Hi thinking about getting a cb 1100 have some questions

Welcome Calipo223. I've put over 14,000 miles on a more or less bone stock 2013. My opinions focus ONLY on the 2013. I have two other bikes in the garage along side it and could go out tomorrow and replace it with a Modus if I wanted to, but that's not going to happen. I mention this only to show the level of esteem I hold this particular machine at.

1) I consider this bike to be a COMPETANT performer across the entire spectrum of road riding. I live in a mountainous area and within minutes can climb 5,000 feet in elevation from my house. I frequently push this bike pretty hard in the process of covering that terrain. The CB does what's requested of it with aplomb. It doesn't carve canyons like a scalpel, however, it WILL carve them, but more like a quality blade from Solingen, Germany.

2) Having never ridden a 2017 I don't dispute that the suspension has been upgraded. However, after dialing in the 13's adjustments I haven't had to touch them for my likes.

3) I consider the look of the 2013 to be the most appealing to my eyes. I LIKE the way the headers twist towards the bikes anatomical right side and all converge into the single sided exhaust can. The fact that this bikes headers BRONZE from use is an added bonus. I just which the fenders did it as well :).

I could go on and on and make point and counterpoint about this and that (5 gears vs 6, more petroleum capacity and so forth) but I'll leave that to the rest of you.

I will make one more observation that I believe is uncontestable regardless of what vintage CB you saddle up on.

Low mileage 2013's are UNQUESTIONABLY some of the BEST values currently on the secondary market in motorcycledom. PERIOD!

Calipo223, if you do happen to pick up a CB stick around. This forum is a great place. I've learned a lot from these folks and scored some smoking deals from our for sale page.

I'm going to go ride the CB now to our local Einsteins Bagels and score a toasted poppy seed bagel with lox. :biker:
 
I was planning on buying a used big twin this summer. I stumbled across the CB1100 in a online article. I did some research and was able to pick up a new 14 from a dealer 2 miles away for under$ 7000. I'm sure this bike will fit my needs. I bought it in late Oct and have under 200 miles on it. I wouldn't have and didn't look at spending over $10,000 on a bike at this point in my life. My big thing is fly fishing in Ak for salmon every year. I will ride in April, May, and June. July Aug Sept and some of Oct is for fishing. I enjoy riding. I love my time in the bush with my dog and my fly rod. You have a great opportunity to make a choice. New or used? 14 or 17? All your choices are good ones. I'm really happy with my new bike.
 
Empty Sea, I did my best to answer the OP's question by telling him to buy whichever bike he likes more (assuming he can afford either one), and, failing that, to get the cheaper one if he has no preference at all. Otherwise, all I did was state the objective improvements Honda made to the '17 model, in response to Wisedrum's erroneous statement, "Further development did not make the Honda any better, the opposite is the case." I also detailed the fallacy of his subsequent statement, "It driftes too much away from the origin."

The only subjective opinions I offered concerned the looks of the two gas tanks, and the sound of each bike. I'll grant that there are still a number of people who prefer the look of the '13's tank, although I have my doubts that too many of those people would say the same if they saw both bikes parked together in person, and weren't already biased as a result of being owners of the '13. I believe that one good look at the '17 in bright sunlight would put paid to any such notions, at least among truly neutral observers. I also believe that one would be hard-pressed to find a single soul who wouldn't prefer the '17's sound after hearing each bike side by side.

Beyond those two things, everything else was factual statements describing the differences between the two bikes, and I left it up to the OP to decide for himself whether those differences meant enough to him to justify the higher cost.
 
VLJ_imp said:
Empty Sea, I did my best to answer the OP's question by telling him to buy whichever bike he likes more (assuming he can afford either one), and, failing that, to get the cheaper one if he has no preference at all. Otherwise, all I did was state the objective improvements Honda made to the '17 model, in response to Wisedrum's erroneous statement, "Further development did not make the Honda any better, the opposite is the case." I also detailed the fallacy of his subsequent statement, "It driftes too much away from the origin."

The only subjective opinions I offered concerned the looks of the two gas tanks, and the sound of each bike. I'll grant that there are still a number of people who prefer the look of the '13's tank, although I have my doubts that too many of those people would say the same if they saw both bikes parked together in person, and weren't already biased as a result of being owners of the '13. I believe that one good look at the '17 in bright sunlight would put paid to any such notions, at least among truly neutral observers. I also believe that one would be hard-pressed to find a single soul who wouldn't prefer the '17's sound after hearing each bike side by side.

