Topic: 1983 Honda CB 1100F

[Kelly E]

Today we bought an 83' CB 1100F from the original owner for $300. We offered $750 but the guy only wanted $100, we had to make him take $300. He knew about Rust Bros Garage on Facebook and wanted us to have it knowing that we'll resurrect it and ride it.
It's got 27k miles on it and has been off the road since 03'. It will take all the usual work to get it back on the road.

[ekpent]

 Wow - now that's the deal of the year so far !

[MauiK3]

Will you restore it or make a rider?

[Alan F.]

Wonderful, congratulations!

I've got to ask you, do you just keep your eyes open on Craigslist, or do you have a better way of finding your project bikes?

[Kelly E]

All of our bikes are riders, it's a horrible waste to not ride them.   This bike found us through a friend of Paul's and Facebook. We may have to sell a bike to make room for it. If we do it would be a tough choice. The 75' Honda CB 400-4 is at the top of the list. With all of the liter bikes we have now it seems so tiny and slow. It's fun for me because I am so small but Paul is bigger and more than 100lbs heavier.

[Stev-o]

Nice find...along for the ride.

[MauiK3]

I don’t imagine you’ll have trouble selling a 400F

[Kelly E]

I don’t imagine you’ll have trouble selling a 400F

Probably not, it fires right up from cold, not very long on the choke. It's still under 20k miles and needs nothing. We'll see what happens.

[Bankerdanny]

Amazing. That bike is quite high up on my list.

[desertrefugee]

Perhaps not the holy grail, but not far from it. Happy for you to snag that at such an incredible price.  (But deep inside I truly hate you... )

[Kelly E]

We have the bike here now and it's pretty crusty. The bodywork is great other than wear and tear. The seat is recovered with a quality cover. Most of the 24k miles are from highway road trips. We'll clean her up and go through all of the running gear. Some parts will have to be blasted and painted but it is staying a survivor. Both Paul and I prefer riding the 80's liter bikes, good handling, comfortable and fast enough.

[MauiK3]

Looks like a great project, keep us posted.

[desertrefugee]

Actually pretty nice. I wouldn't call that crusty, just a bit neglected.  Aside from the mechanical needs, the cosmetics can be tended to in short order it appears.  Nice score on the big F.

[Kelly E]

We have to finish the 80' GS1100E before we start. We also might have to go through my uncles 78' KZ1000 LTD first but it runs so it won't be too much of a delay.

[desertrefugee]

Up until recently, my stable listing looked a lot like yours.  Needed to do significant trimming due to some health issues.  Still have a few toys in the box and a couple of projects in the pipeline.  And of course a couple of runners!

Enjoy every hour of shop time. Make sure the tunes are turned up loud - unless there's a test fire going on!

[seanbarney41]

Kelly, I would love to hear your thoughts on the differences between rehabbing 80's machinery compared our 70's sohc's...lot of different oem finishes, more complexity in the engines and electrics etc, a lot more plastic etc.  I have an '86 GSXR, that is on the rougher side of original, and having a tough time deciding what to do about certain aspects of the bike beyond just getting it running and ride-able.

[Kelly E]

Up until recently, my stable listing looked a lot like yours.  Needed to do significant trimming due to some health issues.  Still have a few toys in the box and a couple of projects in the pipeline.  And of course a couple of runners!

Enjoy every hour of shop time. Make sure the tunes are turned up loud - unless there's a test fire going on!

The shop tunes are always in our shop.  Working in the shop is my therapy and I enjoy every minute of it. I'm out there at least four hours a day.

[Kelly E]

Kelly, I would love to hear your thoughts on the differences between rehabbing 80's machinery compared our 70's sohc's...lot of different oem finishes, more complexity in the engines and electrics etc, a lot more plastic etc.  I have an '86 GSXR, that is on the rougher side of original, and having a tough time deciding what to do about certain aspects of the bike beyond just getting it running and ride-able.

