First Ride

[coach50_imp]

Finally got to ride the CB1100, for a grand total of 27 miles! Rode it home from brother-in Laws warehouse Monday evening, rode it to work yesterday. 2 observations, 1. way too much slop in throttle, which I adjusted out when I got home from work; 2. Rear brakes don't do squat, at least compared to other bikes I've ridden. Still pondering that.

All in all, a big thumbs up.

Looking forward to some destination riding this summer.....

Cheers :beerchug:

 

[kennyw]

There have been a few people that have reported that their rear brakes needed to be bleed after delivery.

 

[Lord Popgun]

And me being the biggest complainer as my dealer would do nothing. I bled it myself and a lot of air came out. Was pretty good after that.

Ferret fixed his when he traded it in for his DLX

 

[the Ferret]

Careful Coach you don't want to wear it out lol. Seriously congrats on picking her up and now that the weather is moderating you will have a lot more chances to put some miles on her.

My 13 rear brake absolutely sucked. All it was good for was holding the bike from coasting back on a slight grade. I took it in and the Honda Service rep had a look at it and declared it satisfactory. Well ok then... So I traded it in for a 2014 dlx. Can't say the rear brakes on it are superb but they at least contribute a little towards getting stopped. The 13 contributed nothing, less than nothing.

 

[Lord Popgun]

Coach,

Is your bike a '14? If so, that's the first complaint of the rear brake here.

There were, I think, 4 of us that posted the problem (don't know about non posters, obviously). A dealer bled, then went back and changed the fluid and bled again for one guy. I did mine, Ferret never got around to anything and then traded and the last guy I don't remember. But all the complaints were on the '13s. Everybody with '14s said no problem.

Bleeding the brake is EASY. If you have a DLX or ABS bike, I'd have to look up how.

 

[4 Paws_imp]

Glad you got to ride it, sucks the dealers don't test ride and adjust before taking our money.

 

[Tezza_imp]

My 2010 model rear brake works fine...but then i am used to riding 70's bikes with drum brakes.

 

[coach50_imp]

Coach,

Is your bike a '14? If so, that's the first complaint of the rear brake here.

There were, I think, 4 of us that posted the problem (don't know about non posters, obviously). A dealer bled, then went back and changed the fluid and bled again for one guy. I did mine, Ferret never got around to anything and then traded and the last guy I don't remember. But all the complaints were on the '13s. Everybody with '14s said no problem.

Bleeding the brake is EASY. If you have a DLX or ABS bike, I'd have to look up how.

Hey PG;

Yes, it's a 2014. Bleeding it should not be a biggie, it just seems a little strange, in that in the past, the pedal always felt "spongey" on brakes that had air in them, the rear pedal here feels real hard, and doesn't move much, with little effect. Maybe its just different than the rear brake on my '97 Bandit...Then, again, its been 1 1/2 years since I rode, thanks to rotator cuff surgeries..so maybe I just need to recalibrate.. Thanks

Cheers

:beerchug:

 

[Rocky_imp]

Hmmm, that's an interesting observation and don't believe I've heard it before.
The rear brake on my '14 seems to work well enough.
As suggested, may need to be bled.

 

[coach50_imp]

Hmmm, that's an interesting observation and don't believe I've heard it before.
The rear brake on my '14 seems to work well enough.
As suggested, may need to be bled.

The pedal feels so "hard", I actually thought there might be a shipping "block" that got left installed, that prevents it from moving or something silly like that..I started to look closely at it last night, but wisely chose to call it a night and seek out my nightcap! Rode the bike to work today, still feels rock hard so to speak. There's a joke in there, but being a newbie, not sure where the out of bounds lines are..

Cheers

:beerchug:

 

[the Ferret]

Boundary lines are pretty narrow here lol. We try and keep it clean and family friendly, but I think ,most will still get the innuendo it goes without saying you enjoyed your ride to work

 

[Lord Popgun]

Coach,

Is your bike a '14? If so, that's the first complaint of the rear brake here.

There were, I think, 4 of us that posted the problem (don't know about non posters, obviously). A dealer bled, then went back and changed the fluid and bled again for one guy. I did mine, Ferret never got around to anything and then traded and the last guy I don't remember. But all the complaints were on the '13s. Everybody with '14s said no problem.

Bleeding the brake is EASY. If you have a DLX or ABS bike, I'd have to look up how.

Hey PG;

Yes, it's a 2014. Bleeding it should not be a biggie, it just seems a little strange, in that in the past, the pedal always felt "spongey" on brakes that had air in them, the rear pedal here feels real hard, and doesn't move much, with little effect. Maybe its just different than the rear brake on my '97 Bandit...Then, again, its been 1 1/2 years since I rode, thanks to rotator cuff surgeries..so maybe I just need to recalibrate.. Thanks

Cheers

:beerchug:

Hey PG;

Yes, it's a 2014. Bleeding it should not be a biggie, it just seems a little strange, in that in the past, the pedal always felt "spongey" on brakes that had air in them, the rear pedal here feels real hard, and doesn't move much, with little effect. Maybe its just different than the rear brake on my '97 Bandit...Then, again, its been 1 1/2 years since I rode, thanks to rotator cuff surgeries..so maybe I just need to recalibrate.. Thanks

Cheers

:beerchug:
My service manager said the same thing. It would be spongy if it had air in it. Well he was wrong. But, it only cost me a bottle of brake fluid and a small amount of time to fix.

