And now for something completely different...


As a collector/restorer of the DOHC Hondas from the early 80's, I picked up this rusty, non-running '83 CB1100F several years ago.





The cam chains were in bad shape, the main cam chain guide was broken, and in general, the bike was quite rusty. The motor was horribly corroded. I couldn't get a title for it, so I stripped it completely down to the frame and put the parts in boxes. The motor sat on my workbench partially disassembled for the next few years.


A good friend gave me a titled frame a few months later and that ended up sitting on top of a cabinet for the next few years as well. I was in no rush to start a restoration on this one, but I had time to start formulating plans. It's fairly common to put the CBR F2 suspension on these bikes, so I was thinking along those lines. I mentioned this to a fellow form member in the CB1100F.net forum who modifies and builds custom swingarms. "Why not use a more modern CBR600RR swingarm instead?" He said that he could do all the machine work and provide spacers and bracing so that the lower shock mount could be welded to the frame. I liked his suggestion, so I found a really nice/complete swingarm on eBay and bought it. It was shipped straight to his shop and it got into the queue for mods.


And here it is after it returned, ready to go:





On the frame side, I had to remove the center stand, cut off the mounts, and grind the tube smooth so that the shock mounts could be welded on. As you can see, I had a mess to deal with.








and just about ready to start the mock-up...





The swingarm slid right in where the original fit, with nice aluminum spacers to keep it tight and centered.





We got the bike set up on the mock-up table, set the angles, and got the brackets positioned for tack welding.








Off the frame went to my local welder, where they installed all the braces and turned my hokey tack welds into a very solid, braced lower bracket.





This was all being done while I was home recovering from a total hip replacement. I hustled to get that frame to the shop before my surgery so it would be done once I was back on my feet.


More to come...

 

With the frame done, mock-up #2 was done to check fitment of the swingarm after the welding. My guy did a great job and everything fit as expected. This was back in mid-March, a week after I got the new hip.

Long before I even bought the 2007 CBR600RR swingarm, I found someone local on CL selling a bunch of '94 CBR600 F2 parts. The front end was all there, along with the calipers, swingarm, wheels, and many other parts. I grabbed it all and started planning. I was originally thinking I'd use the entire F2 suspension. That obviously changed.


F2 fork tubes are 41mm, vs. the stock 39mm CB1100F tubes. I wanted to use the 1100F triples, so I brought them to a local machinist I know who bored them out for me. While he had them, I tore down the forks and proceeded to clean, powder coat, and rebuild them. New seals and bushes were installed and new Racetech springs were used since the 1100F is a much heavier bike. With the front and back ends firmly on the bike, it seemed to be sitting just the way I wanted.


Now it was time to tackle the motor...

 

Nice work so far! What are your plans for seating and paint? Just curious.

 

Thanks!


I have to come back and fill in all the blanks when I have more time, but this is how the bike looks now, virtually complete:





Bodywork is stock CB1100F in the blue/white scheme. The CBR front fender is being replaced with a more conventional fender that looks period correct for the F. The seat is a stock 1100F seat that I recovered with an exact repro that I got on eBay.


The bike runs GREAT and handles like a much newer bike now. The combination of rear CBR600RR swingarm and F2 front end w/smaller front wheel makes a big difference.


There was a lot of details that went into this build, so if people here are interested, I'll come back and add more pictures and show the build as it progressed.


Tom

 

Looks fantastic, glad to hear she's a runner!

 

Are you going to be selling the F2 front fender by chance? :-)

 

Yes I will. As soon as I swap out the F2 fender for the sleeker VF1000R fender, I'll have one available. I have two and plan to hang onto one "just in case." Check with me in a few weeks and it might be ready to go.

Here's the bike all done with the new paint job.

 

Back in the day I started out on a 750F then moved on to the 900F and always dreamt of getting the 1100F. Unfortunately I couldn't for the life of me at that time find a well working 11F model. My friend... your restoration job is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! Great job!

 

There are plenty of decent 1100F's out there now if you ever decide you want to get one. I have two, my son has one, and I'm building another.

If you liked my blue resto-mod, just wait till you see the candy red one that I'm working on.

Thanks very much - your compliments are really appreciated!

 

That is some amazing work on a bike that many would consign to the trash heap.

Also meant to say that the F2 wheels look great. Always hated the factory wheels on those older 1100's. And IMHO, the F2 fender looks fine.