Last weekend was the the big Fellowship of Christian Athletes car show in Hartsville, SC. This year I decided to do something a bit different. Instead of entering one of my old Japanese motorcycles, I removed the luggage rack and handlebar risers from my main commuter bike the Royal Enfield Interceptor and polished the heck out of it.
Ooh shiny!
Took the top spot in the bike class, out of 10 or so motorcycles that showed up. It was a great day. Here’s a few more shots from the event. It happens every year the weekend before Father’s Day.
Just thought I’d post a line or two about what’s happening with the bikes around here.
1982 Honda Passport
On Saturday May 20th my little Street Cub project from my last post took a best in class award at the 2023 VJMC National Rally. We had a great time at the rally which was held in Eufuala Alabama this year.
A real Dream of mine.
A few months ago I finally got my hands on a nice early Honda Dream. This is a 1962 model CA77 It would actually start but wouldn’t idle or charge a battery. I went ahead and installed a VM22 Mikuni carburetor on it and got it running well. The original ignition switch fell apart so I rewired it with a modem switch and a solid state regulator – rectifier and now it’s extremely reliable. One day I plan to take care of the cosmetics but it’s fun to ride like it is. It’ll never be purely stock again but it will be very nice one day. I’ll tell you more when the time comes.
1983 Honda VF750F Interceptor
At the Fast Lane swap meet during Daytona bike week this year I snagged this ratty old Honda Interceptor to keep my Royal Enfield Interceptor company. It was dirt cheap because it had no title but after a thorough carburetor overhaul and a new fuel pump it ran good enough that it was worth it to go through the “barn find” title process. The paperwork finally came through this week so it’s time to get it safe and ready for the road.
A few years ago I found and restored a 1982 Honda Passport C70 to absolutely pristine condition. The only modification that I did was to change the paint color from Honda’s original Angel Blue to a slightly darker Ford blue. Everything else on it was pure stock and it was an excellent runner. I sold it to pay for my new shop air compressor and while I’m glad to have the compressor I sure did miss that C70 and kept my eyes open for another fixer upper.
Two or three years ago I caught up with an old friend that I hadn’t seen in a while, like myself he’s a collector of projects and things to tinker with, and he just happened to have this Monza Red 1982 Honda Passport sitting in a shed behind his garage. It was crusty & neglected but the engine turned freely. As a bonus it even came with a title!
After cleaning the carburetor it would fire up as long as it was sprayed with carb cleaner or starter fluid. It had just enough compression to run and ride but not enough to start without some help. Time to get to work!
I started following several Southeast Asian Instagram accounts promoting the streetcub customs based on the Honda Cub, Super Cub, and Trail models. There’s so much creative craziness going on over there that it was inspiring. The vast majority of custom Cubs in the Orient are stripped down choppers with bobbed rear fenders and minimal bodywork, but there a lot of really cool looking full fender bikes too.
First step was to rebuild the tired old engine, this particular Passport had been abused as a moped for years before my buddy got it and then it spent a few years sitting in his shed. Restoration was not even contemplated for this old machine and I did want more power than could be had from the standard engine so I rebuilt it using an 88cc kit sold by CMS in the Netherlands.
Then using an AFR gauge I re-jetted the carburetor for maximum performance and installed a stainless steel exhaust from a Japanese company called Wirus Win. It has a great look and sound with decent performance now.
Some Paint & Bodywork
It was going to be red, there was never any doubt about that. There was also never any doubt that it would not be the original Monza Red because it just didn’t have the pop that I was looking for. The color chosen was Firethorn Red Pearl from TCP Global in a single stage urethane. I consider myself to be a decent painter but am especially proud of how this bike came out. This paint job has never been buffed and the shine you see here is how it laid down straight out of the gun.
The leg shield is a new aftermarket piece, for it I mixed a couple of spoons full of dry pearls into some urethane clear for a nice sheen to enhance the plain white plastic. A couple of different shades of rattle can gold highlight the engine & a few small parts here and there.
