Well, it's 4 hours to go before I collect my new girl from Honda Blackpool. Dammit, that clocks ticking sooooo slowly! Ive got my VFR1200 prepped and ready for the PX and as soon as I finish work, I'll be riding over to do the swapover.
Friends (inc virtual friends from FaceBook and Forums) have been asking why the hell would I swap a 170BHP bike for a 90BHP bike? Well the truth is, I just love the look of the CB1100RS and I love the nostalgic feelings that it invokes in me. It looks just like the sort of bikes I used to either ride or lust after back in the 1970's when I was but a lad :-)
The original CB1100 which was introduced in 2013 was not quite right as far as I was concerned. It looked good, but not good enough to make me change bikes. But the RS changed all that. I honestly think it's a beautiful bike and as far as I'm concerned, there's got to be that visual attraction first and foremost when choosing a bike. If you're not blown away by the look of a bike, then the relationship is not gonna last long. Maybe I'm shallow, LOL.
Anyway, I look at the RS and I see those gorgeous flashes of gold and yellow. That aluminium swingarm, the tweaked indicators, the flatter bars and the alloy wheels. Lovely! Sounds daft, but the round orange indicators of the EX are just that tiny step TOO retro for me.
I find one part of the bike to be a bit of a let-down and that's the silver side panels. I really wish they'd gone for something rounder and more retro along the lines of the 1969 CB750 shape.
The flat side-panel probably suited the 2013 CB1100, but because the new RS has that beautiful, curvy fuel tank, I think it's kinda ugly and doesn't "fit" the bike anymore.
Oh and there's one other thing that disappoints me slightly. I honestly thought that Honda would have taken the opportunity with that flat, one-piece seat, to have hinged it like in the old days. But no, it has to be completely removed and "put somewhere" while you access the underside. Very disappointed in that. It would have been a nice nod to the past designs; not to mention extremely convenient. Ah well, we can't have everything we want, can we?
Back to the switch from 170 to 90 BHP. Yes, the CB1100 is woefully underpowered when compared to the awesomely grunty VFR1200. There's no denying it - it feels slooooow by comparison. But I'm sure that after a few weeks, I will have forgotten how punchy the big girl was and will no doubt just change my riding style to accommodate the CB's power range.
The fact is, Britain is PEPPERED with speed cameras and some of the best roads in the country are now controlled by Average Speed Cameras. This problem is going to get worse, not better, so there's not much point in investing in SuperSports performance when most of the time you can only dawdle along with the rest of the road users.
Anyway, I'm nearly 60yrs old and need to calm down at some point! And I'm riding for two these days, as my new partner loves coming out on the bike with me, so I have to consider the risks for someone else and not just me.
I had every intention of going for the Black model but when I arrived at the showroom, I saw the very latest (new for 2018) Digital Silver, so I chose that instead.
I should point out that I also considered the Kawasaki Z900RS but after looking into it more carefully, I soon discovered that unlike Honda, Kawasaki didn't even build a Retro bike! They simply converted a current model (the standard Z900) into a lookalike! Yep, that's right, it's just a regular water-cooled modern bike with the top end replaced by lookalike tank and seats. They couldn't even be arsed to give it twin exhausts, LOL.
At least when Honda decided to build a Retro bike, they did a proper job of it, and built one from scratch with an air-cooled engine!
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