ST1100 california spec bikes

any difference between the cali spec bikes and the rest of the states? ive found a bike that has california emissions cert and the guy says it sputters when you let off the gas but it sounds more to me like the carbs need cleaning, its a 93 with 38k on it

any ideas about the cali spec bikes i thought they were all the same

California spec'd bikes had a PAIR system design to lower emissions.
The system fails and adds air into the exhaust system (causing burbling or decel popping).
To cure the decel popping you can either R&R the PAIR system or rip it out.

Mark

P.S.
I don't doubt the carbs would benefit from some cleaning too!

Mark said:

California spec'd bikes had a PAIR system design to lower emissions.
The system fails and adds air into the exhaust system (causing burbling or decel popping).
To cure the decel popping you can either R&R the PAIR system or rip it out.

Mark

P.S.
I don't doubt the carbs would benefit from some cleaning too!

Click to expand...

thanks mark thats exaclty what i wanted to hear, i guess i will get bust removing said PAIR from the beast once i pick it up :slv11:

Buy a can of seafoam and run some through it too!


Congrats!
Mark

My CA 98 ST1100 also has an evap system that is coming off. There is the cannister under the swingarm a bunch of hoses and a couple of vacuum controlled valves.

In this pic you can see the larger hoses towards the top of the carb assembly -those are needed as they are overflows/vent for the floats bowls. They are going to get al routed togethor and then down to the bottom of the bike. The other stuff is getting capped and removed



Repair of Evaporative Emission Control System
Causing Rough Running ST1100A at High Speeds

I think all the EPA compliant ST1100s sold in the US had the secondary air (PAIR) system. The California bikes in addition have different jetting and cam shaft part numbers. Not sure if the evaporative emissions system was used on the 49-state bikes or not, but that's a different system than the PAIR valve system.

Another note, if you are looking at an ABS bike, they will all be California compliant even if they weren't originally sold in California. Honda only built them that way.

its not an ABS bike and i picked it up tonight, to be honest after riding it for a while the pair valve isnt that big of a deal to me so i probably wont mess with it, it handles terribly like the tires are flat but they are not and i dont remember my last one being like that but that was 1991!

i hate the seat its a corbin and i do remember my stock seat being the best i had had up to then and i spent many hours sitting in it too!

anyway im happy with it very happy with it in fact for now but im sure once i start to mess with it and ride it more i will remember the things about it i didnt like!

my last one was green the one before that was white (ex police bike) and i hated both of them this one is a gurlie powder puff blue which at least isnt red so im happy!

Not handling well...
Tire pressure?
Tire wear?
Fork oil?
Fork springs?
Rear shock?


Congrats she's a beauty!

Mark said:

Not handling well...
Tire pressure?
Tire wear?
Fork oil?
Fork springs?
Rear shock?


Congrats she's a beauty!

Click to expand...

it has a very worn michelin pilot 170 on the rear and the pilot had a flat profile to start out with add to that the oversize and the fact its flat spotted badly and y ou get the picture, i have to fight it into a turn then all of a sudden it drops off the flat spot and falls into the corner LOL

i ordered shiny new BT021s this morning in the correct sizes they wil be on thursday and i will be happy again!

The pre 96 non-49 state bikes also have different cams in them (lift and timing) that are the same as all 96 bikes.

Bloke, that's a sharp paint job, looks like a hint of blue. Any idea what the color is called?

All the STs have the PAIR system, the Cali bikes have an added charcoal canister and associated plumbing. Others have mentioned the differences in cams and jets in the Cali bikes. Only problem I've heard of is the potential of overflowing the gas tank and soaking the charcoal filter which makes it ineffective until the gas evaporates.

40 amp alternator upgrade??

As to the handling, lots of potential there, tires are easiest to replace, then rear shock, fork springs and fluid, wheel bearings!!! (I've had balls {bikes, not mine} fall out in my hand when removing the wheels.)

Keep us posted on the progress with this bike.

Not to get personal, but what did ya pay for this purty garage queen?

bloke said:

its not an ABS bike and i picked it up tonight, to be honest after riding it for a while the pair valve isnt that big of a deal to me so i probably wont mess with it, it handles terribly like the tires are flat but they are not and i dont remember my last one being like that but that was 1991!

i hate the seat its a corbin and i do remember my stock seat being the best i had had up to then and i spent many hours sitting in it too!

anyway im happy with it very happy with it in fact for now but im sure once i start to mess with it and ride it more i will remember the things about it i didnt like!

my last one was green the one before that was white (ex police bike) and i hated both of them this one is a gurlie powder puff blue which at least isnt red so im happy!