Bought a Few Cool Pieces
After the paint there are 2 other parts that really stand out; one is the brown custom seat, two are the chrome plated 72 spoke wire wheels, both of which came from Ebay. I also wanted to get rid the dangly eighties style turn signals and have old looking round signal lights mounted on the handlebars not hanging under them on the ungainly looking original stalks which are clearly an afterthought. The rear license plate & light bracket were modified to accept turnsignals from an old CB350 I had laying around. The taillight itself was new but I have no idea what it fit. I did have to 3d print a new gasket for it using a flexible material known as TPU95.
3D Printer Go Brrrr!
At the time I had just gotten my first 3d printer and I really wanted to do some cool stuff for this little motorcycle so I did. Almost all of the black rubber grommets and frame plugs were replaced with parts printed from black TPU95.
All of the fork, frame and swing arm plugs are of my own design and were printed out, painted & installed during final assembly. Side cover knobs were made to match the style of the frame plugs and look really cool. These little frame and for plugs on the original bikes don’t match each other and this has always irked me as it gave them the appearance of having been designed piecemeal.
The “StreetCub” emblem on the front was designed and printed in white plastic with the lettering & outlines highlighted with gold paint.
More Than The Sum of Its Parts
Overall the final product makes me very happy and last year it scored a first place trophy as best motorcycle at a large car truck & bike show that happens every year in my home town of Hartsville S.C. I’m convinced that a lot of people don’t realize just how heavily customized it is, but it always attracts favorable attention everywhere I take it even at Daytona Beach Bike Week.
One of the big selling points of Honda Cubs & Passport was their practicality and relative comfort. I think I killed that with that with this one. The seats not very well padded, the exhaust is nearly loud enough to be annoying and without the luggage rack you can’t haul your groceries home with it. But it’s got miles of style and when we were eating supper at the campground in Florida I looked up and saw the evening sun sparkling on the gold pearl in the paint and the chrome gleaming I knew that I had done the right thing with this little 1982 Honda Passport. Originally its form followed its function but now form is the most important thing and its main function is looking good.
My Interceptor 650 is up to about 2600 miles so far. It has been a very pleasant and reliable motorcycle so far. The only trouble that I’ve encountered has been a nail in the rear tire. Fortunately I was close to home and called my wife to pick me up so I could go get the truck and retrieve it. None of my Royal Enfield modifications have been necessary except maybe for the handlebar change.
The very first modification that was done was adding 1” handlebar risers. On the day I left the dealership after paying my deposit I ordered a case of oil filters and a set of handlebar risers. When I sat on an INT650 for the first time in the showroom I immediately felt like it would be more comfortable if the grips were just a little bit higher. When I did the first service it was just a matter of removing the bolts holding the handlebar mounts, placing the risers under the mounts and bolting everything up with the new extended bolts that came with the risers. Not a difficult mod to do if you feel you’d like to have your handlebars a bit higher.
One actual complaint that I had about this motorcycle was engine vibration felt through the handlebars. The bars are solidly mounted and the grips are made of a thin hard rubber so I purchased a set of Grip Puppies. These are foam rubber sleeves that slip over your existing grips and add a bit more cushion and they did help a good bit. Before you bother to comment that I’m holding on to tightly, I’m not. Over 20 years of mechanics followed by 20 years of CAD work have left me with arthritic hands that are a lot more sensitive than they should be. It is what it is.
Since I use this bike for commuting and weekend 2 up riding I installed a passenger backrest and luggage rack combo. While this has been a useful and practical modification it doesn’t help the looks of the Interceptor at all and if I were ever to seriously enter it in a show it would be temporarily removed. The rack is handy to have but it’s ugly.
From the crate U.S. models of the Interceptor 650 have black sidecovers with logos designating them as the INT650 to avoid copyright conflict with another motorcycle company. I’ve joined a couple of Royal Enfield Facebook groups and one of the members offered to sell me a set of painted sidecovers with the Interceptor 650 logo for a good price so I got them. Having the sidecovers color matched to the fuel tank is a huge improvement to the appearance of an already fantastic looking bike.
Vibration in the bars was still a problem for me and although the factory cross braced handlebars looked really cool they were not shaped right for me and put my wrists at an angle that wasn’t as comfortable as they could be so I decided it was time to get serious about the handlebars so I bought a set of Emgo flat track style bars. Now the Emgo bars are way too wide to use with the stock cables and wiring so I trimmed 3.75 inches from both ends so that they would fit. Afterwards I put some metal plugs inside them, filled the ends up with lead weights and then capped them off with plastic end plugs.
