I hope that you agree with me when I say that the world would be a much nicer place to live if Honda would simply add a scrambler to its line-up. I’m not exactly a fan of these bikes, but they certainly look very cool when designed properly. We already have some neat designs from established manufacturers, and a bevy of mind-blowing custom builds of which some look like a million bucks. Still it looks like the scrambler enthusiasts are waiting for more big manes in the industry to jump in the bandwagon.
Photo: CBO
Now, even though my pulse accelerated a bit when I saw this very neat machine, it felt a bit disappointing to learn that it is only a custom build created by a Honda dealer (Challenge Big One) in the city of Boe, southern France.
Now, this trick scrambler is based on the Honda CB1100 retro roadster, which is a tad too big and especially too heavy for off-road use. Of course, as motorbiker also adds, only few scramblers will see muck-ridden gullies, while most of them will be used as café-racers or fun rides through the countryside, hard-packed roads being the worst-case scenario.
At 260 kg (574 lb wet) the Honda CB1100X is definitely not the ideal choice for fighting muddy trails, creeks and all the other obstacles a trip on the wild side puts in a rider’s way. The fairly low ground clearance and the bare collectors would do little to help a rider fight rocks and boulders, if you see my point…
However, if you’re only planning to ride such a scrambler on firm surfaces, it will do just great. And you will also get a massive head-turning factor some riders seem to value quite a lot these days. Personally I am not sure the pattern on the tank is the best choice for such a bike, as the first close-up glimpse almost tricked me into believing I am seeing the Louis-Vuitton stars. Which (again hoping you’ll agree with me) would suck big time on a scrambler. All in all, the house of Tokyo could definitely use some input from some of its French distributors when scrambler time comes…
Honda CB1100 is rather far from the off-road agility ideal
Now, this trick scrambler is based on the Honda CB1100 retro roadster, which is a tad too big and especially too heavy for off-road use. Of course, as motorbiker also adds, only few scramblers will see muck-ridden gullies, while most of them will be used as café-racers or fun rides through the countryside, hard-packed roads being the worst-case scenario.
At 260 kg (574 lb wet) the Honda CB1100X is definitely not the ideal choice for fighting muddy trails, creeks and all the other obstacles a trip on the wild side puts in a rider’s way. The fairly low ground clearance and the bare collectors would do little to help a rider fight rocks and boulders, if you see my point…
However, if you’re only planning to ride such a scrambler on firm surfaces, it will do just great. And you will also get a massive head-turning factor some riders seem to value quite a lot these days. Personally I am not sure the pattern on the tank is the best choice for such a bike, as the first close-up glimpse almost tricked me into believing I am seeing the Louis-Vuitton stars. Which (again hoping you’ll agree with me) would suck big time on a scrambler. All in all, the house of Tokyo could definitely use some input from some of its French distributors when scrambler time comes…
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