All Tests – Honda CB1100 test: the CB always more Four – The CB1100 arrives in France

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Honda CB1100 test: the CB always more Four

All Tests - Honda CB1100 test: the CB always more Four - The CB1100 arrives in France

After five years of waiting, French bikers will finally be able to ride the Honda CB1100 in February. But Site has taken a step ahead: first test of the new Honda roadster particularly awaited by our readers…

The CB1100 lands in France

Here it is finally on the old continent this Honda CB1100, and more exactly in Valencia (Spain) for its official presentation to the European press: available on the other side of the globe for several seasons, the new roadster arrives in mid-February in the !

CB1100: available, colors and prices

  • Availability: mid-February 2013

  • Colors: Red "Glory", White "Pearl Milky" or Black "Graphite"

  • Price: € 10,990 (C-ABS as standard)

"We had to insist heavily to include it in our catalog", smiles Christophe Decultot, general manager of Honda France. But according to him, the Japanese had something to be cautious about: the CB1100 is manufactured in Japan in small quantities, therefore expensive to produce, and the euro-yen parity is unfavorable , therefore making the motorcycle more difficult to export…

The interest aroused by this descendant of the famous CB750 Four was nevertheless very palpable, particularly in France (read our). "We convinced Tokyo to change its mind by estimating enough sales", continues the leader of the Reds in France.

In this first year of marketing, Honda France intends to sell "between 600 or 700 copies, or even more !"It is therefore taking this volume into account that the price of the new CB1100 was defined: € 10,990, C-ABS included.

The psychological bar of 10,000 € is exceeded, thus sweeping away the hopes of some bikers who already saw themselves strutting around on the handlebars of this neo-retro … For the same price, old handymen will prefer a real CB Four d ‘ used, and the young arsouilleurs a CB1000R equipped with ABS, a 125 hp engine, a superb single-sided arm and an ultra efficient cycle part ?

"This price is dictated by the restricted sales volume, but not only", specifies the responsible for the development of the CB1100, the venerable Hirofumi Fukunaga, who joined Honda in 1978 and father of 24 Honda motorcycles, 20 of which are equipped with an in-line 4-cylinder (read our).

According to Fukunaga San, the engine – despite its very classic appearance and its basically basic technology – required a significant development cost: "it is from that of the CB1300, but as you can see its upper part is completely new", describes the Japanese engineer.

Dear CB1100

To design this 1140 cc 4-legged, Honda had to go back to its archives: "it had been 20 years since we had produced an air-cooled engine !"Says a member of the European staff. The mission was not so obvious, given the significant changes over the past two decades in terms of certification standards.

The European version of the 4-cylinder also differs slightly from that marketed in Japan: "the standards are stricter at home from an antipollution point of view, but a little less in terms of noise, which allowed us to meet the low revs", reveals Hirofumi Fukunaga.

"Unlike our latest engines, installed on several different models, this engine is only fitted to the CB1100, which further increases its unit cost.", adds Paul Nowers, press manager of Honda Europe.

"The entire development of the bike received Honda’s full attention", our interlocutor also assures us. This is how test driver Yokokawa San had the honor of driving the two CB Four exhibits at the Honda museum in Motegi,"motorcycles that only go out once a year".

Employed by Honda since 2008, the young developer – of jet ski, DN-01 and CB1000R! – had never ridden on an old bike. "What struck me the most when trying the CB750 is its atypical, slightly irregular noise", he tells Site.

"This is why the intake valves of cylinders 3 and 4 of the CB1100 engine close slightly later than those of cylinders 1 and 2, in order to reproduce this slight imbalance and give the engine a distinct sound., continues Paul Nowers.

Inexhaustible, the European press manager tells us that even the thickness of the fins has been carefully calculated in order to produce those clicking sounds that are so particular that air-cooled engines have when they are cut after a good scrub … We can’t wait to verify !

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