Motorcycle Forum / General / Sportbikes / June 2005

The CBR1100XX has a counterbalanced engine and is well known for being ultra
smooth.  If this bike is not smooth enough, then I doubt anything will be.
Phil

This is a general-purpose sportbike newsgroup.  For specifics on the
dos equis, try:

http://www.cbr1100xxforums.org/forum/

The mid-80s CBR1100 has little relation to the XX other than engine
configuration, but the latter's a conceptual descendant.  Honda's had
an inline literbike in the lineup for many years, never mind the
occasional V-4 (e.g. 1985 1000R).  '87 saw the Hurricane 1000 (and
600), genesis for many, many successful bikes to follow.  

The Hurricane 1000 was a superbike of the day, a take-no-prisoners
answer to Suzuki's then-dominant GSX-R1100.  As I recall, the Gixxer
still held the handling edge, though the Honda had superior dragstrip
numbers.  The big Hurricane spawned the CBR1000 F series, aimed
towards general-purpose and sport-tour rather than ultimate drop-dead
track performance.  Remember, these were the days when 750s usually
carried the track-performance banner due to Superbike regulations.  

Almost every inline-four I owned in the 80s had substantial handlebar
vibration problems, including my '84 FJ1100.  Times change: the XX has
at least one counterbalancer.  I've done several long trips on the
bike without any vibration issues, and commute a couple days per week
about 90Km R/T.  You'll have a sore butt before tired hands.

The only "annoying behavior" I've noted in 35,000 miles on my '99 XX
is the annoying tendency of the engine to write checks the chassis and
suspension can't cash.  This, despite substantial suspension upgrades:
the stock shock and forks on this bike are a sad affair.  A liter
inline displacing about 1150cc exhibits substantial engine flywheel
effect, combined with a lot of mass (560 lbs wet, roughly).  The XX
resists flicking side-to-side transitions and appears very sensitive
to throttle input.  The latter works both ways, though: I've never
seen such a large bike with such effective engine braking.  Chalk that
up to high compression and interesting fuel-injection mapping.

One the engine spools up, get the hell out of the way: the bike takes
off like a raped ape.  On a fast, sweeping-turn road where the pace is
100+ mph, nothing sporting hard luggage can touch it (e.g. Hwy 530
towards Darrington, for you WA State residents).  Torque's good, too,
for an inline.  Try and throw it around like a middleweight, though,
and you'll feel every pound.  The bike requires a very physical riding
style to ride hard in the corners, and even so must be thrashed very
hard to keep up with fast riders on nimbler machines.

If you have a long commute, do two-up riding, take trips, and want a
bike that always starts in the morning, consider the XX.  You'll also
need to not mind learning to manage a long, heavy sportbike with tons
of engine.  The technology's largely obsolete, being a model-year 1996
design, but it's a testament to Honda's usual genius the bike's
survived ten model years with only one major upgrade (1999).
Blackbirds have a worldwide following, too, with vast tribal knowledge
resources.

(If it's repalcd by a V-5 the next year or two, I'll have to sell
mine, but hey: who could resist a V-5 fer cryin' out loud?  Stay
tuned.)

Blackbirds will not suffer squids, kids, or jackasses, nor will any
modern liter sportbike.  I think this, the ZX-12, and Hayabusa all fit
an interesting drag-bike or GT sort of niche that appears to be fading
away.  If there is such a thing as "Grand Touring" motorcycle, this is
it.  I'd seriously examine the other two as well in your search,
though, both being more-modern designs that fulfill roughly the same
purpose.

On the other hand, if you like Honda but want something easier to deal
with and less "oh Christ I just spooled it up to 200kph and I'm still
in third gear," take a close look at the Honda VFR Interceptor.
They're lighter, leaner, mellower, with an equally vast cult following
and (nowadays) plenty of nice Honda accessories.  Hard bags come to
mind as a must-have.    The big revision of '01(?) seems to be a
love-or-hate affair.  As do-all motorcycles these are (still)
tough-to-beat.

Hope that helps.

'-----------------------------------------------------
' Daniel Bannon
' NW WA State, U.S.A.
' 2003 ZX636B Hercusaki, 1999 CBR1100XX
'-----------------------------------------------------

"Damien Sawyer" <damo@nospam.com>

the XX is a magical bike, its not outstanding in any category but its second
best in all of them (touring, two-up, sweet communting in the city, sporty
(be it straigh shots or twisties) , amateur level track capable) and it has
an engine and a reliability thats puts it still in the top 5 after all the
years (year after year its in the top 5 of the Bike of the year polls in GB,
Germany, Spain, ....)

The new Triumph ST is a serious contender, but its not as comfy for you our
your babe (heat, height)