I enjoy working on both vintages. The 70's bikes especially Honda's are a joy to work on. The electrical systems are permanently in my head I think. Everything is well thought out, the more of them we work on the more enjoyable it is. The 80's bikes are only a little more complicated. Plastic bodywork makes it a little more complicated but not too bad except for the Honda PC800 Pacific Coast we did for a friend last year. It took a whole day to get the bodywork off. Power, handling and brakes made big strides in the 80's. The motors aren't really anymore difficult to work on but make much better power. They are better daily riders in general. The 80' Suzuki GS 1100E we are currently resurrecting is another well put together bike that is easy to work on. This is the second one we have done and it is for us.
We've done mostly standard type bikes, only a couple of cruisers. The sport bikes usually need to much expensive bodywork so we stay away. We're both around 60yo and don't care for the serious sport bike riding position. The big standards are great bikes for day long rides and 3 or 4 day trips. For long trips I use the 94' Kawasaki Concours ZG 1000. It's an 80's design made into the 90's. It has full bodywork but isn't difficult to deal with.
Overall both decades are great decades for bikes. All of our bikes draw attention when we take them out. It's a blast to put some friends on the bikes and go somewhere a ways away for lunch.

[Alan F.]

Perhaps not the holy grail, but not far from it. Happy for you to snag that at such an incredible price.  (But deep inside I truly hate you... )

 

[70CB750]

Kelly, I would love to hear your thoughts on the differences between rehabbing 80's machinery compared our 70's sohc's...lot of different oem finishes, more complexity in the engines and electrics etc, a lot more plastic etc.  I have an '86 GSXR, that is on the rougher side of original, and having a tough time deciding what to do about certain aspects of the bike beyond just getting it running and ride-able.

The red headed stepchild, aka 82 CB900 is really growing on me. More power than i can use, smooth shifting and good brakes.

[MrGardman]

Always thought they were one of the best. Lots of power and great looks.

[RAFster122s]

The 900F or 1100F are some of the bikes I like but I probably need to get restarted on working on the stuff in my queue…
Seems it is always something that distracts me or comes up that way lays the plans to get restarted. My CX500 motor is partially torn down so I need to get organized and get it reassembled then do the paint work it needs…

Anyone dealt with oxidation on motors and found a way to strip it, the CX spent years on an island off the coast of Rhode Island before I bought it…so given the CX has a integrated block and cylinders and water cooled it is not easy to tear one down and is more complex given the twisted twin architecture and gearbox buried in the block… The SOHC4 motors were so much simplistic by comparison. I just don’t want to tear into it and tear it down as it is low miles and ran well before I took it apart to up-Rate the stator an do a quad bypass as the CX-GL guys call it to address things that could go wrong like the mechanical seal and stator. I have a 330W stator from a GL1000 that was rewound to higher specs and a MOSFET RR unit to handle rectification and regulation so the bike can be a winter bike with extra lighting, heated gear, and touring or just riding when it is not hot weather. The VStrom will be my usual summer bike and the CB550 will become the fun bike when I don’t want to throw a leg over the others…
That’s the game plan…
The CX tends to be a hot ride given engine heat coming back on you so using it to its advantage…

So, as much as I love the 1100F and 900F unlikely to ever own one and the GS bikes speak to me too. I guess I have eclectic tastes in what I have acquired… I don’t mind the Plastic Maggot and like it for what it is…
The Vstrom has been plenty fast enough most of the time…I reserve my speed wishes for four wheeled variety on curvy roads…I live near some I can enjoy at low speed and not have to go crazy speed wise and end up with tickets and other trouble…

[Alan F.]

I haven't tried it personally yet, but there was a YouTube video where Marvel Mystery Oil and green Scotchbrite pads were used to remove the white aluminum oxidation. I'll see if I can find it.

This is the one:

[richmagee7]

Wow, nice bike, incredible deal, following.

[newday777]

I haven't tried it personally yet, but there was a YouTube video where Marvel Mystery Oil and green Scotchbrite pads were used to remove the white aluminum oxidation. I'll see if I can find it.

This is the one:

I'll have to try/test that Marvel MO out on a couple patients I picked up..... they have some oxidation and rust on them that will be interesting to see if it works.