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Full Version: CB 1100 A little History
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(11-18-2014 02:19 AM)VTR1000F Wrote: [ -> ]<snip>

EX is offerred in red only with silver painted engine

And spokes!
From what I can tell also frequenting a few other European sites, all Euro countries including Switzerland have been getting the same models (which makes sense as they all have the same regulations and type approvals).
I have PMd Barnattina who is one of our members from Japan, but not heard back from him yet.
In this post, I report on KiwiKevin's advice that he is the proud owner of a CB1100 manufactured in 2012. As far as I know it's the only one known to the forum.

Given the prevailing view that the CB1100s in NZ were imported from Australia (see here and here) this is a curious discovery as I'm not aware there are any CB1100s manufactured in 2012 in Australia. But there could well be, given there are only 8 Australian CBs in the registry here.

What that tells us is:
  • If the only CB1100s imported to Australia were manufactured in 2010 and 2011, at least one in NZ is very unlikely to have come via Australia.
  • If the CB1100 manufactured in 2012 and resident in NZ did come from Australia, it is possible that there are other 2012-manufactured bikes in Australia as well.
Hmmm..... Curiouser and curiouser
[attachment=2373]The CB1100ex is available in red, white or black across Europe
In Japan there is also a silver CB1100ex, its is not exported to other countries.
For those interested in more history, there is a book called Honda DESIGN, Motorcycle Part 2 1985-2013 ISBN 978-4-499-23107-7 It sells for 4300 Yen and I was able to order it through the Kinokuniya bookstore in Seattle.

It is in Japanese and English, and has a piece on every significant Honda model with interviews of the designers. Eight pages on the CB1100 with design sketches and mockup photos.

I also bought Part 1, which covers 1957-1984. Reading these books really brings home what an innovative company Honda is, and how they have the size and muscle to try out just about everything!
(02-01-2015 11:24 AM)RetroSeattle Wrote: [ -> ]For those interested in more history, there is a book called Honda DESIGN, Motorcycle Part 2 1985-2013 ISBN 978-4-499-23107-7 It sells for 4300 Yen and I was able to order it through the Kinokuniya bookstore in Seattle.

It is in Japanese and English, and has a piece on every significant Honda model with interviews of the designers. Eight pages on the CB1100 with design sketches and mockup photos.

I also bought Part 1, which covers 1957-1984. Reading these books really brings home what an innovative company Honda is, and how they have the size and muscle to try out just about everything!

Very cool. Thanks Retro. I think I'll get a copy.
Researching model designations for another thread, I came across a parts site which threw up a curious assortment of details. As I searched though the results of the various models by year, the following emerged about the countries they had been sent to.

CB1100A—2010—Australia
CB1100AA—2010—ABS—Australia
CB1100B—2011—Australia
CB1100AB—2011—ABS—Australia
CB1100C—2012—Australia
CB1100AC—2012—ABS—Australia
CB1100D—2013—USA
CB1100AD—2013—ABS—Europe, Ireland, Russia, UK
CB1100E—2014—China, Europe, US
CB1100AE—2014—ABS—China, Europe, Ireland, Italy (it was called the Nero Lucido), UK
CB1100SAE —2014—EX—Europe, Italy, Russia, UK
CB1100SADE—2014—EX—China


If you look at the designations, a couple of things emerge. Well, I think so. First, CB1100 is (obviously) common to all. Secondly, the final letter which denotes the year and aligns with the 10th VIN digit which also denotes the year.

Thirdly, where the model has ABS, the letter "A" is inserted.

Finally, if the bike is an EX (non-US model) or DLX (US model) the letter "S" is included.

So a CB1100SAE is a 2014 EX or DLX model with ABS. A CB1100A is a 2010 model without ABS.

And so it goes. I hope that's helpful.

From the information found just on this forum, we know:
  • the 2010-2011 models went to Australia and some went on to NZ
  • the only known 2012 model is in NZ
  • 2013 models with and without ABS went to the US; Canada got models without ABS; Europe and the UK, it seems got only ABS. We also know from a manual on a European site that the 2013 model with ABS also went to Cyprus and the Republic of South Africa.
  • 2014 models have been sent to the Canada, Europe, Italy, Malaysia, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and UK.
  • a deluxe version of the 2014 model was sent to Europe, with a variant being sent to the US.
Note: I've been loose in my countries in the listings above. Some listed are clearly part of Europe. I've listed them only because they show up on the bike-parts-honda web site. For the record, we have bikes in our registry from the US, the UK, Russia, Poland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Italy, France, Estonia, Germany, Canada and Australia.

We also know that the bike is sold in Japan and possibly other Asian countries (do I recall a member from Vietnam?). Because those countries were not listed at bike-parts-honda.com, I'm confident the list of countries on that site is incomplete.

However, we now also know that the bike has been exported to China with a possible variant on the EX/DLX being sold in that country.

If we didn't know before, we now know that the bike has always been produced with ABS, even if that option wasn't available in all countries.
Excellent find, Cormanus! I love nerdy details like this.

Given some recent posts on the forum, we'll also have to be adding the 2015 Japan-only EX (with black cast wheels) and the 2015 Swiss version with the K model paint scheme.
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