HONDA CMX 110 REBEL
SO WE’RE NOW WELL INTO 2022, SPRING’S APPROACHING, THE DAYS’RE GETTING LONGER, AND THE WEATHER’S GETTING WARMER… WELL, IT’S STILL PIGGIN’ COLD WHEN YOU’RE OUT AND ABOUT ON TWO WHEELS, BUT IT’S DEFINITELY BETTER THAN IT WAS A MONTH OR TWO BACK.
Sadly, that does mean it’s time for me to give the Rebel 1100 back as my tenure’s almost at its end, and do you know what? I’m going to miss it when it’s gone. Cruisers really aren’t usually my thing, although I’ve always enjoyed riding the ones I’ve been lent, but I’ve always been more into bikes that you sit upright on, or lean forward slightly, than ones you lean back on. It is, I suspect, something related to the fact that my formative years in biking were in a fledgling streetfighter scene, rather than a cruiser/factory custom-orientated one, and also ‘cos I’m a funny shape – longer arms and body than legs, and so I struggle with forward controls; I’m usually only on them on tippy-toes, and so me feet keep getting blown off them at speed.
That second fact, I think, is why I’ve enjoyed the CMX1100 so much – it fits me. As I’ve said on previous occasions, it’s a physically small bike that fits pretty much everyone except six foot plus lanky
bastads, and so has a way of instantly inspiring confidence the moment you swing a leg over it. You can always get your feet down, no matter what the circumstances, and pulling to a halt with your right foot on the rear brake, left foot hovering over the Tarmac, is something you don’t really even think of once you’ve ridden it a while. It really is small, too – when I went on the UK launch of the new Enfield 350 Meteor last year, a bike they were pushing the diminutive ergonomics of, and hopped aboard it, my instant reaction was that it felt quite large in comparison with me ‘Onda. I involuntarily said as much (‘cos I’m a bit of a plum at times) to the Enfield folk, and they expressed incredularity… until one of them sat on the Rebel.
It’s light, too, something else that I like. Cruisers traditionally have always been on the ‘Have you ever considered eating a salad?’ side, but the 1100 Rebel weighs just 220 kilos, and carries that weight low, so you’re unlikely to get into any overbalancing issues because of it. For those of us who ride across muddy/wet rally fields, or greasy-surfaced car parks, it means you can always dab easily if the rear ‘oop starts to go sideways at any point. Not that it does, really, ‘cos like all modern bikes the CMX sports traction control (switchable, natch), as well as ABS (a legal requirement these days), that stops such things happening. It’s still a good thing though ‘cos it makes the bike second nature to ride – you don’t even think about these things.
It’s also almost perfectly powerful; again, cruisers aren’t really known for their get-up-and-go, and a number of them feel quite asthmatic at higher revs, but the big Rebel’s parallel twin motor makes a healthy 87hp at 7,000rpm, and 72ft-lb torque at 4,750rpm. It’s not earth-shattering, of course, but it suits the laid-back nature of the bike – it’ll cruise around at slower speeds happily and then, when you feel the need to give it a bit of welly, it’ll do that happily, too. It’ll blat along at modern motorway speeds in top with about 5,000rpm on the clock, and fast A-roads’re best dealt with in third or fourth gear, using the adjustable engine braking to steady the plot prior to overtakes. That’s something I’m definitely going to miss when it goes back – the fact that it’s so easy to ride at speeds that allow you to pass most cars on the road with nary a thought about it. The engine and the chassis’re so well balanced that overtaking’s just something you do without really being aware of it, and I like that.
Really, if you’re in the market for a cruiser these days, your choices are Harleys or the Triumph Bobber, or the 1100 Rebel. The Honda, to quote the late, great, Douglas Adams, is slightly cheaper (well, significantly actually), and being a Honda is, dare I say it, probably a better bike. Harleys, though, have ‘Harley-Davidson’ on the tank, and that’s a big deal for a lot of folk, and the Bobber is achingly pretty, but go for a spin on a Rebel – I think you’ll be pleasantly impressed.
THE HONDA CMX1100 REBEL COSTS FROM £9,099, AND YOU CAN GET MORE INFO’ FROM YOUR LOCAL HONDA DEALER OR WWW.HONDA.CO.UK/ MOTORCYCLES