https://www.magnumtuning.com/en/detail/revolution-pro-motorcycle-speed-rev-li...

First of many ~$200-$400~ control boxes needed to defeat the 99 mph speed limiter on the Rebel 1100 is out now ---- Honda needs to go ahead and fix this speed limiter situation as it will kill their sales on the big 1100 if they don't.    

NOBODY wants a neutered motorcycle ........



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Folks with the speed limiter fix in place say the first gen Rebel 1100 gets unstable over 100 mph with the stock Rebel shocks, tires, rake and trail set up.    THIS IS NOT GOOD ---- HONDA FIX THIS ASAP FOR THIS YEAR, RECALL AND REPLACE WHAT IS NEEDED TO FIX THIS UNSTABLE FIRST YEAR MOTORCYCLE BEFORE YOU KILL SOMEBODY.

Certainly fix it for next year, give it a new model designation and give the displacement and cams and PERFORMANCE programming a bump up while you are at it ......  

hint:  put current generation Africa Twin parts and programming into the bike

We are waiting for the very first instability fatality to occur and the first class action lawsuits to be declared.   Honda can get someone killed when somebody twists for power to get out of a bad situation on American high speed super highways and it isn't there for them (power increase stopped by the speed limiter).

Traffic on I-95 rolls at 80-90 mph all the time.

Grabbing for more power to pass safely as cars dodge in and out means you need to get to that power "on request".

Not being able to get to the power you need safely on the interstate upon request is a reason NOT TO BUY THAT BIKE.

Finding out the bike has high speed instability is a reason NOT TO BUY THAT BIKE.

MM,  

You are a nice guy and an exemplary safe rider.   This is about the rest of normal riders, not you.

The rest of us expect and need 20-30 mph over the limit capability to do safe passing maneuvers involving lane changing trucks and cars, etc.

On the interstate you don't ever hit your brakes abruptly or slow down abruptly ---- you speed up and maneuver for an open lane.  Slowing abruptly or not keeping pace in a traffic flow means getting hit from behind as your bike stops so much more quickly than a car can do.

In the open western states, 85-90 mph on the open road is NOT UNUSUAL.    When you pull out of a slow traffic lane and join a line of higher speed traffic, then having your bike suddenly hit a built in speed limiter at that particular point in time is LIFE THREATENING.  

The people running in the cagers behind you never even get the chance to see a brake light because the speed limiter kicking in doesn't actuate one.   They have absolutely no warning before they roll right over the top of you.  

Neither did you, as a matter of fact.  

You are just dead because of Honda stupidity.  

Sorry, sez MM and Honda ---- you were speeding at +15 over the limit now weren't you?    You got dead as a consequence of your own excessive lawbreaking.  

     

I want a jury of my biker peers to sit in my jury box --- and I don't want Hurley and Gold Wing guys either.  

Take mine from the overlook at the top of the Dragon, if you please.

Now, if Honda was masking (covering up) some high speed instability issues with the Rebel 1100 then this makes it even worse.

I think the Rebel 1100 is an excellent pick if Honda pulls their finger out of their nose and puts the electronic controls off the Africa Twin back onto the bike.

Color me suspicious,  but it is just a bit too pat to have a undocumented unadvertised "speed limiter" that kicks in just before the Rebel 1100 reportedly gets to being a little bit wobbly ---- very suspicious indeed.

The 500cc class of Japanese twins will all go faster than the current Rebel 1100, as will the last two generations of much older 500cc twins from Kawasaki and Suzuki and from Honda itself.   The 650 twins from the same age groups will all clearly do better as well.    

Honda has issues with the new Rebel 1100, this much is becoming clear.


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Honda certainly isn't done with the Africa Twin family of motorcycles.   It has a cruiser, it has a pair of adventure bikes and will soon have a pure sports bike model as well.

Honda is now showing two brand new frame concepts for the Africa Twin family, one is extra light looking with an aluminum swing arm sub-frame (a sports bike variant) and one is a more traditional looking (less expensive) tubular steel space frame that uses bigger tubes and that strongly uses the engine itself as a load bearing member.





The current Rebel 1100 has an intentionally detuned motor (20% power reduced) and has brand new electronic anti-wheelie packages, so you could say the first Rebel 1100's frame is simply too short and too weak for the power that the big twin can output.



It is obvious that the Rebel 1100 frame is undergoing refinement.   The brakes on the current Rebel 1100 are not all they could be either, which falls in line with the wobbly high speed issues that the first year bike was prone to having.

We also got both some old and some very new rumors of high speed instability on the Rebel 1100 as a finished product, inference being that the "unadvertised" top end speed limiter was put in place for a liability avoidance reason.

We expect strengthened frame solutions to be put in place for next years bikes.



https://www.cycleworld.com/story/motorcycle-news/honda-developing-supercharge...

We also expect the powerful Africa Twin to be the Honda product picked for Roots type supercharging in order to compete against the new Kawasaki H2 centrifugal fan + pressure type charged bike.

Went riding again today, totally painless trip on my old hotrod. Based on today, I really can't justify another bike, unless I develop a strong 'need for speed'. I will probably upgrade minor stuff, install a tubeless front wheel, Hyde 'M' bars, yadayadayada.
Unless, of course, Craigslist throws up a real 'bargoon!!!
Cheers!

Folks have now gotten a better clue as to just how poorly stabilized and shaky the Rebel 1100 can be at 100 mph and above ---- using only one mirror will upset the dynamic balance of the bike and give you a slow but large wobble effect.    Putting a cell phone holder on one side of the handle bar does the same thing.  

The slight difference in wind drag is enough to do it to it ......

Really, just putting an off center cell phone holder on your handle bar puts your life at risk?    Come on, HONDA --- you got more pride in your bikes than that.

If you are fat and weigh a lot, shifting your weight forwards or backwards or side to side on the seat can do the "make a wobble" trick too.    

Stick out your fat arm out straight on left side and see what happens ......   wobble death by lane change signalling ????



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Honda certainly has some work to do on the Rebel 1100 before anyone should be trying to buy them.

Fix the stability issues coming from the bike's layout and geometry to get the bike to be rock stable at moderate to high speeds and then get rid of the 99 mph speed cut off system you have built into the electronic programming to try to cover up your nasty little frame geometry design flaws.

Recall the first year worth of bikes to install these changes or else wind up buying them all back after the class action suits are done.

Hay I've only got 1/2 the  "Kawasaki pulley upgrade" , and a " Modified Harley Dina seat upgrade"  .    Its a different bike than the Suzuki design by a nice bit !