“Bought 14 yr old stock bike with 19k on clock. Upgraded headlamp to xenon from Jaws Motorcycles, custom seat from CM in Coventry, Oxford heated grips and full set of GIVI touring panniers. In my humble opinion this is the best bike ever made and shame on Honda for not continuing with it. Its power is awesome and the torque is tremendous. it will laze along in top at 30 and without changing down will launch you into licence losing territory. The stock seat was comfortable but very slippery. Once I changed to a custom seat from CM the bike was complete. Would I ever change it? Yes but only for another one.
Fantastic piece of kit that every biker should try.”
“Rock solid bullet, these engines do 300k 164 bhp, 185mph, smooth as a babys bum and never let me down.
Ive fitted a custom seat and bar risers and a few other mods more for my convenience than anything lacking in the bike. Highly recommend these bikes.”
“how to describe the mighty Blackbird.....A fantastic powerhouse of the mid to late 90's a bike that back in its day was THE' powerfullest road going superbikes of the day, still looks modern even by todays standards, I rate it over its smoothness, comfortability, and stability at speed, I have yet to find out how well it runs being fully loaded as I have a big trip to the Isle of Man next year to watch the TT races, the blackbird may not have the genuine double ton milestone to its name, but to me its everything a bike can possibly be in handling and performance, the way it glides through corners and eats miles with ease, It will sit at 100 all day long without seeming like its straining itself, the only thing i can really nail the big bird on and this goes with most Honda's is the charging system, I have gone through two regulator rectifiers since owning, I am going to buy another but brand new and with warranty too, once this is replaced I will have to say I would be hard pushed to find a negative with it, fuel economy is mixed, as I find some owners claim 150-180 miles per tankful, and i feel mine is more 120-130+ to a tank, possibly because the shear immense and linear power delivery is so addictive, I cannot resist the power to be unleashed, It outruns almost anything on the road in what seems a blink of an eye. overall this is a highly rated machine by many as by myself, I give it a 10/10 for its power and performance, a 8/10 for reliability (this is due to the reg/rec problems) a healthy 9/10 for comfort 10/10 for value for money, can pick up a decent example for inside £2000 mine is on 52+k miles and still runs like a 10-20k mile machine. a lot of bike for very little money. lots of add-ons and goodies to be bought, and should you feel it necessary power mods are obtainable too, I strongly recommend anyone to at the very least have a go on one before considering the likes of the HaYabusa and kawasaki's flagship zzr14, if budget is tight but you still have 2k to spend then this is the one to go for.”
“Iam now almost 70 years i have been riding since i was young have had a lot of bikes bought this blackbird when they came out in 96/97 i have ridden it all over europe turkey cyprus and never had a problem with it best bike i ever owned”
“Typical Honda build quality- shakes off a British winter with nothing better available still.
BMWs cost more than my house, Yamahas are mediocre at best, Triumphs have a cylinder missing, Kawasaki finish on UK roads?! Even Hondas VFR1200 isn't fast or frugal enough by comparison.
Sure there are grumbles from some about linked brakes (yes still) but if you are pushing that hard into bends you aren't riding the ol bird right. The CBR1100 is for crossing pages of the A to Z smoothly and quickly. Bloody quickly....”
