Why did Honda build the CB?
It had to be air-cooled didn’t it? Honda’s chief designer on the project Mitsuyoshi Kohama, who has also worked on the VFR750F, NS400R and the Fireblade family says: “My only reason is that a lot of customers like air-cooled engines. I like the metallic sound the engine makes as it cools. Just looking at the cooling fins inspires me. There is something about an air-cooled engine – a feeling you simply can’t get from the liquid-cooled engine in a high-performance bike. To me, as a bike rider and a bike fan, a future without air-cooled engines just didn’t seem right. And I was certain I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.” There are – of course – some massively modern touches. The PGM-FI fuel injection feeds through four 32mm inlet ports giving the Honda 88.5bhp at 7500rpm but with a wide spread of torque for flexibility. Peak torque of 68.6lb-ft comes in at 5000rpm. Unlike machines of the 1970s and 1980s, which were geared for maximum performance by reaching slightly more than peak-power revs at maximum speed, the CB1100 presents a more relaxed approach. So while the original CB1100F of 1983 could reach almost 140mph at 9500rpm, the new model is geared differently and is unlikely to be capable of topping 125mph: which is just fine for our Steve. Kohama adds: “I wanted to create a beautiful motorcycle with artisan-level handiwork that’s also approachable and easy to ride. Based on my sketch, this bike that defies logic and just demands to be ridden became a reality.” twist of the wrist, with no need to drop a gear or two (there’s only five, remember.) Only one small gripe to date, the fuel tank is tiny, with 100 miles to a tank, but when it only costs a tenner to brim it, that’s okay, and I’m ready for a brew and a fag by then anyway. Now I own the bike I always wanted when I was 19. A good looking, well-built, reliable bike, that looks like they did when I was in love with Debbie Harry. It also sounds like bikes used to, it is comfortable for A-roads and around town, it handles reasonably and is now a bike that I’m pleased to just stand by and talk about, which, now it’s begun it’s transformation, is usually with guys of my age or older and I like that. The plan is to café racer it with bolt-on goodies. I’ll want to be able to return it to standard when I sell it, but in the meantime, I want it to look the part; a kind of Starbucks racer, rather than ‘Dan’s Greasy Spoon Cafe’, if you get my drift. I know that I’ve taken a £6000 bike, and spent getting on for a couple of grand turning it into a £5000 bike, but that’s motorcycling and restorations can often be just as costly. If I’m honest with myself, I’m turning it into the bike I want to own, and to me, that’s priceless. So let me tell all of you wannabe retro-heads out there: go for the original if you wish, and I say more power to you. But don’t discount going forwards, to go backwards: if you see what I mean. You never know, like me you may love it!