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Full Spead Ahead
Honda CBR1100XX vs Kawasaki ZX-11:
Don't blink - you'll miss 'em.
Source: Sportbike 1997
America's motorheads have a serious speed addiction, and you're looking at the fix. Honda's CBR1100XX and Kawasaki's ZX-11 aer the fastest production motorcycles on the market, serving up a warp-speed helping of adrenaline on demand to quell your speed shakes and horsepower withdrawels.
For genuine big-bore junkies, one of these bikes will get the job done better than the other. The question is, which one? For the answer, we gunned them both down the best stretches of asphalt we could find, including Los Angeles County Raceway's quarter-mile dragstrip and our two-mile top-speed venue.
So, strap your helmet on tight, glue your butt to the seat and make sure you're pointed in the right direction; when you pull the trigger on the fastest guns available, you don't want to bite the bullet.
Street savvy
A string of knotted backroads punctuated by miles of freeways and interstates illustrated just how differently Honda and Kawasaki go about producing the fastest motorcycles on the road.
On the Honda, smoothness is the key word. The CBR's 1137cc motor runs eerily smooth, producing a turbine-like rush of acceleration anywhere above 6000 rpm. A dual internal balancing-shaft system nearly eliminates vibration, though some still creeps through the bars around 5000 rpm.
At lower engine speeds, the CBR's huge, 42mm Keihin flat-slide carburetors hamper throttle response due to the low velocity of the air passing through them. But as the revs jump, the slides rise and let 135 ponies loose at 9750 rpm, shoving the scenery into fast-forward with a simple twist of the wrist and a click through the somewhat notchy six-speed tranny.
If you're looking for a big bike that feels small, the CBR fills the bill. A somewhat narrow fairing, a low, flat windscreen and bars that are fairly close to the rider make the XX feel more like a 900 than a big-bore Open-classer. Wind protection is excellent and, coupled with a comfortable seat and rational ergonomics, makes the Honda a perfect allday mount.
At 557 pounds full of fluids, the XX is no Tonka toy, but it flicks through the tight stuff with ease. A healthy push on the bar is necessary to transition the CBR quickly, but precise, neutral steering and decent front-end feedback give the rider confidence to maintain a spirited pace.
Still, why Honda saw fit to slap a 43mm, non-adjustable Showa fork on an $11,499 motorcycle we'll never know. Its excessive low-speed compression damping is the only hitch in the CBR's otherwise flawless swing, causing enough movement in the front end over rippled bumps to shake the rider's confidence. With the addition of a properly calibrated, fully adjustable fork, the CBR would be nearly without fault.
Actually, making the XX perfect would require the deletion of Honda's newest Linked Braking System (LBS). Although the brakes are extremely powerful, the hobby-horse effect caused by the linked system had some of our testers cursing the system - especially those who use rear-braking as an aid to refine corner-entry speeds. On a Gold Wing, linked braking is fine, but we don't think it belongs on one of the fastest production sportbikes ever built