Next up was a set of ODI Mushroom Grips. The ODI grips are quite a bit shorter than the stockers so I had to shorten the throttle sleeve to fit right. Once that was done it was time to locate the switch gear and drill the holes for the locating pins that keep them from rotating around the handlebars.
Now when I reach for the grips my hands are in a more natural position and between the weights and the soft thick rubber grips handlebar vibration is greatly reduced. I’m actually thinking of removing the risers now & I like the looks too!
In the beginning I had zero plans to perform any “performance” modifications to this 650 but just couldn’t help myself. I looked at the aftermarket air filters and airbox lids and decided they just were not worth the cost so I fired up my 3d printer and made myself an airbox lid with the large opening that works with the stock air filter. Does it actually help anything? Without a dynamometer to test it who knows, I kind of doubt it makes much difference.
For the exhaust side I went with a set of Powerage stainless mufflers, the reason I chose these muffler is that after watching a bunch of online videos and reading reports in various forums is that they seemed to be the quietest of the aftermarket exhaust if you leave the baffles in. They come with a wrench that allows you to remove the db killer baffle if you want it to be extra loud. With the baffle in you get a nice snarl that’s a little louder than stock. I put a video on my Youtube channel giving you a sound quality and volume comparison.
Am I done with this motorcycle? No, for someone like me a motorcycle like this is a blank canvas, a never ending rolling art project that even if it were to seem finished I reserve the right to start all over and take it in a completely different direction just because I can’t help myself. The next thing to try will be a color matched quarter fairing from MK Designs, the pictures I’ve seen look really good and the price isn’t bad either.
In addition to the Royal Enfield modifications I’ve got a few other projects to tell you about, some of them are in progress but a couple of them are already completed I just haven’t had time to write about them. Until next time, happy wrenching.
It’s now 2023 almost a decade later, it’s been a hell of a roller-coaster ride. I’m no longer running any business and just want to share my love and knowledge of motorcycles with the world. Coming back to WordPress to stay.
The shop is closed but I’m still restoring my own bikes
After deciding to give up the business, I had decided to switch to a less expensive hosting plan over at Bluehost back in December. After that my blog suffered one outage after another, then last month hackers managed to transfer my domain to another server, After taking almost a month to get my domain back they then wanted me to pay even more money to clean up and restore the site after they let it get transferred without even notifying me.
Enough of the BS I’m just ready to have some fun, are you? Good see you around.
Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 in Orange Crush Livery
Let me go ahead and explain why this Review is being done at 1300 miles after I took ownership of the bike and not sooner. The owner’s manual gives a recommended break in period of 1200 miles, since I am a very particular person who believes in doing things correctly I stuck to that. Let me go ahead and say that my Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 has been utterly reliable with no electrical or mechanical malfunction whatsoever. I purchased this motorcycle this summer with my own funds and have complete freedom to praise or disparage it as I see fit. Here’s the best phrase to describe the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650, “It’s a perfectly adequate motorcycle.” This is not meant to be disparaging, for a motorcycle commuter like myself it is high praise indeed.
very nice paint
The only color that I wanted was the Orange Crush version so I began to search dealer’s websites and called around looking for the machine I desired. Here in the American southeast within 3-400 miles of my home all of the Orange Crush painted Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 s were sold out and no one could tell me how long it would take to get one. Motorcycles of Charlotte had the best combination of inventory and prices on hand so I decided to go and purchase whatever they had in stock and simply paint it orange when I got it home. Yes I am a good enough painter to do so and it would have had a better than factory appearance. When I told Cameron the salesperson that I was working with, what my plans were, he suggested that if I was willing to wait a month that they could get me the color that I wanted. So I put down a deposit and almost exactly a month later went back to pick up my new motorcycle. I’m thankful for Cameron & the rest of the crew at Motorcycles of Charlotte for a great new bike sales experience.
The first time I ever laid eyes on her.