Just so you know. You can't really get the reservoir cap off unless you unbolt the bracket that holds the reservoir and then just move it out from under the frame cross piece. Easy. And it won't fall over. Just DO NOT get brake fluid on any paint. You may know that. Some people do not.

 

[coach50_imp]

Boundary lines are pretty narrow here lol. We try and keep it clean and family friendly, but I think ,most will still get the innuendo it goes without saying you enjoyed your ride to work

Yes, i really did enjoy the ride. Being a life long NJ resident, family oriented communication doesn't come naturally to me. But its funny how having 2 grand-daughters tends to clean up ones vocabulary right nice. Especially when I know they would rat me out to Grandma in a heart beat!

Cheers

:beerchug:

 

[the Ferret]

Boundary lines are pretty narrow here lol. We try and keep it clean and family friendly, but I think ,most will still get the innuendo it goes without saying you enjoyed your ride to work

Yes, i really did enjoy the ride. Being a life long NJ resident, family oriented communication doesn't come naturally to me. But its funny how having 2 grand-daughters tends to clean up ones vocabulary right nice. Especially when I know they would rat me out to Grandma in a heart beat!

Cheers

:beerchug:

Yes, I really did enjoy the ride. Being a life long NJ resident, family oriented communication doesn't come naturally to me. But its funny how having 2 grand-daughters tends to clean up ones vocabulary right nice. Especially when I know they would rat me out to Grandma in a heart beat!

Cheers

:beerchug:
:rofl: Don't ya just hate it when something "slips out" and you have to say, "don't ever say that"! I have 4 grandkids from 16 down to 1 (the two youngest I baby sit every Friday) so I know what you're talking about.

 

[Ulvetanna_imp]

My brakes, front and rear, are excellent. I did find a pinched throttle cable when I pulled the bike apart to check the valve clearances. I corrected this, as it was causing a cable drag issue when the bars were turned full left lock after doing the Chip Beck hand prop, er, handlebar modification. No more drag.

This rear brake thing is a real mystery to me. Brakes are simple system. If it needs bleeding it would feel mushy, not excessively firm.

Maybe some folks are jumping to conclusions about the brake. The bike has a long wheelbase and is fairly heavy, and the brake needs to wear in. Sometimes brakes take thousands of miles to really seat-in and work optimally, especially with street pads and rotors, but this sounds more like a situation where the new owner is just not used to what he's got in the new bike.

I say this because here again, many CB1100 owners are probably more used to using a lot of rear brake and not so much front, and it feels weak.

I saw a thread that also complained that the front brakes were too powerful, which tends to support that conclusion.

Yesterday I rode 55 miles of fast, deserted twisting road, and found numerous opportunities to explore the limits of both brakes, practicing bringing the front to near-lockup (tire is howling nicely, not quite squealing) and using both brakes together. These brakes are just outright superb, I wouldn't change anything about them.

Something to keep in mind when evaluating the bike is that it is in fact a sportbike and is listed as such on Honda's website. It might look like old technology, but au contraire, it is not a relic. Those brakes were lifted from the CBR1000RR of the earlier generation.

In the interest of full disclosure, I do not have ABS.

 

[Lord Popgun]

All I know is me pushing on the rear break did pretty much nothing. Bled rear brake. Worked just fine. YMMV

 

[Cormanus]

Ulvetanna, it's curious that Honda US classifies the bike as a sport bike. In Canada it's 'naked' (as it was in Australia when it was sold here) and in the UK it's a 'street' bike.

 

[fritzwilliger_imp]

Ulvetanna, it's curious that Honda US classifies the bike as a sport bike. In Canada it's 'naked' (as it was in Australia when it was sold here) and in the UK it's a 'street' bike.

It's all in the "marketing"...!
fritz

 

[emptysea]

The US Honda site has "Sport" and "Supersport" categories. Fritz is probably right about marketing. As I said in another thread, "Standard" seems just too standard.

Incidentally, I don't think it's fair to assume that many of us are used to using a lot of rear brake. Even one media review of our bike mentioned the weak rear brake.

 

[coach50_imp]

So, I have now managed to reach 159 miles on the bike, and each ride to work ( 20 miles round trip), I find myself settling into the bike more and more. It starting to feel like Honda built this bike for me! Haven't done anything about the rear brake, but bleeding it is on the list.

Ride safe this w/e!!

:beerchug: