rwthomas1
Site Supporter
Respectfully, this is nonsense. Plenty of ST1100 running just fine on E10. Mine is one of them. The electronic doodads you see as positive I view as negatives and with lots of dubious side eye glances. Plenty of threads on problematic EFI, ECUs, ABS, SMC, TC, etc. etc. The "gotcha" issues with the 1100's are all well known, and easily remedied. Parts impossible to get??? Ive pretty much gone through mine, one end to the other, and parts were not a problem. Yes, some aren't available from mother Honda, but aftermarket and used are plentiful and reasonably priced.A lot of assumptions have been made about this 1100. Only you know what the current owner has to say about it and how it’s been stored. While it’s true that rubber and plastic parts deteriorate with time and environment, it’s possible this isn’t necessarily the case with this bike. If you can take it for a long test ride then carefully observe for leaks etc afterwards, that could give you an idea. Replacing everything in one go sounds expensive. Replacing bits as they perish is time consuming as, yet one more time you’ll have to remove the Tupperware. Trust me that gets old very quickly.
Here are my original (not mentioned by anyone else) thoughts/questions regarding the 1100 vs 1300 question (yes I currently own both):
1100, carbs, 1300 fuel injection. Do you really want to buy into carbs in this E5, E10, E? World?
No one mentioned the timing belt. 90,000 miles is the recommended, but no time limit is given. Do you really want to drive a rubber belt that old on an interference engine? Or are you up to changing it immediately?
This 1100 doesn’t have ABS. Does the 1300? If so, does it work? Older bike ABS is notorious for failing.
1100 screen fixed. 1300 electric (mostly). This is a valuable upgrade.
1100 has traction control (probably) 1300 does not.
1300 has more power, 1300 is lighter, 1300 has lower gearing, both are under geared (they both need taller gears or a sixth above 5th and not just 6 ratios squeezed into the space of the current 5. )
28Amp alternator vs ??? For 1300.
Spare parts: some parts for the 1100 are hard/impossible to get now. That’s enough for now.
Not that I dont like the 1300, or many new bikes, I do. I just dont think they are worth the coin, or offer enough of an advantage over my trusty 1100 to make the change worth it. I'm on my third season with my 1100, after doing the required maintenance over the past winters it has delivered perfect reliability and 400+ miles per week of efficient commuting.
The abovementioned ST1100 is a fantastic opportunity for someone, willing to turn a wrench, to own a machine that will serve them for a decade of reliable service with little other than normal maintenance. And do so for very short money.