Well Dennis I Love the 1100cc alot more than the 700cc but there is a problem with it...
its emence weight diference.. the 700cc i can more or less flick arround you realy can't do that with the 800lb 1100cc its just too heavy...but on the other hand I love idleing at 55mph in 4th gear barely above an idle at 65mph realy makes it nice.
the gas milage of the bikes are 54mpg for the 700 shadow and 45 for the 1100 shadow
the problem with the honda shadow line as i see it is the batterys have to be PERFECT to start the bike... if the battery is low at all , she'll never fire. a royal pain in the bottom ! ...both of these bikes are shaft drive and I like that alot no chain hassels
just check the diferential fluid once a year and your done !
... I've had many bikes and I think I like the Honda shadow 1100 the best so  far...
it is a nice cruser doesn't change lanes when a simi goes by in the other direction, has all the power  I need  no matter what the hill and in general a big monster..
I am in the proccess of makeing floor-boards for the bike but I've desided that i need to weld to the frame  to do it right so I gott'a take the bike into the back yard by the arc welder to finish the job hehehehehe
... the water temp switch on the honda is broke and causeing me no end of greef and I ain't about to pay $52.00 for a $2.00 part just because it is from Honda ! sheez, I think i'll get one for a ford or chevy re thred it and call it good !  hehehehe
and save $49.00 !
...
so consider sticking with the 750 because of the weight ...seriously !  its not like you're going to go much faster than 75mph most of the time  and the cost of gas makes the smaller bike more senseable !
... I am a big fan of the yamaha Road star and was thinking of tradeing my bike in on one of those ...  as I find this 1100 a bit big for me at times... like lifting it up when the side stand sinks in the dirt ! but I seriously doubt I'll ever do that ... i DON'T NEED ANOTHER BILL !  heheheheheheh
....
There is nothing like freezeing your bottom off on a bike and realiseing the rain is freezeing on your handlebars to make you re consider your motorcycle as a form of transportation though ! hehehehe been there done that... and i don't like pain so i try to ride now when its warm outside ! HAHAHA !
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I tried for most of my life to get ahold of a Kawasaki 750cc tripple but to no avail.
worked on many of them and I've never seen a faster accelerateing machine, it'ed rip the handle bars out of your hands if you wern't carefull ! alas the  quit makeing them ages ago !

...
so what ecperiences do you have on your bike ?  you and an automobil ever try to oquipy the same place at the same time before ? ...i did that once ! not fun and hard on my bike too !  <GRIN>
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C ya !
Bob......

Yeah I hear you on the weight. Even compared to my 650, my 750 steers like a drunken cow. Mine's chain drive and I haven't had the battery problems you've noticed. I didn't store it properly after my divorce and two years later, battery still in bike, I started her right up.

I saw a how to create your own footboards thing in a magazine once, but I have no idea where I saw it. I have them on my bike already.

This is what mine looks like:



Dennis

Oh Very Nice ! Drool !
I love the hard saddle bags !  Right now ,I have the goofie leather ones on my 1100  and up to this point i've alwayse had the fiberglass bags... their much better, I have some detachable sutecases and a top box that i am considering putting on the 1100 ... i had them and a windjammer ferring on the 700 but it made it react like a cow too... so I am considering long and hard before i put them on a already heavy machine ! hehehehe
I'ed post a pic of my bike if i knew how, I get Kim to do that stuff for me as she is the brains of the family !  I tought her how to program in basic many years ago and now she teaches me ! hehehehehe  can't get her interested in mechanical things though or I could teach her alot more ! HA !
...
I've been considering makeing the 1100 into a trike, I've seen many a realy purdy trike go by and alwayse wondered where they got'em ! there is a GL1100 in town that is a trike and a older fella about 90 yrs old rides it all over !   its realy sweet lookin'
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the floor boards i'm makeing are ugly as heck but functional  I had them on the 700 but had to modify the heck out of them to work on the 1100 because of the foot placement on the big beast... on the 1100 the foot pegs are way up front and are technically too far up there to be cumfortable... adding these floor boards will cure that problem.
... as far as I am concerned the roll bars are a must have item... without them its almost impossable to pick one of these heavy beasties up ! ... withthe roll bars you can roll it in that direction then get your legs under it to get it upright.
... 800lbs is sumply too heavy to lift so you gott'a use leverage my Dad bought this bike and it was too big for him ... he stopped at a stop sign and it fell over and had to have help to get it upright.. he was so discusted he never road it again, finally sold it to me ... i tried to get him to ride the 700 but he didn't like it much it was still too heavy for him so he just gave up on bikes ! ( his legs are weak due to diebeties and setting arround) being retired is fine as long as you stay active , if you don't you go to pot in a wink of an eye !
...
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I'll get Kim to help me post a pic on our site...its an older 1996 Honda Shadow vt1100c with bags rollbar and windshield and extra lights... the 700 is a 1984 vt700c engine case bars windshield and extra running lights I added , for both bikes i have made a detachable back rest that is worth its weight in gold,  and their black in color <grin>
all my bikes have been black ... or wind up being black ... dunno why it just happens that way ! HAHAHAHA
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I'ed love to have a dirt bike again, just to putt arround on , and i'll probly get one when I move off the mountian next year or the year after.
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Hay Dennis what kind of gas-milage do you get on that bike and what is the HP rateing on it anyway
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Bob......

