My quest to find a better bike

[Henrik_imp]

I agree with you that you might just keep the Honda instead of getting the Scrambler. I was thinking more that you would enjoy the test, especially since you have tried others like the Indian FTR etc.

And who knows, maybe you like the Scrambler more than the Honda...

 

[Hovmod_imp]

Oh, yes of course. This quest is as much about riding a load of cool bikes as it is finding a replacement…

Update: took my SO for a test ride on the Multistrada. She hated it! It was so different from how she likes to sit when we’re out and about.
Multistrada is off the table. I am so relieved we found out now and not after buying it.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Oh, yes of course. This quest is as much about riding a load of cool bikes as it is finding a replacement…

Update: took my SO for a test ride on the Multistrada. She hated it! It was so different from how she likes to sit when we’re out and about.
Multistrada is off the table. I am so relieved we found out now and not after buying it.

It is even amazing a test ride was had. Good job.

 

[rboe]

My eye starts to wander; then I get to ride my CB and I stop.
Although a CRF300L is on my short list for getting out into the back country away from drivers with cell phones.

 

[Hovmod_imp]

I’m calling it.
The CB1100RS survived challenges from HD, BMW, Ducati, Yamaha, Indian, and Moto Guzzi.

There’s one feature I have learned to appreciate over the past few weeks of cheating on the Honda, and that’s a quick shifter. In no way do I need it, but the sensation you get from running through 2-3-4-5 with throttle wide open is just ridiculous. Wall-to-wall acceleration. It feels like sitting on a rocket. So I’ll have one quick shifter for the RS, to slam past thrird, fourth, fifth with the tach needle approaching three o’clock.

Also, I’ve scraped my toes more. Anyone else have their toes drag first, before any Honda hardware? Should I worry?

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

I’m calling it.
The CB1100RS survived challenges from HD, BMW, Ducati, Yamaha, Indian, and Moto Guzzi.

There’s one feature I have learned to appreciate over the past few weeks of cheating on the Honda, and that’s a quick shifter. In no way do I need it, but the sensation you get from running through 2-3-4-5 with throttle wide open is just ridiculous. Wall-to-wall acceleration. It feels like sitting on a rocket. So I’ll have one quick shifter for the RS, to slam past thrird, fourth, fifth with the tach needle approaching three o’clock.

Also, I’ve scraped my toes more. Anyone else have their toes drag first, before any Honda hardware? Should I worry?

A few times here on the CB1100, but then I learned to retract the feet a bit more. :dodgy:

 

[Henrik_imp]

Never have my toes scrape, but that is probably because I ride with my toes on the footpegs. The pegs however tend to scrape.

 

[peterbaron]

^^ ^^

 

[misterprofessionality]

The CB has some really generous feelers on the ends of those foot pegs. You can drag them over and over again on twisty roads while not really going all that fast, but they'll touch down wayyyyy sooner than your toes will, if your feet are in the correct position. this CB is a bike that really rewards you for disciplined body position. you can feel the difference in the handling as soon as your weight settles into the right spot on the balls of your feet. loosen those elbows up, get those toes up, and move your butt around, you'll have a blast, and the only thing you'll feel on the ground is those feeler pegs.

 

[Hovmod_imp]

What’s the right position?

 

[misterprofessionality]

Every bike is different but the CB is best ridden in a neutral-but-poised position. to my eye, these two fellas have it pretty much spot on:

they each have different heights so it's a pretty good set of examples. For example, tall guy on the red CB is a little farther from the gas tank, while Shorter guy on the black CB is more cynched up.

keep your feet up, good grip with the knees, relax your wrists/elbows/shoulders, support with your core ect. this promotes efficient and controlled handling and keeps you balanced at maximum lean angle. Also keeps your toes way off the ground :biker:

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Those feet positions (above) are not applicable to every rider, and certainly not on every bike.

Example: That never worked for my legs/feet as my body really wanted a larger frame and more forward feet positioning.

 

[misterprofessionality]

Oh it certainly doesn't suit every rider in terms of comfort. I only meant to say that if you can ride that way (on a cb1100) you will ride better. Leg discomfort is often solved by choosing a bike with a more relaxed rider triangle, or modifying the foot controls. For example, my Vstrom 1000 had much more mid-positioned pegs. they were not so far back as the CB1100 because that bike had more ground clearance was was designed so that you could comfortably stand on it.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Oh it certainly doesn't suit every rider in terms of comfort. I only meant to say that if you can ride that way (on a cb1100) you will ride better. Leg discomfort is often solved by choosing a bike with a more relaxed rider triangle, or modifying the foot controls. For example, my Vstrom 1000 had much more mid-positioned pegs. they were not so far back as the CB1100 because that bike had more ground clearance was was designed so that you could comfortably stand on it.

Roger than Mr. P.

 

[rboe]

I've dragged my toes. Also been yelled for not riding with my toes up on the pegs. Sorry but that ain't happening. Legs are too long and I can't reach the shifter or brake if my toes are retracted that far. I'm not racing (only drag when I'm doing a hard 90 degree turn and in many of those occasions I've learned to lift my feet at bit).

