Return Of The Mack, Non-Return Of The Mack, And The DuKawi

2017 Honda CBR1100 EX

I've long since come to terms with the idea that my participation in, or excitement about, something is basically the opposite of celebrity endorsement. BMX was doing great until I got my Beginner license. The same is true for my NASA region, which saw entries in the PTE class go from 15-20 to 4-6 after I started. To be fair, the 2008 market collapse might have been peripherally involved. But anyway. After a picture of me wearing my horsehide Captain America jacket went viral everywhere from Reddit's Feminism channel to the Daily Mail, Hillside put the ready-to-wear version of said jacket on clearance.

Which is why I am just a little bit excited to announce that I have saved a motorcycle from extinction. When I bought my discontinued 2014 Honda CB1100 Standard, and two of my readers followed suit, I had no idea that the three of us would triple-handedly convince Honda to bring the motorcycle back to the United States. But as you'll see, they're still keeping the good stuff at home. Meanwhile, Team Green has decided to make a very strong argument for me to sell the CB...

The revamped 2017 CB1100EX, complete with late-Eighties-style tank, LED headlight, wire wheels, slipper clutch, a two-tone engine treatment, and minor performance updates, will come to the United States late this spring. I'm not totally convinced. I like the all-black, all-business look of my Comstar-wheel Standard quite a bit more than this spruced-up EX. But what is this?

The CB1100RS has improved suspension, different geometry, wheels that are both smaller and lighter, and a general sporty-ish visual update. It looks just about perfect to me. Unfortunately for me, it's not coming to the United States. We're just getting the wire-wheel bike.

Now let me show you something that we are getting. The 2017 Kawasaki Z900. Look at the trellis-esque frame, in the proper shade of green to boot. Wouldn't this look brilliant next to my ZX-14R in the garage? But in reality I'd be stupid to swap my eminently reliable and fully paid-for Honda CB out just to get something that isn't as fast as the ZX-14R and isn't as simple as the CB. But I do think that you should look at it, because it is AWESOME.

I suspect the only problem would be when you line up next to somebody on a $1,800 Craigslist special FZ-1 and he blows you into the weeds. "Wait," you'll say, "look at my green frame!"