ROCKER’S DEL IGHT Will Honda’s new CB1100 join the Sportster and Bonneville as a prime café candidate?

Rocker ’s Delight

Will Honda’s new CB1100 join the Sportster and Bonneville as a prime café candidate?

By David Edwards

One of the side effects of the current second coming of the café-racer is that good four-cylinder Hondas from the 1970s are getting harder to find. CB400s, 550s and especially 750s all are being snapped up, fitted with clip-on bars and 4-into-1 pipes, maybe a bum-stop seat and a little checkerboard tape. Voilà, instant street cred for not much money.

But the newest sohc Honda four is now 34 years old. Modern-day rockers looking for something with a little less metal fatigue have turned primarily to two current models as base machines: Harley-Davidson’s V-twin Sportster and Triumph’s parallel-twin Bonneville. Both respond well to café treatment, plus they’ve been around long enough now (Evo Sporty from 1986, new Bonnie from 2001) that used examples are plentiful and affordable.

PHOTOS BY TREVOR HEDGE

nU.S.-model CB1100 in action. We’re seeing a BikeCraft project with spoked wheels, lower handlebars, a solo seat, aftermarket exhaust and maybe the snazzy red paint seen on the old CB400F Super Sport?

“The CB1100 adds up to more than the sum of its parts. This bike moved me. Did I mention how good it looks?”

There’s just something about four jugs all in a row, though, so it was good to see Honda finally pull the wraps off its CB1100 retro-bike, an 1140cc homage to the company’s own history, namely the air-cooled, across-the-frame, four-cylinder motor. The 1100 builds on that heritage with fuel injection, double overhead cams, four valves per cylinder, radial tires and dual front disc brakes with optional ABS. Call it the Thoroughly Modern Four.

We first saw the CB1100 as a concept bike at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. Seemed like a no-brainer to make production then. Not sure why it’s taken five years but the bike will hit U.S. showrooms this March priced at $9999, with the anti-lock version going for $1000 more.

At presstime there was only one running CB1100 in the country and it was pulling duty on the show circuit, but the model has been on sale in Japan and Australia for a couple of years, so we contacted our colleague Trevor Hedge at Australia’s MC News website (www.mcnews.com. au) for his views on the CB. He also provided photos of the bike --- identical to the U.S. version with the exception of ours getting a silver swipe on the fuel tank --- but issued a warning. “The images don’t convey the true beauty and charm that the machine exudes in the flesh,” he said, “It’s gorgeous.” Noting the Honda’s “timeless

AMERICAN HONDA PHOTO

lines,” he added, “There are plenty of retro-bikes on the market but no Japanese offering comes across anywhere near as authentic as the CB1100. Triumph’s current Bonneville and Thruxton models have been a huge success for the British brand and faithfully echo the ’60s. Honda’s CB1100 is by far the most faithful of any attempt to recreate the charm of the ’70s.”

More accustomed to a steady diet of current sportbikes, Hedge wasn’t blown away by the CB1100’s claimed 87 horsepower, but still came away saying good things. “The five-speed gearbox is slick and the hydraulic clutch light and easy to use,” he said, “The 1140cc engine is flexible and delivers good power but is no huge grunt factory. It will still pull top gear from 1500 rpm without grumbling but don’t expect rapid progress until a few thousand rpm later. The engine is best kept between 3500 and 7500 rpm for maximum enjoyment in the hills. On the highway the mill is turning a leisurely 3400 rpm at 65 mph in top gear.

“It does nothing wrong and is competent enough, just don’t expect it to perform like a modernday sportbike and you won’t be disappointed. No doubt it is very conservatively tuned to meet emission requirements --- quite a task for an air/oil-cooled motor. A servo-controlled flapper valve in the muffler helps to improve emissions and reduces the

acoustics. Nothing a set of flat-slide carbs and an aftermarket exhaust system wouldn’t fix!”

In response to some Internet boo-birds harping about the Honda’s $10K price tag, it should be noted here that bringing, say, a new Bonneville motor up to 87 hp would easily cost a couple of thousand bucks. And in stock form neither the Triumph nor the H-D Sportster has the same level of brakes or suspension as the CB1100.

“In keeping with the period theme, Honda has fitted the CB with 18-inch rims. This old-style sizing in narrow 110mm front and 140mm rear widths helps provide great stability at the expense of a little agility,” noted Hedge. “The only time this is really felt while riding is when adjusting line midcorner as larger-diameter rims are a little slower to respond to quick changes of direction. Don’t for one minute, though, think this renders the CB1100 cumbersome. The machine handles really quite well, especially in the tight cut-andthrust of challenging roads. It was more than capable of providing me with plenty of satisfaction during a spirited strop back and forth across the Mount Samaria Range above the King Valley with time to admire the magnificent views to the Australian Alps along the way. Mid-corner bumps could be dealt with a little better but overall the CB1100 is quite surefooted and ride quality is far above any cruiser-style motorcycle.

“Thankfully the braking hardware on the CB1100 is nothing like that of the originals. A pair of 296mm discs are progressively clamped by Nissin four-piston calipers. Feel is good and power is easily modulated through a fairly long stroke at the lever. A light squeeze provides smooth braking power.”

Overall, young turk Trevor had a good time during his 600 miles on Honda’s retro-bike, starting with the ergonomics – quite literally a sore point on many modern machines. “On the open road the CB1100 provides a natural riding position and I never experienced any significant wind buffeting,” he said. “The seat is amenable around town; its 30.5-inch height and low tailpiece makes for easy mounts and dismounts.

“I enjoyed my time with the CB1100 immensely. Much, much more than I imagined I would. Maybe I am getting old, or perhaps just a little soft in the head, but at the end of the day I couldn’t care less that it doesn’t have the massive grunt of its contemporaries or scalpel-like handling. I loved every minute of my time aboard the CB1100 and my eyes drank in its beauty every time I saw it in the carport while in my possession. This really is a bike that adds up to more than the sum of its parts, the experience from the saddle conveys that message loud and clear. The CB1100 moved me. Did I mention how good this thing looks in the flesh?”

So far, says Hedge, the CB1100 has been a “modest success” saleswise Down Under. Realistically, that’s all Honda can hope for in the U.S. too, but this is an important

nAt rest Down Under. It can be a long way between towns in Australia so the CB1100’s smallish 3.9-gallon fuel capacity might be a concern. Riding with a heavy throttle hand has low-fuel warning illuminated at 115 miles.