Van asked me to have a word with you fine gentlemen.

[Obliviontoad]

My wife has nicknamed my 2013 "Precious", due to the amount of time and money spent on it. The anthropomorphism aside, I haven't named or referred to it in any way other then "my bike". My Subaru WRX however, I call Stitch, due to its talent for misbehavior and getting me into trouble.

 

[Guth_imp]

I'm not retired, Ulvetanna. I still have to go to work. I'm at work all day today, tomorrow, and Saturday. I'll be able to ride her the few minutes it takes to get to work, but that's nothing. I won't be able to go do another real ride until Sunday.

Well, you'll get 'round to it.

Well, you'll get 'round to it.
How's that now? I've spent plenty of time gettin' 'round. But I've got a ways to go 'til I'm retired.

Enjoy your ride come Sunday VLJ.

 

[Cormanus]

Can I at least get away with referring to her as "plush"?

Be careful ...

 

[VLJ_imp]

Just had my first official Codger Experience with the new CB1100, only ten minutes after parking her somewhere for the first time...

Sitting at my desk at work, looking out the window, I noticed one of our courier drivers slowly walking around my bike. He knelt and peered beneath the engine before sitting up and looking between the headers. Coming to his feet, he grinned at me through the window. He pointed at me, then at the bike. "Is this yours?" being his obvious question, since he could see my Arai helmet sitting on my desk.

I nodded yes, and he gave me another grin, and a big thumbs up.

 

[Ulvetanna_imp]

I'm not retired, Ulvetanna. I still have to go to work. I'm at work all day today, tomorrow, and Saturday. I'll be able to ride her the few minutes it takes to get to work, but that's nothing. I won't be able to go do another real ride until Sunday.

Well, you'll get 'round to it.

Well, you'll get 'round to it.
How's that now? I've spent plenty of time gettin' 'round. But I've got a ways to go 'til I'm retired.

Enjoy your ride come Sunday VLJ.

Well, you'll get 'round to it.
How's that now? I've spent plenty of time gettin' 'round. But I've got a ways to go 'til I'm retired. That's temporary, you'll get "unround" eventually. This is beginning to sound like the runaround.

 

[the Ferret]

Just had my first official Codger Experience with the new CB1100, only ten minutes after parking her somewhere for the first time...

Sitting at my desk at work, looking out the window, I noticed one of our courier drivers slowly walking around my bike. He knelt and peered beneath the engine before sitting up and looking between the headers. Coming to his feet, he grinned at me through the window. He pointed at me, then at the bike. "Is this yours?" being his obvious question, since he could see my Arai helmet sitting on my desk.

I nodded yes, and he gave me another grin, and a big thumbs up.

:rofl: Get used to it. It's going to happen a lot.

 

[VLJ_imp]

mickey, you should have seen the way my coworkers absolutely flipped out when they saw this thing in person. Some of these guys, I've never seen them show the least bit of enthusiasm over anything, ever.

This bike had them climbing on it like a jungle gym, touching each surface, vroooom-vrooooming the throttle with the motor not even fired up, and ooh-ing and aah-ing over every little detail. Then it was Story Time, apparently, with each guy talking about his coolest experiences as a youth, and two of the older guys swearing they could now throw away their little blue pills.

Those two also both said they want a CB1100, badly.

 

[Ulvetanna_imp]

mickey, you should have seen the way my coworkers absolutely flipped out when they saw this thing in person. Some of these guys, I've never seen them show the least bit of enthusiasm over anything, ever.

This bike had them climbing on it like a jungle gym, touching each surface, vroooom-vrooooming the throttle with the motor not even fired up, and ooh-ing and aah-ing over every little detail. Then it was Story Time, apparently, with each guy talking about his coolest experiences as a youth, and two of the older guys swearing they could now throw away their little blue pills.

Those two also both said they want a CB1100, badly.

I did not like that attention. Aarrgghh. I never had a bike like that back in the day so don't share any nostalgia and have no tales to tell. My first full-sized street bike had a radiator.

But the CB1100 has a way of being all things to at least some people, and perhaps, prithee, it can be some things to all people. Providing the people actually see it. Power to the people, man.

I believe it was the notable C. G. Jung who indicated the symbolism involved with objects of lust. Or was that Jaco Pastorius?

 

[emptysea]

mickey, you should have seen the way my coworkers absolutely flipped out when they saw this thing in person. Some of these guys, I've never seen them show the least bit of enthusiasm over anything, ever.

This bike had them climbing on it like a jungle gym, touching each surface, vroooom-vrooooming the throttle with the motor not even fired up, and ooh-ing and aah-ing over every little detail. Then it was Story Time, apparently, with each guy talking about his coolest experiences as a youth, and two of the older guys swearing they could now throw away their little blue pills.

Those two also both said they want a CB1100, badly.

My theory is that your co-workers were just super-excited that you made up your mind. :rofl:

 

[VLJ_imp]

Nope, none of those guys had any idea that I was even in the market for another bike. I save that stuff for you guys.

 

[Ulvetanna_imp]

Nope, none of those guys had any idea that I was even in the market for another bike. I save that stuff for you guys.

Now knowing that the frame and swingarm are also new, am very interested to hear the ride report.

 

[VLJ_imp]

So much of my report will inevitably end up consisting of the similarities and differences I find between my bike and Eric's '14, which will just as inevitably be unfair to Eric's bike because I don't feel the two are fighting on a level playing field. The steering of my bike is so much lighter and the handling so much better that I'm convinced his bike is an anomaly among CB1100s, and through no fault of the bike. I'm sure it's simply a matter of tires and chain slack. I would bet anything that if Eric's bike had my tires and my new chain set to the same tension then his bike would steer, shift, and otherwise perform very similarly to mine.

On the other hand, I'm equally convinced that my suspension is far superior to his, and that's the one basic difference between the '14 and '17. So far, my initial impressions of my bike's handling are so much more positive than they were regarding Eric's bike that I'm beginning to wonder just how much my CB will really slow me down? I'm getting the impression that it won't be the handling or weight that will slow me down; rather, it will be the engine buzz above 4K. I'm accustomed to running high RPM as a means of steadying the chassis during cornering, and this motor clearly isn't as smooth above 4K as it is below 4K. I need to see whether this becomes an issue, or merely a characteristic.

My initial impression? The XSR900 absolutely encourages high RPM, which makes going fast feel not just fun, but natural. The CB's buzzier response in the midrange seems to tell me that she doesn't like running there, and would rather I slow down. What I haven't tried yet are the upper RPM. I need to see how she feels running 6-8k in second and third gear. Maybe she comes into her own up there?

I don't know. I'm going to find out on Sunday. Well, a little, anyway. The bike only has 100 miles on the odometer, so it's not yet time to start living at high RPM.

In any case, the buzziness between 4-5K is the only fly in the ointment so far. I have a feeling that were I never to ride anything else, I would soon get used to it and cease to notice it. However, because I will still be riding the much smoother XSR (smoother in the midrange, and on up to redline), I suspect that I will continue to notice the additional 4-6K buzz when riding the CB.

It's also possible that as the CB breaks in she will become smoother and smoother, and all of this will be a moot point.