On the '14 bike I've gone back to stock pegs (vs. lowered) and that has helped a lot. The '13 may get stock pegs again - but she is laid up until I sell or the weather cools off.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

I've dragged my toes. Also been yelled for not riding with my toes up on the pegs. Sorry but that ain't happening. Legs are too long and I can't reach the shifter or brake if my toes are retracted that far. I'm not racing (only drag when I'm doing a hard 90 degree turn and in many of those occasions I've learned to lift my feet at bit).

On the '14 bike I've gone back to stock pegs (vs. lowered) and that has helped a lot. The '13 may get stock pegs again - but she is laid up until I sell or the weather cools off.

(yikes, yelled at?) I think that would perturb me.

I've dragged my toes. Also been yelled for not riding with my toes up on the pegs. Sorry but that ain't happening. Legs are too long and I can't reach the shifter or brake if my toes are retracted that far. I'm not racing (only drag when I'm doing a hard 90 degree turn and in many of those occasions I've learned to lift my feet at bit).

On the '14 bike I've gone back to stock pegs (vs. lowered) and that has helped a lot. The '13 may get stock pegs again - but she is laid up until I sell or the weather cools off.

Yeah, iz the reason I don't wear shoes anymore on a motorcycle. I don't want to be that guy who lost their shoe on some street curbside.

I mean, ... I wear boots - not bare feet.




" ... hey Clyde, look over there. Some dude lost his shoe. Let's check it out."

"Eww, Bob?"

"Yeah Clyde."

"There's a foot inside."

 

[Stichill]

I've dragged my toes. Also been yelled for not riding with my toes up on the pegs. Sorry but that ain't happening. Legs are too long and I can't reach the shifter or brake if my toes are retracted that far. I'm not racing (only drag when I'm doing a hard 90 degree turn and in many of those occasions I've learned to lift my feet at bit).

On the '14 bike I've gone back to stock pegs (vs. lowered) and that has helped a lot. The '13 may get stock pegs again - but she is laid up until I sell or the weather cools off.

I dragged pegs all the time on my F800GT. I had lowered the pegs because even though I'm really short, the stock peg location was super cramped. But when I lowered the pegs, they would drag, which was like feeling an electric shock. So I just learned to lift the inside foot and drag, baby, drag!

Touchdown imminent in these pics:

I just noticed that you can actually see the front wheel counter-steering in the above pics as well.

 

[Hovmod_imp]

If I remember correctly, that book we all read in the nineties (Total Control?) talked about resting your toes on the pegs. I’ve never liked that, and I never felt I got better control doing it, so I’ve grown into a bad habit, I guess.
On the BMW R65GS I had in the nineties, I once dragged the engine guard. That was scary as he**, tbh. At max lean angle the guard hit and the bike *bounced*. I managed to sort myself out, but after that I decided to get rid of the guard, which obviously decreased the available lean angle, and started using my toes as feelers. I would point my toes a little outward, and that worked. If my toe scraped, the engine would be next. Act accordingly. (On the old BMW airheads, the bike would shift sideways with throttle input. More gas and it pulls away from the road, decrease it snd you «fall» inward. So if toes scrape, gun it!)

But on the CB1100 I haven’t made any conscious choices about toes, they find their own spot.
I will try to apply the correct toe position, but I have to admit that idioms about old dogs and new tricks come to mind.

I have been waiting for the first hardware to scrape,. It’s a different sensation on every bike, but it pretty much always feels dramatic. There’s an interchange outside of town that goes through about 270° with decreasing radius, perfect for practicing cornering with no danger of meeting traffic halfway. When I get everything right, I can go through all of second gear in one delicious (and scary) curve before flicking to the right to join the highway. It even has a roundabout at one end, so you can go once, to the right, downwards, then turn back and go again, this time up and to the left. I’ll go leave some of the footpeg feelers there after the next coffee.

 

[Hovmod_imp]

My love and respect for the Honda CB1100 has only grown during this exercise, btw. It has held its own gracefully and it has been a genuine pleasure to ride home on the Honda after each and every test ride, even though in some cases I’ve had a smidge of horsepower envy. A visit to 8-9,000 rpm usually cures that, although there’s nothing the CB1100 can do to mimic the ridiculous infinite torque of the Livewire or the quick shift ‘train’ of the Ducatis.

Also, I liked how this thread turned out. From trying to find a better motorcycle to how to position toes when riding the CB ‘in anger’.

One important piece of information related to «The Quest» that I got yesterday was that the MV Agusta three cylinder 800 engines are quite comparable to the Yamaha Tracer’s triple 900. I was talking to the Ducati dealer and mentioned the Dragster I saw last week, and he said that if I didn’t like the Tracer, MV Agusta wouldn’t impress either. In fact, in his mind they’re mindnumbingly boring, but obviously he was trying (and almost succeeding) to sell me a Ducati. Still, if the MV sounds and behaves not unlike the Tracer, it’s not for me. I’m determined to ride the Turismo Veloce at some point, but I’m now less inclined to believe that will make me want one. You don’t impress a CB1100 owner that easily.

 

[Charlie Bravo_imp]

I love my CB, but it doesn't do everything I want. Wife and I are moving to TX to be near the Grandkids, and I wanted a bike that could handle dirt/gravel/fire roads, and found an '03 Suzi V-Strom 1000 with 50k on it. I got it pretty cheap, and had some service done on it, and I really like riding it. Windshield, liquid cooling, six speed, adventure tires. The CB is my city bike, the Suzi is it's country cousin, a little more rough and tumble. My needs are met.