Older Honda Shadows VT750, VT1100

gunsmoker

gunsmoker

Joined
Oct 16, 2024
Messages
389
Location
Cumming, Georgia USA
Bike
ST-1300, VT-1100c
2026 Miles
002900
Who likes the Honda Shadow line of V-twin cruisers ? I’m talking the older ones with carburetors, not new ones with fuel injection.
I got a 1996 shadow VT 1100 C2 ‘ACE’ as my 1st street bike. I didn’t really want something that big, but it was a good deal and I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to snatch it up cheap. And between my teenage dirtbike riding experience from 30 years earlier and the fact that I weighed half as much as the Shadow 1100 did (300 pound man on a 600 pound bike) found I could control it pretty well.

I experimented with a 1998 Harley-Davidson Sportster 883 and I owned it for about three months at the same time I had the Shadow.

I decided to keep the Shadow and sell the lighter, skinnier, lower-seat Sportster.

Then I got my 2007 ST-1300 and joined at this forum in the fall of 2024. Put my 1996 Shadow up for sale right away and found a buyer for it in February 2025.


Distracted driver ran a red light without even touching his brakes and totaled that ST out from under me shortly before Christmas. Being out of work and having no disability benefits and no insurance settlement … 🫩

I picked up a cheap bike to get back to riding. and what I ended up with is another Honda Shadow —this time a 2006 shadow spirit 1100 and it only has 17,000 miles when I got it New Year’s Eve. (2 months ago).


The 1996, as it looked shortly after I took a red spray paint can to it, and added three more inches of padding on the seat — not to make it softer but to make it TALLER.

IMG_1091.jpeg

The 2006 one I have now:

IMG_0340.jpeg
 
gunsmoker said:
Who likes the Honda Shadow line of V-twin cruisers ? I’m talking the older ones with carburetors, not new ones with fuel injection.
I got a 1996 shadow VT 1100 C2 ‘ACE’ as my 1st street bike. I didn’t really want something that big, but it was a good deal and I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to snatch it up cheap. And between my teenage dirtbike riding experience from 30 years earlier and the fact that I weighed half as much as the Shadow 1100 did (300 pound man on a 600 pound bike) found I could control it pretty well.

I experimented with a 1998 Harley-Davidson Sportster 883 and I owned it for about three months at the same time I had the Shadow.

I decided to keep the Shadow and sell the lighter, skinnier, lower-seat Sportster.

Then I got my 2007 ST-1300 and joined at this forum in the fall of 2024. Put my 1996 Shadow up for sale right away and found a buyer for it in February 2025.


Distracted driver ran a red light without even touching his brakes and totaled that ST out from under me shortly before Christmas. Being out of work and having no disability benefits and no insurance settlement … 🫩

I picked up a cheap bike to get back to riding. and what I ended up with is another Honda Shadow —this time a 2006 shadow spirit 1100 and it only has 17,000 miles when I got it New Year’s Eve. (2 months ago).


The 1996, as it looked shortly after I took a red spray paint can to it, and added three more inches of padding on the seat — not to make it softer but to make it TALLER.

IMG_1091.jpeg

The 2006 one I have now:

IMG_0340.jpeg
Click to expand...




This was the only Shadow model that I liked. 1986 VT1100C. I owned two of them.

10. 1986 1100 Shadow #2.jpg
 
Greatly enjoyed mine
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0262.jpeg
    IMG_0262.jpeg
    267.4 KB · Views: 7
P8240167.JPG

My 1998 1100 Shadow ACE Tourer (VT1100T). Acquired in 2005 and was the motorcycle that I really starting traveling on extensively. It's so pretty it still takes up space in my garage despite my ST1300 getting all my riding mileage since 2012.
 
Last edited:
post 2 pic brings back memories of my first street bike [except much smaller version] '83 Shadow 500
owned it for a brief March to I think December or January in '85 and sold it for $100.00 more than I paid
Not much on power and certainly the worst handling bike I've had but I sure liked the look I never rode the
1100 version but I like my Yamaha IMG_8721.JPG
 
Mophead said:
Honda Shadow has to be the most maintenance free bike ever.
Click to expand...
I can't argue that. I wish my ST1300 had hydraulic valves like the Shadow.
I put over 240,000 Km, 150,000 miles, on my 1992 VT1100C. Excluding routine maintenance items my only repairs were one shifter shaft seal and one fork seal. During all of those years and mileage I never even had a light-bulb burn out.
 
I had a 1996 Shadow that I bought at 25,000 miles and sold it at I believe 38,000 miles. During my ownership all it needed was to have a leak in the radiator fixed the leak was due to internal corrosion possibly just due to age but also quite possibly a prior owner put the wrong type of coolant in it.

Wait, it did need one other thing —but it wasn’t Honda’s fault that somebody replaced the exhaust system with Vance & Hines exhaust and did not put in the correct jets in the carbs.

I took the carburetor out and sent it to a shop (actually the same shop that sold me the bike but they’re located more than 100 miles from my house) so I mailed-in the carbs and they put in a different set of jets that worked fine.

My 2006 Shadow has not needed any real service other than routine fluid changes under its prior ownership from the guy that had it since it was about three years old —-except for Fork Seals. Now I recall he said he did replace the fork seals a couple years ago.
 
Not sure if you can see it very well in the below photo or not. I had the same windshield design on my 1992 VT1100C as you have. With experience I realized that a lot of the air blast that I was feeling on my upper body / head was coming in around the headlight assembly and then hitting the front of the fuel tank and being redirected to my upper body. I cut a piece of plexiglass and filled in the space around the headlight that the windshield left open. This eliminated this air blast and made a huge improvement in comfort over long hours.
A small bead of clear silicone caulking at the joint where the windshield and the plexiglass meet kept bugs and dirt from getting jammed up in there.

Shadow.JPG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom