2013 Honda CB1100 Review - Quick Ride

[Duken4evr]

This bike is a blank canvas. Perhaps Honda will offer all sorts of accessories to personalize it. Single seats, bikini fairings, etc. Just like the old days. I am afraid not enough people will be interested though.

I am not hugely interested in this, but there is some interest. Do it all general purpose bikes do that. Been there and done sport bikes, not interested in cruisers all that much. ADV bikes are kinda cool, but I have a dirt bike. Got a case of the blehs. Perhaps if it worsens to critical mass, I will be interested in this bike.

What I really want though, is a mint GS1000S. My buddy has one. Lucky bastard. Those bikes exude coolness. Pretty damn fast too, his has been completely taken apart and gone through. It wears 29mm smoothbore carbs, cams, ported head (by Kaz Yoshima himself no less) and other period mods. It is probably putting out around 130 some odd horsepower, and it makes a wonderfully smooth baritone wail. What a pleasure to ride.

[Buzglyd]

Suzuki went back to it's roots and is making blacked out Harley clones.

BOSS man

[The Spaceman]

Originally Posted by Buzglyd

Suzuki went back to it's roots and is making blacked out Harley clones.

BOSS man

Geez, what did Suzuki do to you?

They've re-designed the DL650, which is selling out across the US, they have a new Moto GP bike in development, a re-designed and seriously upgraded DL1000 will be out in 2014.

Suzuki is a fraction the size of Honda and Kawi, but they still produce a number of great bikes. I don't like their cruisers either, but obviously somebody does.

[trenttheuncatchable]

I like that BOSS machine. I also like the new Guzzi 1400. I also like that GS1000S. And when I wanted a light cruiser, I ended up with an M50; good bike.

[sarnali2]

That GS is a beauty, Suzuki always did have some really nice performance oriented bikes on the street and in the dirt. At least the factory bikes were nice with Barry Sheene in GP and Joel Robert, Roger DeCoster and Slyvain Geboers in Motocross.

[Kevin_Duke]

Originally Posted by The Spaceman

Mr. Duke, were you able to ride the bike? I read they won't be in the US until March 2013, but I guess there's often demo models available before production units arrive.

Oh my. Was it not obvious I had ridden the bike? Yep, the CB will hit dealers in March.

[The Spaceman]

Originally Posted by Kevin_Duke

Oh my. Was it not obvious I had ridden the bike? Yep, the CB will hit dealers in March.

Sorry, it's me. I read it a couple times, but for some reason it just wasn't clear to me if you'd ridden the bike or if someone else had.

[Duken4evr]

The lack of wheelie photos in the article did confuse the "did Duke actually ride it" issue

[Kevin_Duke]

Originally Posted by The Spaceman

Sorry, it's me. I read it a couple times, but for some reason it just wasn't clear to me if you'd ridden the bike or if someone else had.

I had hoped the "Quick Ride" headline and the third paragraph ("American Honda took an innovative step in giving us a short sample ride on the CB1100 a few days before its 2013 models were even announced. Although our ride was admittedly short, we got a fairly good idea of how the CB performs in a variety of environments.") were enough...

[Kevin_Duke]

Originally Posted by Duken4evr

The lack of wheelie photos in the article did confuse the "did Duke actually ride it" issue

That's funny! Rest assured the CB's wheelie ability was tested. Too bad I had no photographer catching my crossed-up Eddie Lawson Superbike-era-style wheelie. When we get U.S.s-spec tester, you can be assured you'll have at least one shot of the bike on its back wheel.