Let’s start by going over the good and bad points of the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 with what is absolutely the best thing about it, the appearance. They got it right, this motorcycle has the classic British motorcycle look. The proportions and styling are spot on. The paint is very good, much better than the old 500 Classic Bullet that I reviewed several years ago. One reason I wanted this color combo was to get the silver wheels (all other colors come with black wheels) which I prefer. The shapes of the bodywork, engine and tank work together to recall the old Interceptor 700 from the golden age of the Britbike. In fact when I was on my way home with it on the carrier behind my truck a gentleman whose dad had owned several old Royal Enfields flagged me down so that he could take some pictures of it. He thought it was a restoration and was surprised to find out it was brand new. If you don’t want to talk to strangers about your motorcycle this is not a bike for you. The phrase perfectly adequate motorcycle does not apply to the looks of the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650. It is a rolling work of art straight out of the past, and arguably the best looking of all of the new “retro motorcycles” produced today.
A great looking motorcycle!
Reading through the online forums and groups you’ll occasionally see posts about electrical problems most of which seem to be traceable to the dielectric grease on the prongs of the relays that operate the circuits of the motorcycle and are usually solved by cleaning them off. I’ve yet to experience any such problems with mine. It’s been totally reliable thus far. After I put my deposit down I went home and ordered a case of oil filters for it from a reputable vendor and some good 10w50 synthetic motorcycle oil to have on hand for when they were needed. The factory recommends getting the first service done at 300 miles. This seems a bit soon by modern standards but this is a real vintage style motorcycle with real locknut and screw valve adjusters, so I guess the factory is being extra cautious.
Time for the first service!
So at exactly 300.6 miles I pulled mine up on the table and gave it a full service. I live an hour and a half away from the nearest dealer so I do my own work unless it’s a warranty repair. This bike has one of the easiest valve adjustments I’ve ever performed. 2 of the exhaust tappets were a tiny bit loose so I set those to spec. I’m not going through the service here but it is easy-peasy to perform. In addition to getting a service manual, go to YouTube and look for Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 service videos by Stuart Fillingham and you’ll learn all you need to know.
It’s very simple to check and adjust the valves.
Handling and suspension are good. It is built to a price point and that shows some but the handling is good enough that you really can ride it as is without any modifications if you desire. If you’re planning on strafing apexes you’ll definitely want to replace the original tires. I haven’t done too much twisty riding here in the flatlands but on the few curvy roads we have, I’ve found it to be more than adequate. The springs are a little soft and the front end dives under hard braking but it has the good handling characteristics that the old British motorcycles were so famous for, thanks to a frame designed by Harris Performance in England. I may upgrade the suspension to get rid of some of the softness later but for now I am actually enjoying the relatively plush soft ride. Let’s face it if you expect sport bike handling go get a sport bike but for the rest of us this is perfectly adequate as is. The same goes for the braking system, it’s basic but the ABS works and it’s matched to the bikes power & intended mission.
Comfort is a very subjective thing on a motorcycle and what works for me may not work for you. Parts to upgrade and modify these motorcycles are available all over the internet for very reasonable prices so bear that in mind if you try one and find it uncomfortable. The seat is adequately comfortable for me & I can ride reasonable distances with no problems. I’ve not taken it on any really long trip yet but don’t foresee me having any problems. Some owners have hated the seat and changed it immediately, the factory accessory upgrade is very reasonably priced. The foot peg location is another thing a lot of people complain about. The driver’s foot pegs really are located right where you naturally try to drop your feet to the pavement when you stop. A lot of people buy foot peg relocation kits to move them and I can see doing this if you’re taller or shorter than me. With my 29 inch inseam the pegs are in a great position for me when I’m actually riding, when I stop I’ve just developed the habit of putting my feet down behind the pegs. Riding comfort trumps comfort while stopped.
The only thing that was a real problem for me was the level of vibration felt through the handlebars. My day job is computer aided drafting and design, so I have arthritis and general repetitive motion deterioration of my hands and wrists. I installed a set of Grip Puppies over the stock grips and that helped a good bit, but I wound up replacing the handlebars and doing some other mods that I’ll tell you about later that took care of my only real complaint.