Beyond those two things, everything else was factual statements describing the differences between the two bikes, and I left it up to the OP to decide for himself whether those differences meant enough to him to justify the higher cost.
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Not true.

When my local dealer first got a '17 in stock I took my '14 and parked beside it to see which bike I liked better. Two separate people walked by and said they liked the blue one better.
 
They may just have just preferred blue to red. They may have liked some other part of the blue bike better.

Who knows?

Make it a red-to-red comparison.
 
VLJ_imp said:
Empty Sea, I did my best to answer the OP's question by telling him to buy whichever bike he likes more (assuming he can afford either one), and, failing that, to get the cheaper one if he has no preference at all. Otherwise, all I did was state the objective improvements Honda made to the '17 model, in response to Wisedrum's erroneous statement, "Further development did not make the Honda any better, the opposite is the case." I also detailed the fallacy of his subsequent statement, "It driftes too much away from the origin."

The only subjective opinions I offered concerned the looks of the two gas tanks, and the sound of each bike. I'll grant that there are still a number of people who prefer the look of the '13's tank, although I have my doubts that too many of those people would say the same if they saw both bikes parked together in person, and weren't already biased as a result of being owners of the '13. I believe that one good look at the '17 in bright sunlight would put paid to any such notions, at least among truly neutral observers. I also believe that one would be hard-pressed to find a single soul who wouldn't prefer the '17's sound after hearing each bike side by side.

Beyond those two things, everything else was factual statements describing the differences between the two bikes, and I left it up to the OP to decide for himself whether those differences meant enough to him to justify the higher cost.
Click to expand...
You found one... I parked my DLX next to an EX outside at a local dealership and to my ear the DLX sounds far better!!! To my eye the DLX also looks far better from every angle, including the gauges. The perfect CB for me would be the DLX with the EX forks, shocks and clutch... three improvements I'm very tempted to make!!!
 
BestStandard, the EX and DLX share the same gauges, except that the Deluxe's instruments use a different font for the speedo and tach, and the Deluxe has the green faces. If you're referring to the green color, I agree, I prefer those to the black ones on the EX.

Now, how could the DLX sound "far better"? It makes almost no sound at all. The EX also isn't loud by any stretch of the imagination, but at least when you blip the throttle it has a cool snarl, which the '14 and '13 models lack.
 
No doubt the 2017 has better suspension and a bit more power, however, my wife recently purchased a low mileage 2013 for $4500. My brother bought a new 2014, which has the 6 speed, for $7000. At these prices suspension and exhaust upgrades can be made to bring the older models up to a better level of performance and you will still have less invested than what a 2017 would cost. All the CB's look great but in my opinion the 2013 is still the best looking version.
VLJ_imp said:
BestStandard, the EX and DLX share the same gauges, except that the Deluxe's instruments use a different font for the speedo and tach, and the Deluxe has the green faces. If you're referring to the green color, I agree, I prefer those to the black ones on the EX.

Now, how could the DLX sound "far better"? It makes almost no sound at all. The EX also isn't loud by any stretch of the imagination, but at least when you blip the throttle it has a cool snarl, which the '14 and '13 models lack.
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The 2017 has the best sounding stock exhaust but the Arrow slip-on for the 2013, 2014 Cb's lowers the weight a tad and sounds lovely.
 
And I like mine not making any noise. Not into loud bikes and cars. YMMV and most likely does :)
 
wow lot of interesting points and opinions.

I think the 13 looks the sportiest and the 4 into 1 make it the easiest to do chain maintenance on, but I don't care for the head pipes being in stainless which discolors or the silver side covers, or the black motor.

I like the shape and symmetry of the dual exhaust 14 dlx,the silver motor and wheels, the chrome waterfall head pipes that will always be chrome, and the 6 speed and gauges set up with gear indicator.

I actually like the two tone paint on the motor of the 17 EX and the spokes, and the smaller dual exhaust but don't care for the gas tank. Upgraded suspension would not be the carrot which would make me buy one, because I don't think I would notice the big difference that other people do, but that's just me.

Thing is, you can't go wrong with any of them.. 13 std, 13 abs, 14 std, 14 dlx, 17 EX.....they are all the same.. just a little different.
 
mickey Wrote:I think the 13 looks the sportiest
Definitely.

Well, except for the RS, obviously.

