Remember the Honda CB1100 TR Concept? Revealed in 2016 at EICMA, it was conceived by Honda Europe designer, Valerio Aiello, as an aggressive, flat track-inspired take on the Honda CB1100 modern classic. Not only did it never make it into production, but Honda eventually stopped producing the CB1100 altogether, just last year.
The spirit of the TR Concept lives on in this gnarly Honda CB1100 RS custom from Rough Crafts in Taiwan. When Rough Crafts’ Winston Yeh was commissioned to customize the CB, his thoughts immediately turned to Valerio Aiello’s design.
“If you ask me which is my favorite custom CB1100 in the world,” he says, “my answer will always be the one that wasn’t actually built by any custom builder; the CB1100 TR Concept. The flat track-style bodyworks, plus the super aggressive performance components, make for such an appealing package.”
“So I decided that that’s the direction I want to go with it—but with a bit more Rough Crafts flavor. The rest was about finding the right components, and the right balance between ‘race’ and ‘custom’.”
If you’re not familiar with Rough Crafts (you must be new here), Winston’s style is dark and menacing, with deeply scalloped bodywork and a very selective color palette. Working with a collective of local craftsmen and regular collaborators, he started by wrapping the CB1100 in fresh bodywork. The look is quintessential ‘Rough Crafts,’ with just enough of a hint of the TR Concept’s vibe present.
But the real magic here, is how compact this CB1100 looks. The 540 lbs big four is anything but svelte, but Winston’s fettled its proportions with a slim tail section, and wide rubber at both ends. It’s still a big machine, but it’s tightly packaged.
MS Pro was responsible for the custom tank, tail and side covers, all of which were hand formed out of aluminum. Gold pin-striping traces the CB’s new silhouette—from the dipped wings that flank the fuel tank, to the elegant ducktail that caps off the tail. The design is cohesive too, with a short fender up front, and the rear section doubling up as an inner fender.
The parts wear forged carbon veneers, hand-laid by Simon Fiber Craft. Rover Works Custom Paint handled the rest of the paint job, including the gold leaf work on the striping and the tank logos. Diamond stitching on the seat’s synthetic leather upholstery adds an extra stylistic touch.
Winston worked with another Bike EXIF regular, 2LOUD Custom, on the assembly of the bike—which included throwing a smorgasbord of high-end parts at it. You’ll find blacked-out Öhlins suspension at both ends, with a set of custom-machined yokes holding the forks in place. The setup is slightly lower than stock too.
The Honda rolls on a pair of luscious 17” carbon fiber wheels from BST, wrapped in grippy Pirelli Supercorsa tires. A pair of Beringer Aerotec brake calipers adds extra stopping power to the front end. A blacked-out RK Takasago chain and KCT rear sprocket add an extra hit of color-coding.
The Honda’s OEM handlebars were also redone in black—but they’re the only stock part left in the cockpit. The team installed Rough Crafts risers, Beringer brake and clutch controls, and a speedo, switches, grips and bar-end turn signals from Motogadget. A signature Rough Crafts headlight does duty up front, with three-in-one Koso LEDs acting as taillights and rear turn signals.
Other add-ons include a set of Sprint filters, Over Racing foot controls and a Rough Crafts gas cap. Then there’s the exhaust—a burly four-into-one system, built to spec by the Italian specialist, SC-Project. It looks like it’d be deafening, but Winston actually specced it with a dB killer so that the bike would be city-friendly.
Winston reports that the CB1100, now nicknamed ‘Oriental Uppercut,’ is easygoing out on the road, even with its 160-wide front tire. It helps that the mods have shaved an estimated 44 lbs off its curb weight.
Rough Crafts’ portfolio has far more Harley-Davidsons in it than anything else. But this Honda is proof, once again, that Winston can take just about any make and model of motorcycle, and douse it in gallons of Rough Crafts style.
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