Please note the pictures used in this post are of the 100% factory stock bike on the day I brought it home and do not include any of the changes I’ve made since then. I’ll show you what I’ve done to it later.
The charming vintage experience generated by riding this motorcycle is greatly aided by the traditional air & oil cooled parallel twin engine. It does have a 270 degree firing order instead of a traditional 180 or 360 degree firing order. This is supposed to reduce vibration and give a better sounding syncopated exhaust note. The Bosch fuel injection system works flawlessly and there is no warm up period when cold or stumbling like you would have with a set of carburetors. What’s so vintage about that you ask? Well nothing really but it does have authentic vintage power levels, most reported dyno tests put it at 40-42 at the rear wheel. In 1965 this would have been a bad motor scooter, but here in 2022 that’s not much. Yes dear reader she’ll do the ton but don’t ask for much else. Performance is perfectly adequate for getting back and forth to work or cruising around looking really damn good on the weekend but if you want to go really fast you need to get a different motorcycle. There are no ride modes or traction control, you don’t really need them on this machine.
Improperly cut cable ties are a pet peeve of mine. Would someone in India please buy some flush wire cutters?
Even with the stock exhaust the engine sound is pleasant with a cool little burble on the overrun while shifting or slowing down. There’s adequate torque so that you don’t have to keep rowing through the six speed gearbox unless you want to. When you run the engine up to the redline the power comes on stronger as you pass 5000 rpm but be careful if you hit the rev limiter at 7500 rpm it cut’s the engine back hard. The abruptness of the rev limiter means that if you really want to get max acceleration out of this motorcycle you need to make sure you shift by 7200 rpm. If you need maximum acceleration very often the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 might not be the bike for you.
Speaking of that 6 speed gearbox let me sing its praises. Made in India quality has come a long way since the days of the old iron barreled 500 Bullets. I’ve owned bikes from every continent and my love of Japanese motorcycles is well documented but this Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 has the slickest shifting transmission of any motorcycle I’ve ever ridden in my entire life.
No speed demon, not a big loud heavy cruiser, or a giant touring bike, this motorcycle is truly a newly minted vintage style motorcycle with just the right amount of modern electronics in the form of ABS and fuel injection to get rid of the vintage shortcomings but without excessive modern electronic gimmicks that often seem to be added to bikes (and cars) just because they can. The speedometer & tachometer are good old analog gauges, only the digital odometer and fuel gauge give away the fact that this is a new motorcycle.
Orange Crush top view
Small, uncomplicated and good looking, (a lot like my wife) unless something really bad happens I think this one is a keeper. My all-inclusive out the door cost that I paid for this machine in June of 2022 was just a smidge over $7500. This includes sales tax & registration but not local property taxes. Again I cannot recommend Motorcycles of Charlotte highly enough.
You may have noticed that I keep calling this bike the Interceptor 650. The official North American model designation is the INT650, the Interceptor name as applied to motorcycles is legally owned by Honda who used it for their legendary line of V4 sport bikes. So fellow Americans when you go shopping for one of these look for the INT650, you can change the stickers later to look more like the original Royal Enfield Interceptor of the 1960s.
It’s another Fourth of July, and while we’re celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I thought it was a good time to post an update on what’s been going on around here. Things are kind of hectic but I’m finally getting the shop back together and working on old bikes again.
old bikes 1964 Honda CA78
Originally my plan after moving to the new location was to close my shop to the public and concentrate strictly on restoring my stock pile of personal projects that have been gathering dust for some time now.
old bikes Cushman Eagle basket case
At this point I have no plans to offer any more services to the public, I currently have a large backlog of promised restorations that have been delayed so I’m not accepting any new commissions at this time. If I have already agreed to do a motorcycle for you, it will be done and it will be a show winning beauty. Once all of the other peoples motorcycles that are already in the pipeline are done, the plan is to restore the accumulation of cool old bikes that are gathering dust in the corners of my shop and other buildings on the property.
old bikes 1968 Honda CL90
Earlier this year I became very sick and was out of work for 2 months. While this was somewhat of a financial hardship especially after buying a new house and moving, it also led me to the realization that I’m now closer to the end of my life than to the beginning of it. The phrase “I have the rest of my life to finish things,” has become “I only have the rest of my life to finish things.” A sobering reality especially when combined with diminished physical strength and endurance.