No idea on mileage. I never pay attention on a motorbike. It costs me 10-12 bucks to fill up and I can go about 240 km on a tank.

Same with horsepower. I'm first off the light and it cruises comfortably at 120-130 km/h and still has some more in the upper range at that.

Yeah, I wouldn't be able to pick the beast up without the roll bars. As it is, just lean into it and roll 'er back up and it works fine.

That'd be cool to customize a trike. I have all kinds of parts in mind for a custom bike, but don't have the shop or the time at the moment. It'll come. I just gotta muscle my mum out of her garage (that she uses for plants and flowers), then I'll have the shop space. I figure about 20 years and I can push the plants out of the way.

Dennis

I'd love a new 883 Sportster, but for now my Vino125 gets me around just fine. Yeah, it's a bit embarassing running around in full gear on a scooter, but what the hell.. Another couple of seasons and I'll get a "real" bike. To be honest, I live and work downtown, so a scoot is really the best option for me.

I've always said that the day I get a freeway-able motorcycle I'll end up in Maine a few days later.

Dennis: Gorgeous bike!

So many of my younger years were spent on a small bike  its unreal. motorcycles were the Only transportation I could afford ... or want for that matter !
I got ahold of 3 cars while I was going to school but I only got to drive the cars there a few times, mostly it was the bike.
my  1996 1100cc Honda shadow is the first bike I've ever owned over 1000cc and I am realy enjoying that fact.... though I've had numerious ones from 450cc to 700cc
I've alwayse wanted a bigger one. now that I have it ...I hardly ride it... sort'a how it goes I guess... <grin>
I changed the foot pegs on the 1100 the other day and put on some floor boards that I made up,  and when I did I had to weld on a bracket so I could bolt the things to the frame...  in the proccess I had to lay the big beast over on her side
and man that thing is heavy ! ... thought i was going to hurt myself getting it upright again ! HAHAHHAHA
.... the bad part was I had to weld a bracket on the other side too ! so I had to pick it up again ! ....  without the roll bars I seriously don't know if I could lift it.... and I'm strong too ! ... its just so dern heavy !  hehehehee
...
I'm trying to sell the 700cc shadow now as I need the money to pay bills and there is no sense in having 2 bikes unless its a dirt bike and a street bike ... but sense I got the 1100 I have riden the 700 2 times.. so its gott'a go ...
I dunno what an 1984 vt700c is worth  but I'm asking $1000 ... i guess I'll see
hehehheh paid over $2500 for it about 5 yrs ago... it has low milage and all that
so I'm hopeing it will sell soon so I can get Kerosean for the heating stove so we won't freeze this winter ! HAHAHAHHA
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I have made 3 sidecars in my time and my last one I hooked to the vt700 for a while.... but I realy didn't like it much.
i do think I'll make up a trailer for the 1100 , that way I can  haul lots of stuff with me . as I am alwayse needing to take tools down to grandma's place and help her by fixing something  hehehehe ...  that way I could get to ride the bike more, because half the time I could take the bike if I could take about 100 pounds of tools with me ! hehehehehe
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I think I'll take one of those car top carriers and put a trailer under it and hook it up so the trailer's wheels lean with the bike ... might take some doing  but I think it'ed be worth it in the long run.
... <grin>
..
C ya !
Bob.......

I grew up in a family that loved motorcycles.  Unfortunately I was not allowed to have my own nor ride on my own.    At one point I tried to put my dad's old Yamaha Enduro 750 back together and when I mentioned all I had to do was some work on the points, it disappeared.

Dennis, beautiful bike. 

I grew up on dirt bikes. From the time I was 7 Always a passion of mine. I had one street bike back in 84, a Honda 250. Not much of a bike, but it was cool riding in the streets all the same. But I still prefer dirt. I recently had to sell my vintage Yamaha MX 250. They used to race those back in the 70's.

Very nice bike Dennis

                                             Marco

Quote from: Marco on October 02, 2006, 11:07:07 AM
I grew up on dirt bikes. From the time I was 7 Always a passion of mine.

Me too! Though I had to wait until age 13 or so. I got to ride in the neighboring rock quarry every day, so it was like having the ultimate playground, lol. I mentioned on another thread how much I enjoy "dancing" with my car, and it was the same with dirt bikes... sliding them around, jumping things. It really becomes an extension and expression of your body, very much like dancing since you have to wrestle and lean and twist it constantly.

One of the most fun things was riding in the snow. It sounds insane at first, but it's great fun just sliding it everywhere... until you hit a patch of ice under the snow and down ya go, lol...

Ah, childhood...

Hmm, reminds me... I darn near castrated myself once when I speared the bike on a tree stump once - and stopped *instantly*. Well, the bike did anyway... they really should make gas caps flush with the tank, that's all I can say.

QuoteI darn near castrated myself once when I speared the bike on a tree stump.

That could have saved years of frustration.

Sometimes I wish I could go back in time.

Jessica