Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird

having ridden bikes since age 7(now 45)mostly inline fours was in the market for another so plumped for this-glad I did-much smoother than previous 4s solid feel and nice handling(linked brakes also effective)dropped a tooth on front sprocket which really livened things up overall very happy when I thought another sports tourer would not impress.

The fuel-injected Honda CBR1100xx Blackbird or "Superblackbird" is still the best made and most usable sport touring bike out there. I have owned ten bikes the last 35 years or riding, including sport bikes, sport tourers and Wings by Ducati, Honda, Harley and Kawasaki. I also have a few seasons of track experience and made it to intermediate level on technical tracks. The bird is no sport bike by any means, it is a fast and graceful road bike that should be left stock after purchasing and installing the correct springs and sprotbike tires (OK, maybe lighter cans).

I love the build quality and I feel that I really own something valuable, even though the bike is ten years old now. I have had no major problems except a thermostat going bad. The bike is the best mix of handling and comfort of the sport tourers and the engine has the usual Honda mid-range properties.

There are many faster bikes out there like Hyabusas and the last crop of liter bikes. There is still way, way more speed and power than I can use on any road even when I go crazy. I have seen high speeds like 150 and I know someone who made 180 on a stock fuel-injected Bird in the Texas mile. The manners at speed are great. The aerodynamics are the best of the bikes I've ridden. It's wonderfully stable.

Got crazy looks for riding to my first track day on the heavy old '98 Warbird in Sport Touring dress. Stripped her down at the track, fired her up, got in line behind the instructor and she never missed a beat. I'm told "That's a heavy bike, don't get discouraged by the smaller bikes passing you up." After three laps hugging the instructors tail he calls the 'Bird out, "The guy on the CBRXX, you're ready to move up to the next class, the ZX10 and CBR600's need more instruction"! Spent the rest of the day holding my own in the corners with the "race bikes" and destroying them down the back stretch. End of day, back to Sport Touring dress faster than they could strap down their bikes on the trailer and beat them to the TGI Friday's 50 miles away to hear "wow, I can't believe how that big bike handled the track!" Yes, the Blackbird is an awesome bike that can do it all.

A very well made bike, easy to ride and fairly economical, good finish apart from furry fork sliders, easily scotchbrited.....1998 carb model.

However, it wobbled at 40mph,worse with a top box, (empty) even a rack affected it...and wore the front tyre strangely, making lumps round the outer tread., with plenty of tread depth, this happened with sport smarts, metzelers...and Maxxis tourers.

I tried everything, new bearings, fork springs, oil, rear shock, frame alignment.

After nearly running out of road on a long 40mph corner, I asked for hewlp on two prominent BB forums, I was called an idiot and flamed relentlessly for being so stupid as not being able to fix the problem, however, looking on other sites it was aparrent that it is a common problem with some BB's.

So my advice is have a very good feel of the handling, with a light touch on the bars while slowing down from 50-40mph, if it shows any sign of a wobble..walk away.

Some do, some don't.

What really put me off the Bird was the attitude of Ixxra and Bird forum "experts" basically saying..how dare you fault this bike, you idiot...

I bought my BB New in 1998 and was immeditely struck by it's awesome, brutal Power, it Revs High and screams up to Frightening Acceleration which can lift the front wheel without warning, It is like being projected from a Crossbow, bloody fast,smooth and rapid, a wonderful machine,what dreams are made of !

Like most people I have owened loads of bikes but I must confess that this is without doubt the best bike I have ever had.

I have ridden bikes for about 35 years and have enjoyed every second of it. At work I have a FJR 1300 and until recently I had a Daytona 955i which I must say was also a good bike. As good as that was though it does not compare in any way to my current BB, indeed for me any I don't think any other bike could. Whilst I have only owned one for a short period I am totally biased towards its all round capabilities. It has 26,000 on the clock, is Titanium in colour and Is in what I would describe as show room condition. For a bike this old the build quality is second to none. I have made only some slight changes namely, clear indicators, adjustable levers, double bubble screen and have added a radiator grill and a couple of silver mesh grills for the two side vents n/s and o/s. The power delivery is exceptional as is the handling. The bike is so well planted and easy to ride although I wouldnt recommend it to the novice rider. I've been fortunate enough to have completed advanced motorcycle training (work) and even with these perhaps enhanced skills this bike tests you to the max. I don't think I will ever want to own different type of bike. The Honda Blackbird is the bike to own once you have tried all the others.

This is my sixth two wheeled vehicle in the last 2 years!

I started with a 400 Burgie, loved it, underpowered! then a Honda Silverwing, Loved it, underpowered! Then a KTM SMT, low speed fuelling a deal breaker, spent loads on trying to smooth it out, gave up in the end and sold it, glad to see it go! then a Suzuki Intruder 1800, I love it, loads of power, but strictly for cruising, posing and cleaning! still have it, so I needed a day to day bike that was Powerful, smooth, comfortable, reasonably priced, and made me want to keep Biking. This Brings me to my Honda Super Blackbird 1100XX

WOW, be careful what you wish for,my Mum used to remind me, this bike is an absolute Gem, it is a 1998 Carb model, in good fettle, with all it's power still available only 31K miles completed. The brakes are as good as the KTM, the fuelling at all legal speeds is excellent, the handling neutral, the performance simply blistering. It is set up for me, with the addition of bar risers, and a double bubble screen, as well as matching side panniers, and a sat nav bracket.

