(05-16-2014 03:50 PM)DJRTX Wrote: Was wondering what you guys thought of your CB1100; I don't currently own one. I have a 2003 ST1300 and a 2011 CB1000R. I am trying to decide if I want to trade the ST in on a CB1100. I have enjoyed the ST (60K miles), but I don't ride it too much anymore. And compared to the CB1000R, it feels big and heavy. The only thing I am concerned about is long distance travel on the 1100. I assume I can put a rack on the back, saddlebags on the side and a windshield on it when I want to tour. What are your experiences with long distance rides? My longest ride on the ST was 830 miles from Durango, Colorado to home in Fort Worth, Texas. I once rode 1200 miles from Fort Worth to El Paso and back in a day. But that was on a Honda Shadow 1100. I figure the CB1100 couldn't be any more difficult to travel on than the Shadow.
I did not read the rest of the thread, but I believe you are very much on the right track. I've done a good deal of sport touring on a lot of different bikes - Harleys, BMWs, sportbikes, all kinds of bikes -- and the CB1100 would be my number one overall pick right now. My favorite bike to tour on was a BMW R100GS, a 1000cc boxer twin with 58 HP. It could go anywhere a sane person would want to go (I did plenty of fire roads and logging roads on it) and was just the ticket for exploring and/or covering the miles.
This CB1100 reminds me more of that bike in its general mission than anything else. It's heavier, yes, with more power, which makes it quite a bit better when trying to eat up some freeway. But the narrow wheels and light handling would encourage me to take a lot of secondary and tertiary roads, and a decent rider could handle ordinary graded dirt roads (as long as they were maintained and packed) with no issues.
It's a great bike. I like the lighter weight and since you sound like you're going through that particular phase of your riding career, I think you're lucky to have the CB1100 from which to choose.
You can really do just about anything on it, sport riding, sport touring, long distance, profiling...you name it.