How good is the CB 1100?

Thread starter
I know the FJR is supposed to be the "sportiest" of the sport tourers, but I don't think it handles the curves as well as the CB 1100 which I can pretty much rail effortlessly ,rail being a relative term considering my age and speed inclinations, (as I could on my ST 1300), but this tall, high cog sport tourer takes a lot more work to smoothly negotiate the curves. My favorite local loop(which I call "the Loop) which I ride a couple times a week, is about 36 miles long and has 164 curves that require input and leaning (not just wiggles in the road)

See post #1 and post #16

http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=9919&highlight=curves

It is much easier to ride this loop on the CB (and ST) than it is on the FJR. The FJR requires a LOT of input into the bars to initiate and to hold the line. Part of the issue may be familiarity since I've had the CB for 4 years and 42,000 miles and had the ST for 10 years and 110,000 miles. I've only had the FJR for 4 months ( 6 weeks of which I had a broken arm) and 4500 miles. Another part of the issue may be the junk (IMO) stock Bridgestone tires which will be replaced with my favorite Michelins as soon as I can wear these out (they appear to be over 1/2 way there), and part of the issue may be the high COG of the Yamaha (who puts a 10 pound battery in the right side of the fairing .... headlight high?). It may also partially be the narrow and weirdly angled handlebars. All I am sure of at this point is I find either of the Honda's much easier to ride quickly on a curvy road. Especially the CB 1100.
 
I agree .... the CB is one easy-handling bike. I didn't like the fact that the front OEM Bridgestone was junk at 5200 miles, but I did like how it handled, so I replaced it with another Bridgestone. The rear seems to be holding up ok, and at 6500 miles, it appears it may have another thousand or more left.
 
Thread starter
The Bridgestones I am complaining about are on the FJR. Can't say about Stones on the CB. BOth my CBs came with Dunlops which I thought handled fine... Not as good as Michelin's imo, but still pretty good.
 
ohiorider_imp said:
I agree .... the CB is one easy-handling bike. I didn't like the fact that the front OEM Bridgestone was junk at 5200 miles, but I did like how it handled, so I replaced it with another Bridgestone. The rear seems to be holding up ok, and at 6500 miles, it appears it may have another thousand or more left.
Click to expand...
Nearly for 50.000km I'm.using Bridgestone BT 54 tyres.
I got round about 19.000km out of the last front tire....

The rear tyre even lasts longer....

Though having not ridden another brand the CB handles well enough for my needs with the Bridgestones.

Wisedrum
 
Thread starter
LongRanger_imp said:
Which Bridgestone's are on your FJR? I'm currently running T30 EVO GT's on my K1200RS and have been pleased so far.
Click to expand...

Battleaxe BT 023's
 
The ferret_imp said:
Well, we have had the CB 1100 here in the U.S. since March 2013 and others like the Aussies, New Zealanders, and Japanese on the forum since 2010. 4 years.The complaints about the bike have been so few... I just went back thru 16 pages on the mechanical section looking for issues on this bike (did the same with the UK forum). A couple complaints of ineffective rear brakes in 2013, early complaints of ticking noises under acceleration which turned out to be normal fuel injectors working, a front end shimmy or two. A few cases of rust/corrosion. But really nothing to speak of. Nothing glaring, nothing to warn potential buyers about. We have roughly 1500 members from at least a dozen countries. If there were a recurring problem with the bike, one would think it would have surfaced by now.

You go to other forums and read (yes I do that on occasion, especially on new models I'm not familiar with) about poor fueling issues, recurring oil leaks, suspension issues, bothersome vibrations, wobbles, final drive failures, electrical issues, do not ride orders, recalls, thermostat failures, secondary master cylinder failures, headlight bulbs blowing with regularity, side stands falling off, leather fading, tank swelling issues, broken spokes, et al

It makes you realize what a good job Honda has done with the CB1100.

The problem for a forum about such a great motorcycle is, it limits the conversations we have to talking about things like gas mileage, and tire wear, which accessories are best, and how much we love our CB 1100's.

Nice problem to have eh? Lucky us!
Click to expand...
yeah right...next owner of my previous bike juqt had this near death experience


Not exactly somehting that rhymes with your last sentence...

 
Thread starter
Riko you seem to be taking this personally... I guess I can understand that since your CB had some issues, but the vast majority of us have NOT had issues with our CB's.

While no manufacturer can claim having a perfect product, I think in the scheme of things, the CB1100 has proven to be one of the more reliable motorcycles manufactured. This forum has been around 6 years now, with thousands of members from 24 countries, and we spend an inordinate amount of time talking about things other than issues with the CB 1100. I have personally owned 2 of them. Put 8500 trouble free miles on one and 45,000 trouble free miles on the other (and I plan on putting a lot more miles on it).and mine are not babied..ridden summer and winter, in rain, and in snow, 100 degrees to below freezing. I could not have asked for a motorcycle to perform any better than my CB's have performed. I would buy another in a heartbeat..and I am probably not in the top 5 for members mileages on their CB1100's. I think Cormanus has over 60,000 on his. I think KennyW is probably over 75,000 miles on CB's.I remember one member going over 100 thousand miles.

I stand by my statement that Honda made a great motorcycle, and I for one am glad they designed it, produced it, and allowed me to purchase a couple of them.
 
spokes is something that you should control from time to time......and the 17model has now other quality of spokes

btw
our colleague itsme has now 200000km on his CB....
 
The ferret_imp said:
Riko you seem to be taking this personally... I guess I can understand that since your CB had some issues, but the vast majority of us have NOT had issues with our CB's.