I decided to ride a bike because I was bored with car travel, I am old,and only a fair weather biker. This Bike is why I took the trouble to pass 2 tests, and take my advanced assessment, It is just Magnificent.

Time will tell if it is cheap to maintain, I already know that it will eat petrol compared to my Diesel Car. I guess this Model has been discontinued now, replaced perhaps by a new, shiny model, but I love this Blackbird already,no wonder it attracts a fiercly loyal following.I sincerely hope to have a few happy years with it, before it is passed to some lucky buyer after me.

What can I say about the Blackbird that hasn't been said already!! Here goes.

After being off a bike for 20 years I had the urge to get back to biking so I purchased a CBR600, after 14 months i went looking for an upgrade, I spent quite some time researching many different bikes, I had made my mind up that I needed to pick the right bike from the outset because I could not afford to change bikes on aregular basis. It soon became clear that the Blackbird would be on the shortlist. After testing a VFR800, FJ1300, R1, Fireblade, Bandit 1200 all good bikes in their own right, I got to ride a Blacbird (carbed), from then on their was only one bike to get. I went to a Honda dealer to look at a couple of early injection Birds for sale only to be dissapointed that when I got there they were all sold. I took out a demo Bird and came back and bought a new matt black Blackbird.

In the last 8 years I have only clocked up 20k with a smile on my face for all 20k. I have taken it round Mallory, Silverstone and Donnington on track days and the looks I get are second to none, I got round Donnington in 1min 58secs and even the instructor came over and shook my hand. The bike is completely standard in terms of engine output, I have fitted Scorpion Street Extreme short stubby cans which sound amazing with or without the baffles in. Very often set of car alarms in towns when riding at 30mph such is the resonation from these bad boys.

I have been all over the UK and have got 200mpg on one tank of fuel whilst doing a charity ride a few years ago, normally and consistently getting 170-180mpg.

I usually ride with some mates, 2 Fireblades, 1 ZX1400, 1 GTR1400. The Blackbird is like a Rottweiler on a lead most of the time.

I have put on a pair of VFR800 bar for a little extra height, easy mod looks standard, a custom gell seat lowered 40mm coz my little legs can't get planted firmly with the standard seat, full Autocom comms unit pillion to pillion & bike to bike, garmin Zumo 660. absolutely brilliant at any speed.

Standard original chain and sprockets, HID unit that I fitted to the dipped beam only as this stays on all the time, this does have a slight problem in that when I switch from main to dipped it does interupt power enough to cause the dipped bulb to go out, looking to sort this out this month (not sure how so any ideas would be greatly appreciated). I will be buying a new battery this year as it did let me down on last trip out (oct 2011).

I will be looking at lowering both front and rear footpegs this year as the old legs are starting to complain after a long trip, my kidneys take a pasting when the wife want's me to stop, even with the autocom system she prefers to use the punch in the kidney's to comunicate with me, she say's I tend to stop when she want's to stop rather than when I think we should stop using the PTTK method.

After 8 years the only thing I don't like is the front forks, no matter how often I clean them they look grubby, i have thought about super polishing them to a smooth finish and laquering them, again any idea's are welcome. The power delivery is smooth and precise, handling is spot on as standard, build quality is typically Honda, superb. I tried some Michelin Pilot Road 2 tyres in 2010 but they came off after 1k and I went back to Bridgstones, currently using 023's and I will never stray from Bridgestones again.

Like so many Blackbird owner's what do you buy next, I can't see anything out there that even comes close so I will be running mine into the ground, with 20k on the clock it's just run in compared to a lot out there, with the build quality this bike will just get better with age.

In six years my 2005 Blackbird has covered just shy of 60,000 kms and has not missed a beat. It's been ridden in all conditions from one side of Australia to the other, on one occasion 1000 kms in one day in 40 degree heat.

I have three other very desirable road bikes but still ride the 'Bird the most. In my 45 years of riding all sorts of road and off-road bikes I have not found one that satisfies me as an all-round ride the way the 'Bird does. It has however presented me with one gigantic problem... what am I going to replace it with when the time comes? I guess it's time to start looking for a low mileage used 'Bird to meet that eventuality, or buy up every available part to keep my girl going forever!

I bought my 1998 bike off a mate who bought it new. The bike had around 12000 miles on it when I got it. It looks new. My mate was always too busy to find time to ride. I bought the bike literally checked the tyre pressures changed the oil and rode to the south of France/Spanish border in a day. Spent one day pottering about in the sun and then 1300 miles back home. All I ever have to do with this bike is make sure it has petrol, with a bit of restraint I can get around 50 mpg at French auto route speeds 90-100mph. All round a brilliant bit of kit. I have finally come onto the BlackBird after 32 years of assorted bikes including the last 4 being new model Triumphs the last being a Rocket3. The build quality of the Triumphs is poor compared to my 1998 Blackbird plus all of the Triumphs have had niggling faults/ poor finish. Once I got the Blackbird I never bother riding any of my bikes so got rid of them just keeping the Blackbird. The only reason my mate sold it is because he emigrated and was not allowed to take the bike with him. Nedless to say he has now bough himself a replacement BlackBird in his new home. I can't believe Honda stopped building these bikes. I understand the VFR 1200 is a good bike but its looks leave me cold.