Click to expand...

no idea what the color is called im just happy its not red! the PAIR valve is not causing any problems, the previous owner said it made the bike flutter but to be honest im not noticing anything that bothers me,
i have no idea about the alternator it charges ok now and i dont have anything i want to run off it apart from what it came with as stock so for now its doing ok,
handling problem was cured by fitting new tires (stones BT021) front and rear, previous owner had fitted a larger 170/60 rear tire which had a very flat profile to start out with but once it was worn and flat spotted it made the bike terrible to turn, the new stones have made it a different bike to ride plus i added more pre load to the rear and slowed the damping down a tad,
as far as progress goes i have a lead on a couple of stock seats and ive ordered a taller windshield, added one inch bar risers and modified the bar cover to suit, windshield should be here next tuesday i went with a national cycle 20 inch,
purdy garage queen? 100 mile commute each way six days a week will soon take care of that, its really not that pretty in the flesh altho very nice and well taken care of it does show signs of age, once my GS1200 sells if i have more left over from settling my medical bills than i thought i would have i might go searching for a 1300 as i saw a nice one go for 6500 on e bay (item # 110463051241) a couple days ago and that might be in my ball park if i move this on for 3000

Hi all,

I just imported a bike from WV into California and am looking at having to register it. I would prefer not to have to change the carbs to add the PAIR system and add the evaporative canister. The real issue here is that this bike has only 1,784 miles on it (it's a 2000 model year non-ABS bike). Here in California, if the bike has more than 7,500 miles on it, the emissions becomes a non-issue. My temptation is to put a license plate on it and ride it until it has 7,500 miles on it, then register it. Any suggestions?

Thanks, CobraRGuy

Don't ride it w/o insurance. Not worth the risk. Disconnect the speedometer cable at the front wheel, and connect a drill motor to increase the odometer reading.

wjbertrand said:

Another note, if you are looking at an ABS bike, they will all be California compliant even if they weren't originally sold in California. Honda only built them that way.

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I'm curious about this statement, when I look in the Clymers ,it gives different serial numbers for the ABS units, one designation for 49 States and another for the California model. I have a 97 California model that came to Canada after it was registered in Maine. So is this actually the case that all ABS units were California compliant? Uncle Phil are your ABS models California Spec?

For what it's worth, my 49 state, st1100, has the pair system, no canister or purge valve. My honda manual, if I remember correctly, says it is jetted differently than the California bikes. It's a 2000 year model, non abs. I've owned a lot of Japanese and German (bmw airheads ) motorcycles, and have never had better carburetion. It's spot on. Not to mention the gearbox, brilliant.

kiltman said:

I'm curious about this statement, when I look in the Clymers ,it gives different serial numbers for the ABS units, one designation for 49 States and another for the California model. I have a 97 California model that came to Canada after it was registered in Maine. So is this actually the case that all ABS units were California compliant? Uncle Phil are your ABS models California Spec?

Click to expand...

This what I recall. Two different standard models California and non-California compliant, and all first generation ABS-TCS models were available only as California compliant models. I think Honda must have figured that the number of bikes sold in California with ABS was going to be too small to create a fourth model, so the option was to make them all CA models or leave the ABS models unavailable in CA. Don't know if that changed with the 2nd gen ABS models from '96 and newer or not. Perhaps the proportion of ABS bikes rose enough to make it worth while?

wjbertrand said:

This what I recall. Two different standard models California and non-California compliant, and all first generation ABS-TCS models were available only as California compliant models. I think Honda must have figured that the number of bikes sold in California with ABS was going to be too small to create a fourth model, so the option was to make them all CA models or leave the ABS models unavailable in CA. Don't know if that changed with the 2nd gen ABS models from '96 and newer or not. Perhaps the proportion of ABS bikes rose enough to make it worth while?

Click to expand...

I think Honda made all USA ABS ST1100As to be California compliant. (Honda mentions 49-state, ABS models beginning in 1994, but they never built them.)

I agree with those who say the California bikes differ in their carb jet(s) and also in their camshaft, which affects their timing. (George Catt once looked at the timing difference and said it was sizable, going from memory.)