Four and one half weeks ago I got approval from the county code inspector to get power connected to the shop so I could have sufficient electrical service to run the equipment and get back to work. As of today (7/4/2022) I’m still waiting on the electric company to come and connect the power. They’re probably waiting on the transformer that will be needed for the installation. Unfortunately all of American industry is designed and set up for a “just in time” delivery and manufacturing model that is no longer viable. We all have to be patient, adapt to our new reality and find away to work around the problem. Once my power is connected I’ll announce it here and open the shop back up.
old bikes 1982 Honda C70 & 1964 Honda ct200
Even though new blog posts have been scarce, (my apologies for that) before moving I was incredibly busy and turned out several very nice projects that Ill share with you in the coming months. Hopefully you’ll enjoy seeing them when I get them posted. In addition to restoring some more of the old bikes, I’ve purchased yet another new motorcycle and will be doing a brutally honest review of it very soon.
Peace, love and hope to everyone out there, the future may seem a bit murky right now but we’ll all get through it somehow and continue to be prosperous and happy.
This has been in the back of my head for a while and I’ve wanted to share it with the world but I’ve been a little afraid to, afraid of what some of my friends and fellow motorcyclists might think. What I’m about to confess to you may seem wrong but I can’t help myself. It’s time for me to go public with my point of view, damn those who might think less of me, I know I’m not the only motorcyclist who feels this way.
The Motorcycle Gospel of the Highway 1:29, states “Though must enjoy hustling thy motorcycle at maximum velocity down the gnarliest, curviest, most challenging mountain roads you can find.” To which I, Floyd The Heretic must reply, “fuck that shit.” Seriously it’s just not that much fun for me. Yes I’ve done it a few times but the thrill is gone after 1 or 2 trips down a road with no scenery except for road signs warning me about the next hairpin turn or switchback ahead of me. Doing this over and over is boring. B-O-R-I-N-G.
I am The Heretic a sign like this is just fine with me.
Give me a nice Saturday morning with my wife on the back traveling down a nice country road full of idyllic scenery, through some small towns, historic districts etc. Maybe plan a stop at a restaurant or a bike show between 50 and 200 miles away. You know a good relaxing ride where you occasionally go slow enough to smell the roses, rotting roadkill animal corpses and the food at the diner on the corner in that little town that you’ve never been to before.
Even though I don’t want a road with endless curves to give me a total body workout a few nice sweeping curves are welcome. So is mile after mile of arrow straight 2 lane blacktop through forests, fields and villages. On a hot summer day in the south nothing beats coming across a long tunnel of trees throwing shade over a narrow blacktop road gently winding its way through the swamps of the Pee Dee & Low Country here in South Carolina. It’s like a little piece of heaven on 2 wheels. Another ride I really enjoyed last year was touring the Gettysburg National Park and surrounding countryside on my Honda Shadow. Great winding roads and lots to see along them.
As a frequent motorcycle commuter my rides to and from work are enough to get my heart rate up and scare the shit out of me sometimes so when I set out to do some recreational riding it should be relaxing. If I want to be tired, sore and drenched in sweat after riding a motorcycle I’ll ride a dirtbike or go do a track day somewhere. (Both of these are things I enjoy doing sometimes.)
There I’ve said it, now I hope someone out there understands how I feel. I’m not a Sunday morning squid out to prove myself against the mountain. Nor am I a barhopping biker riding with my friends from tavern to tavern. I’m just an ordinary everyday motorcyclist who rides because I love it and ordinary everyday riding is my favorite thing to do. If that seems like a heresy to anyone then I’m proud to be the heretic.
I apologize that I never came back with the finished pictures of Project 333 but I did finish it along with a few others that I haven’t told you about yet. When I started that project at the beginning of 2020 I had no clue of the craziness that was about to overtake the world in a few months.
Let me say if you need an engine for a custom project like this I highly recommend the Piranha 140cc engines they’re powerful and reliable. It was very easy to install and wire up. The single biggest issue I had was that I wanted to feed the carburetor from the stock air intake so I had to purchase the correct adapter to orient the carburetor to reach the stock Honda C200 air intake. It wasn’t a perfect fit but it was good.
