawasaki Z900RS really don't understand the true beauty of the CB1100. Nor do they understand the intentions Honda had for this bike to begin with. It's a bit of a shame that so many people have lost sight of this story (of course many of them were probably never aware of this story to begin with). If someone realizes all of this and they just don't care, that's actually fine by me as that's a different matter. I'm not one of those guys however and every once in a while I'm happy to be reminded of what a beautiful and meaningful motorcycle the CB1100 truly is. All of which has nothing to do with the actual styling of the bike which I also happen to think is a thing of beauty as well. I still remain grateful that Honda went to the lengths that they did in order to provide us with a bit of their past wrapped up in a machine that is still available to many of us today.

Alright then, enough of my rambling. I'll now return you all to our regularly scheduled programming. And if you've read this far, I might just have to think about re-issuing the CB1100 Forum decoder rings once again (sorry popgun) as they might be needed just to help people navigate their way through my incredibly lengthy posts. I never start out with the intentions of carrying on for so long. I'm proud to own a motorcycle that still brings so many positive thought to mind for me.


*Now that I think about it, in all of the years since I've owned my license to ride/drive, the only illuminated gear indicator of any sort in/on any of my vehicles has been of the "PRNDL" variety that currently resides in my Tundra truck. Every other vehicle that I've ever owned has been a manual gearbox of some sort and none of them have had gear indicators of any sort. The lone exception was my old 1967 Camaro Convertible — it had an automatic transmission, but even it didn't have any sort of indicator on the instrument cluster. Man, the CB1100 is cool being retro and all, but I guess that I'm truly an antique.

...and the original motivation to design and build it.

Guth, everything else you wrote in that post is absolutely true. But, if I may, you glossed over the discrepancy between the inspiration and the effort that went into the CB1100 design and production and the almost total lack of any marketing effort for this particular motorcycle. To me, this remains a puzzle. Not that it bothers me personally - if anything, I find the exclusivity of riding and owning this motorcycle a small bonus.

The number of CB1100s is too small and geographically dispersed to organize an event that would justify the cost (given the obvious meager CB1100 marketing budget of someone from Honda to attend with a bit of model creation inside info presentation and Q&A. But in this day and age an on-line streamed event of that sort might be entirely practical, and this forum and your position as a dean of this fine group of motorists makes you a natural catalyst for making this happen.

I would be quite surprised if someone from Honda is not lurking from across the ocean. (Despite the limitations of CB1100 marketing budget

Yes, you're right — I did gloss over the inspiration. But to my credit I have discussed this somewhat extensively in the past. One of the reasons that I personally prefer the original CB1100 design to the later variations is that I think it does the best job of acknowledging the widest array of Honda CBs from the past while still being "it's own thing". That said, I think that Honda was wise to change things up over time to appeal to a wider range of folks. And while I prefer the original, I'm sure that I'd be happy owning any of them.

It's funny that you would mention the presentation of inside info and Q&A type interview. Just last week I was exchanging emails with Mr. T (of Samurider.com fame) informing him of an idea I've had for a while now. I would like to try to get in touch with Mitsuyoshi Kohama if possible (reaching someone within Honda PR that could relay messages would probably be my best hope at this). I'd like to let Mr. Kohama know how much this motorcycle is appreciated by so many of us and how this bike literally has been responsible for bringing people together from across the globe. In addition, I'd like to send along a few questions involving the CB1100, his role as the chief designer of the bike and any other information that he might care to share regarding the history of the design and development of this incredible machine. But the logistics are a bit daunting and finding any kind of contact info for Honda Japan (email being the favored method of communication) is like solving one of those "Where's Waldo" puzzles that my son had as a kid. But I guess you never know, I was hoping to put this together before April roles around (the 5th anniversary for the forum). By the way, I highly doubt that any one from Honda has browses this forum. Just think about how many motorcycle forums there are out there in total. We ride a Honda that is a drop in the bucket of Honda motorcycles and converse on a forum that is a drop in the bucket of Honda motorcycle forums. The odds are stacked pretty high against me, lol.

[the Ferret]

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