Classic Look & Feel, Modern Machinery

I’m 66 as I write this, and I got my first real motorcycle on my 13th birthday. I’ve been riding ever since. I’ve owned as many as 20 motorcycles at a time. It’s definitely in my blood. Yet for all the bikes I’ve had the pleasure of owning and riding over the years and miles, one of them stands out as being a favorite to actually ride.

That would be my 2013 Honda CB1100.

The stock 2013 Honda CB1100, in the candy red color of mine. Photo by Honda.

Now a lot of you readers may scoff at my choice. There is nothing really remarkable or ground-breaking about the 2013 Honda CB1100. It was what I would call a “retro standard”- the archetypal UJM (Universal Japanese Motorcycle), with an in-line four and upright riding position. It wasn’t that light nor that heavy for what it was, and it had no particularly modern technology. It didn’t have any ABS or 6th gear like its successor model the 2014 CB1100 had. Just a basic, unfaired, air cooled in-line four that could have easily come from the mid- to late 70s, except that it didn’t. It also wasn’t crazy fast, but at my age, I don’t need that. Eighty-nine horsepower is plenty for me.

But what it did do was everything I like in a bike, and I could ride it anywhere.

Of course, I didn’t leave mine alone as I never do with any bike I own. As soon as I got it, I found an online source (samurider.com) in Japan that sold body-colored front fenders for the bike, and I bought one that matched my factory candy red machine perfectly. I have never liked chrome front fenders on a motorcycle for some reason.

One of my early rides after buying the bike. Loved it.

I also installed some superbike bars with a lower rise and a brand new Yoshimura carbon fiber slip-on muffler that improved the sound and low-end performance of the bike slightly, but looked fantastic. And that was it. I didn’t do anything else with it.

One of my favorite rides on the bike was an early Fall ride in 2017. I had totaled out another one of my bikes the prior December—a brand new tricked out Triumph Thruxton 1200 (see this MZ’s Moto Memories for that story), and injured my left hand pretty badly. So between the weather, a move to a new house, and my hand problems I hadn’t ridden much that spring or summer. Being a recently divorced dad at that time it was a weekend I wouldn’t have my two youngest kids as they would be with their mother. So on a Friday afternoon, I took off from work early, went home and packed a small bag and strapped it onto the Honda’s seat with a pair of bungee cords, put on my leather riding jacket with its armor installed, and took off with absolutely no idea where I would go.

The Yoshimura slip-on gave the CB1100 a nice growl.

Because of my accident, I will admit I was a little shaken, and didn’t have the care-free attitude I had before hitting the 20 year-old kid in an Infinity sedan who pulled off a side street directly in front of me. So I decided to confront my fears directly and get out on the super slab (Interstate 49) and I headed south from my home in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The weather was perfect. It was a balmy low 70s and the Honda easily maintained a 75 mph cruising speed. It didn’t take me long to feel safe again (even if I wasn’t as I once was on a motorcycle!) as the CB1100 had about the flattest powerband on earth. It would easily pull from 1500 rpm in first gear, and although it revved kinda high in fifth for a liter bike, it felt perfectly balanced and stable in almost any conditions. It was a typical Honda with a super light clutch that engaged near the end of its lever travel like all Hondas do (good when you have a messed up clutch hand), and shifted with almost no pressure on the foot-mounted shift lever.

The pipes required a little elbow grease to shine up.

I broke for a steak and egg dinner at Denny’s on the edge of Fort Smith, and then rode west until close to dark. I decided to stop at a casino hotel just across the Arkansas border in Oklahoma for the night. I checked in and got a huge room in the place, then leaned up and went to the casino. Not being much of a gambler (I taught statistics in grad school and understand probability theory), after I blew a few bucks on slot machines in the largely empty place I got some of the best fried ribs I have ever eaten in the casino restaurant and turned in for the night.

The next morning I left bright and early and headed east on I-40 again with no plan in mind. Along the way I thought it would be cool to hook up with the Pig Trail Scenic Byway on US 23 (one of the best 19-mile stretches of motorcycle road in the country) and go to lunch at the Turner Bend Store in Ozark (a biker hangout along with way I had been to many times before). So I pulled over and got out my paper map and found a road I thought would connect me to the trail.

That red front fender I had ordered was beautiful.

Well, it did eventually get me there, but turned out to be about 12 miles of potholed gravel and dirt, and not exactly the kind of road you’d pick to ride an 1140 cc road bike on. I had to ride most of it standing on the pegs of that Honda, which reminded me of the fire-roading days of my youth. But I eventually got there, did the remainder of the Pig Trail and then took a break for a ham sandwich at the Turner Bend Store on the Mulberry River.

After my lunch I headed north on two-lane and found myself in the quaint small town of St Paul, Arkansas. There was a festival going on- they called it “Pioneer Days”- so I parked the Honda in the parking lot of a little white church and went to check it all out.

A little brand badging.

I walked to the main information tent and met an old guy sitting behind a table. He had to be at least 70 and asked me what I was riding. We started talking and it turned out he had a VT1300 after years of riding Harleys and I ended up sitting down with him and we talked for a couple hours, swapping ride stories. I also ran into some other friends of mine from Fayetteville who were there for the festival. The afternoon passed by quickly and it started to get cooler.

I eventually got back on the CB and rode some beautiful two-lane about 35 miles to home. While my whole ride was only about 24 hrs long, it was perfect. Of course, I sold the Honda a couple years later and like many bikes I have owned, I regretted it ever since!

Mark “MZ” Zweig