Here you can see how much I had to move the carb.
Some cheap control switches and a reasonably priced reproduction seat from Ebay worked out great. I just built a complete custom wiring harness and made the whole thing 12 volts dc so that I could run a lithium battery and LED lighting.
A drag pipe was sourced from Beatrice Cycle for a mean and meaty sound!
At the rear I added a hot rod “Model A” taillight.
Hot Rod style taillight on 64 Honda Project 333
In the end this build ended up being a ton of fun to ride, and with it’s clean vintage looks really turned heads too. It was a great little neighborhood blaster that accelerated quickly up to it’s maximum speed of 45 mph. Some motorcycles just really do become more than the sum of their parts and this was one of them.
Project 333 next to a pure stock CT70 that I finished,
Too bad that the 2020 Barber Small Bore Festival was canceled. I was just going to save it for 2021 but wound up trading it for a 1998 Triumph Adventurer 900. More on that later.
1998 Triumph Adventurer future custom project.
The whole corona virus episode really threw everyone’s plans for everything for a loop. Unlike a lot of people my employment situation did not change, being employed in an essential industry I never missed a single day of work and was never told to work from home. Between that and working on other peoples motorcycles I’ve been busier than ever before.
Motopsyco World HQ
One great blessing is that we finally sold our previous home and moved into a new place that has a much bigger house and shop. So I’m writing my first blog post of 2022 from my new office in Hartsville, S.C. and look forward to the coming year.
It was a cool Friday morning, I was giving our 2001 Honda Helix a major tune up and oil change and needed to pick up a new spark plug plus order a few other parts so I ran over to my local dealer Generation 3 Powersports in Florence S.C. and that’s when I first saw the new Honda Rebel 1100 in real space.
Late last year Honda announced that they were going to be selling an 1100cc Rebel cruiser and I’ve started watching it with interest and immediately decided that if I got the chance to I was going to ride one. It turns out that my friends over at G3 had one in stock, better yet it was the DCT model. So I took a seat on it and the senior owner Don came over and held it up for me to put my feet up on the pegs and see how I fit on it. For me the fit was very good, with my 29” inseam my knees were right at a 90 degree angle and nestled up to the tank in a good location. When I mentioned that I have been wanting to ride one he informed me that he had this one set up for demo rides and I immediately jumped at the chance to take it out.
I’ve ridden several of the old Hondamatic motorcycles of the late 70’s and early 80’s and enjoyed them a lot, of course on that day, when I went to the dealer, I was getting parts for my 250cc scooter that has a CVT transmission so unlike a lot of people I have no problem with the thought of riding a motorcycle with an automatic transmission. Honda’s dual clutch transmission has been out for a while now and has proven to be a reliable system that works well in the NCT700, Goldwing and Africa Twin motorcycles. Unlike a CVT which uses a belt sliding between variable pulleys to infinitely adjust speed the DCT is an actual gearbox with the shifting controlled by an ECU that actually learns your riding style and adapts to it.
Let’s talk about the motorcycle and the riding experience for a bit. For a cruiser the styling of the current Rebels is unconventional, Honda chose to plot their own path with parallel twin engines and modern industrial styling. The 1100cc parallel twin engine is much better than any v-twin powerplant in terms of power per cc and smoothness. Plus it’s different, some might not like it but I prefer my Japanese cruisers to be distinctly Japanese and all of the newer Rebels fit the bill. The blacked out styling is distinctively different from the typical shiny cruiser style, but is definitely modern and contemporary.
Like every modern fuel injected motorcycle the engine fires right up and settles into a nice muted idle. The rhythm of the exhaust note is not a lumpy idle like a v-twin but a steady staccato beat. It’s a little quiet but not too quiet. The engine revs quickly and eagerly in a way no old school v-twin like my Shadow ACE 1100 can match. There are selectable ride modes but for my test I just left it in standard, my goal was to experience the motorcycle not the electronics. I do like the factory cruise control a feature normally found only on 900 pound luxury touring motorcycles. With a total weight of 505 U.S. pounds fully fueled for the DCT model, (slightly less for the manual transmission version), the Rebel 1100 is a pleasantly light weight motorcycle to have such features.