While no manufacturer can claim having a perfect product, I think in the scheme of things, the CB1100 has proven to be one of the more reliable motorcycles manufactured. This forum has been around 6 years now, with thousands of members from 24 countries, and we spend an inordinate amount of time talking about things other than issues with the CB 1100. I have personally owned 2 of them. Put 8500 trouble free miles on one and 45,000 trouble free miles on the other (and I plan on putting a lot more miles on it).and mine are not babied..ridden summer and winter, in rain, and in snow, 100 degrees to below freezing. I could not have asked for a motorcycle to perform any better than my CB's have performed. I would buy another in a heartbeat..and I am probably not in the top 5 for members mileages on their CB1100's. I think Cormanus has over 60,000 on his. I think KennyW is probably over 75,000 miles on CB's.I remember one member going over 100 thousand miles.

I stand by my statement that Honda made a great motorcycle, and I for one am glad they designed it, produced it, and allowed me to purchase a couple of them.
Click to expand...
Well said boss.
 
alprider_imp said:
spokes is something that you should control from time to time......and the 17model has now other quality of spokes

btw
our colleague itsme has now 200000km on his CB....
Click to expand...
Can you tell us more about these better spokes, please Alp?
 
now they are steinless....or if you clean the old with to agressiv stuff you rubb the chrome away and i meant under it comes a layer of zinc ??

but tiring breaks could still arise anyway...for example if the spokes do not sit well, isnt ?

and the german driver has often heavy much lugagges and supplement his wife with...
 
It appears the old wheelhub has two types of spokes, ones with a short head and ones with a head that is bent further from the end in order to clear the spokes underneath.
these ones transfer the driving load in the direction of the red arrow and pull on the spokes with the bend further from the head and put more stress on the bend itself which could be overloaded at some point.
2caee8b379556c3f7b478d25baaee2c5.jpg


This is just from an enlarged screenshot from a video and some scribbles, maybe someone could do a more detailed picture showing the different spokes.
The new hub is a different design as alprider mentioned, does that make sense?

Any other idea's anyone?
 
owner had only about 50.000 kilometers and inspects his bike almost every time before a ride

I assume he hasnt had experience with spoke maintenance, but okay, the bike is 5 years old with around 50.000km...I think no one should expect such a failure after that amount of riding time, from a Honda product?

Asside from the this case, there is the German case, but supposedly that had 100.000 km and he rides with loads.
And I just saw an Italian case of a rider that has the same issue, within warranty period.

Mabye, just maybe there is something to be said about Honda quality of today?
The current owner of this CB could also clearly state that his older CB750 had a much better build quality.

I'm a getting a lot of cuss (from time to time) from so called Jap riders about my Italian piece of junk motorcycle, but so far my old CB has experienced much worse real life issues than my Ducati.
I just hope Honda doenst go the German route: all reputation and less real life quaility
 
The ferret_imp said:
Riko you seem to be taking this personally... I guess I can understand that since your CB had some issues, but the vast majority of us have NOT had issues with our CB's.

While no manufacturer can claim having a perfect product, I think in the scheme of things, the CB1100 has proven to be one of the more reliable motorcycles manufactured. This forum has been around 6 years now, with thousands of members from 24 countries, and we spend an inordinate amount of time talking about things other than issues with the CB 1100. I have personally owned 2 of them. Put 8500 trouble free miles on one and 45,000 trouble free miles on the other (and I plan on putting a lot more miles on it).and mine are not babied..ridden summer and winter, in rain, and in snow, 100 degrees to below freezing. I could not have asked for a motorcycle to perform any better than my CB's have performed. I would buy another in a heartbeat..and I am probably not in the top 5 for members mileages on their CB1100's. I think Cormanus has over 60,000 on his. I think KennyW is probably over 75,000 miles on CB's.I remember one member going over 100 thousand miles.

I stand by my statement that Honda made a great motorcycle, and I for one am glad they designed it, produced it, and allowed me to purchase a couple of them.
Click to expand...
I fully agree with the above statement , best bike I EVER owned !
 
aah new info, not only did the bike have around 50.000 km when this happens

the spokes were checked by the mechanic @ 43.000 km :huh:

that is why they are gonna contact Honda about how this could happen! :rolleyes:

I also found out a similar issue with spokes at the Italian facebookgroup, that bike was even in its warranty period. :dodgy:
 
look here what has changed from 2014 to 2017 model


and this short clip..i dont know...did these spokes break all together at the same time?..bcos i think you feel step by step if comes somthing nomore like usually (butt sensitiveness)...for example too if you lose air in the tire specially the curvefeeling becomes strange...
 
Thread starter
Riko_imp said:
owner had only about 50.000 kilometers and inspects his bike almost every time before a ride

I assume he hasnt had experience with spoke maintenance, but okay, the bike is 5 years old with around 50.000km...I think no one should expect such a failure after that amount of riding time, from a Honda product?

Asside from the this case, there is the German case, but supposedly that had 100.000 km and he rides with loads.
And I just saw an Italian case of a rider that has the same issue, within warranty period.

Mabye, just maybe there is something to be said about Honda quality of today?
The current owner of this CB could also clearly state that his older CB750 had a much better build quality.

I'm a getting a lot of cuss (from time to time) from so called Jap riders about my Italian piece of junk motorcycle, but so far my old CB has experienced much worse real life issues than my Ducati.
I just hope Honda doenst go the German route: all reputation and less real life quaility
Click to expand...
So you wanted to come here to the CB forum and try and rub our noses in the fact that Honda's can have issues too? We know that, but they are usually pretty rare and isolated comparatively speaking

On the other hand you are probably getting a lot of sympathy right now over on the Ducati forums, No?
 
3 cases of spoke issues out of however many CB1100s in production is hardly a “trend” or indicative of overall “bad quality” from Honda. IMO.
 
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