Voted most helpful review
Reviewed on August 17, 2001
A wise friend of mine once told me that if I was going to buy a used bike that I should buy a flagship model rather than another model, because the flagship model usually has the best engineering. In 1983, Honda released the CB1100F. It was the top of the line, biggest, most powerful and...
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A wise friend of mine once told me that if I was going to buy a used bike that I should buy a flagship model rather than another model, because the flagship model usually has the best engineering. In 1983, Honda released the CB1100F. It was the top of the line, biggest, most powerful and the last of the air cooled, four-stroke, inline-4s they ever made. It even out-performed the CBX. The next year Kawasaki came out with the Ninja GPz900R and changed everything about the liter class supersports category. I have a 1983 CB1100F and I love it. It has gobs of power (I read 115hp in another review)and is barely breathing at 60mph and 3700 rpm. The engine is well mannered and doesn't surge, it just pulls all the way to its 9,500 rpm redline. It has great triple disk brakes. It has a stiff frame and killer suspension components including anti-dive. It handles like a dream. And it looks great. My only complaint is that after long rides, the handlebar angle messes with my arthritis in my wrists...but I'm only 5 foot 4 and I imagine that a taller person (or someone without arthritis!) would find the bar angle to be perfect. The riding position is comfortable otherwise, and the seat is comfortable and easy to shift my weight around on in corners and uneven pavement. I have 3 bikes now (down from 4) and this is the bike that I choose to ride lately because it's just so much fun. Not only that, but people can not believe it is 18 years old already and soon to be a classic. Mine looks no more than 5 years old they say. I've seen several CB1100Fs selling anything between $1800 to $3200, and there's a really good chance you will get your money back if you sell it later because of demand on this model. How could anyone justify spending thousands of dollars more on a new bike that does just about the same thing for thousands of dollars more? Buy yourself a CB1100F and wear your @#^!-eating grin all the way to the bank. Even better, if you ever see the European and Japanese only model with the full bodywork, grab it. That one was called the CB1100R.
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