Lifting it up off the kickstand the first impression is that Rebel 1100 feels much lighter than 500 pounds. The handlebars are just like the old superbike bars we all used to put on our bikes back in the eighties, you lean forward just a little bit to reach them, which is a super comfy position for me. I thumbed the button to put it in drive and made a couple of laps of the parking lot to see how the initial acceleration and braking felt before heading out on the road. It’s a bit of a weird sensation sitting on a motorcycle and not having a clutch handle. You can manually shift using push buttons on the left handlebar but I deliberately did not do that. The buttons are there if you want to play with them but much like the paddle shifters in my wife’s car I suspect most people will play with them a time or two and then never touch them again.
Styling foot controls
Pulling out onto the road and cruising felt great, kind of like riding an old CB400F but with a lower seat and triple the horsepower. Some test riders may not have liked it but under acceleration the DCT always picked the right shift points for me. While I didn’t do any performance testing once I got clear of town I did whack the throttle hard for a quick run from 35 to 70 mph and the gearbox responded exactly like it should have. The front end felt light and it accelerated hard. Now I understand why it has electronic wheelie control, the Rebel 1100 engine is that good. Many have criticized the fact that it lost a few horses compared to the Africa Twin that this engine was derived from, but in the real world you’ll never notice the difference.
I didn’t get to any real twisty roads just a few city street corners and a couple of nice two lane sweepers but that was enough to tell me that the Rebel 1100 handled much better than any other cruiser that I’ve ridden including the 2017 Guzzi V9 that I recently sold. A really good rider on a Rebel will spank an average rider on a sport-bike with no problem. I love my vintage motorcycles but I have to admit these modern machines are truly marvelous and I may have to give buying another new one some serious thought.
You might think that a bike with such a low seat height of 27 and ½ inches would be a rough ride but in this case you would be wrong. The Rebel 1100 and I rode through a few intersections with some seriously rippled pavement and horrible patchwork and the ride felt just fine. One of the things that has turned me off of new bikes is that the new ones I have purchased always seemed to need either a replacement seat and/or shocks to be comfortable. This one has nice suspension including Showa rear shocks with piggyback reservoirs that work very well just as they are.
Braking is good, the ABS system works unobtrusively and provides great stopping ability. Which will be reassuring for those times when the DCT system doesn’t downshift when you think it should, on up-shifts I always felt that the DCT shifted at the right time and held the right gear for the right length of time to match what I was trying to do. Once or twice the downshift didn’t occur when I wanted it to but after we got used to each other, things smoothed out. You should be aware of this little quirk but do not let it stop you from buying a Honda with a dual clutch transmission if you want one, once you get used to it, everything becomes seamless.
When you think of a Honda Rebel you probably think of the cute little 250 beginner bikes that were a staple of riding schools everywhere for decades. These were finally superseded by the current generation of 300 and 500 Rebels that the Rebel 1100 is descended from. Yet the Rebel 1100 is not really a beginners bike. With it’s light weight and low seat height it could be, but the power and handling it has are more than enough to keep an experienced rider happy. This is the maximum Rebel for the rider whose skill has outgrown the smaller Rebels but not their inseam. It’s a serious motorcycle for serious riders who just happen to have outgrown the smaller Rebels or who want a cruiser style ride but not another big, heavy and slow chrome plated v-twin motorcycle.
If I bought a Rebel 1100, which is a distinct possibility, it would get the touring accessories and passenger accommodations before it left the dealer. The first thing I’d do is take it out for a nice 2-300 mile ride just to get used to it. The next thing I’d do would be to strap it to my work table, take a few measurements and then fire up the Solidworks CAD software and design some cool one of a kind custom parts for it.
The Honda Rebel 1100 is one of those rare motorcycles that I can unconditionally recommend to everyone who is comfortable sitting on it, at my 5’-10” height, it is a great fit for me, rides well, handles great, has plenty of power and best of all is available with Honda’s dual clutch transmission if you want it.
Whether you opt for the 6 speed manual or the DCT automatic the Honda Rebel 1100 is a great real world motorcycle for real motorcyclists.
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