Quote:the 4 into 1 make it the easiest to do chain maintenance on
Holy crap, that is so true! Because of the location of the left-side pipe, I've never had such a difficult time getting to the chain to do cleaning and lubing. The Triumph T120 is just as bad, even with the chain on the opposite side.

Quote:I don't care for the head pipes being in stainless which discolors
Yep, I prefer the double-walled chrome pipes.

Quote:or the silver side covers
I'd prefer red, or my brushed aluminum piece. I don't want silver paint. Regardless, it needs to fit within the frame. That's the one thing I don't like about the '14 Deluxe, the way the cover loses its shape as it extends beyond the frame.

Quote:or the black motor.
For cleaning's sake, I prefer the black motor. Otherwise, I've come to realize that I have no real preference. All silver, all black, or two-tone silver and black, I'm equally fine with any of them.

Quote:I like the shape and symmetry of the dual exhaust
For sure.

Quote:the silver motor and wheels
The black '14 Standard needs black wheels. Otherwise, yep, the silver wheels or stainless spokes are preferable to black wheels.

Quote:the chrome waterfall head pipes that will always be chrome and the 6 speed and gauges set up with gear indicator.
No doubt.

Quote:I actually like the two tone paint on the motor of the 17 EX and the spokes, and the smaller dual exhaust but don't care for the gas tank.
If the '13's tank was seamless and offered the same capacity as the Deluxe or EX, and the brilliant paintwork of the EX, that'd be perfect. Otherwise, the EX has the prettiest tank, due to the lack of seams and crazy paint.

Quote:Upgraded suspension would not be the carrot which would make me buy one, because I don't think I would notice the big difference that other people do, but that's just me.
You'd notice it right away, guaranteed. Similar to Wisedrum, you could easily convince yourself that you don't need it, but there is no way you wouldn't prefer it once you experienced it. You certainly wouldn't want to swap back to the old suspension and chassis.

Quote:Thing is, you can't go wrong with any of them.. 13 std, 13 abs, 14 std, 14 dlx, 17 EX.....they are all the same.. just a little different.
With each model suffering such a quick sales death in the U.S., I'm wondering whether any/all of them will eventually acquire cult status, like the 650 Hawk GT, or the WR650. Or, rather, will they be relegated to the well-deserved PC800/B-King Dustbin of Ignominy?
 
The ferret_imp said:
wow lot of interesting points and opinions.

I think the 13 looks the sportiest and the 4 into 1 make it the easiest to do chain maintenance on, but I don't care for the head pipes being in stainless which discolors or the silver side covers, or the black motor.

I like the shape and symmetry of the dual exhaust 14 dlx,the silver motor and wheels, the chrome waterfall head pipes that will always be chrome, and the 6 speed and gauges set up with gear indicator.

I actually like the two tone paint on the motor of the 17 EX and the spokes, and the smaller dual exhaust but don't care for the gas tank. Upgraded suspension would not be the carrot which would make me buy one, because I don't think I would notice the big difference that other people do, but that's just me.

Thing is, you can't go wrong with any of them.. 13 std, 13 abs, 14 std, 14 dlx, 17 EX.....they are all the same.. just a little different.
Click to expand...
The sportiest and best looking CB as another forum member mentioned earlier. I agree.

The stainless head pipes discolor with brown sparkles, but you can hinder them in doing so by using ballistol oil after each ride and wipe it of before the next. Takes a little effort and becomes a routine, if you want the golden glance.

American 2013 models seems to differ from European ones. In black the CB has black side covers and a silver engine, which I like. The best color combination in my eyes til now. Simple but with a certain expression. The maroon Honda logo on the side of the tank is something special. Too bad that Honda left it out nowadays, although pointing out during the first CB presentation that it is so important...not important anymore....

Wisedrum
 
I posted this the day I brought it home and my opinion is unchanged (and most of our comments are simply opinion):

Re 2014 standard

• I prefer the 4 into 1 exhaust for appearance, lighter weight, chain access and nostalgia for my 1976 CB750F.

• a steel fuel tank, although I like the style and extra capacity of the aluminum 2017 tank

• alloy wheels, which are easier to clean and much easier to deal with a tubeless tire puncture on the road

• and the black/chrome appearance, with reminds me of my first bike, when I was 16

I did not get as super a deal as several have reported, but it came out of the crate the day I took delivery. $8,784.81, less $4,000 for my 2018 Yamaha XT250, which took 4 months for them to sell at or under $2,999.

Registration and insurance seemed less with a 2014 model purchased in late 2017.
 
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