Honda VT1100


The Honda VT1100 is a motorcycle engine used in the Honda Shadow 1100 motorcycle line since its debut in 1985 until production ended in 2007. In this 22-year run, there were minimal changes.
It is a liquid cooled,, 45 degree V-twin. It has a bore and stoke of 87.5mm x 91.4mm with an 8:1 compression ratio. It is a chain driven, single overhead cam SOHC, V2, with 3 valves and 2 spark plugs per cylinder. The valves are hydraulically actuated, requiring little, if any, maintenance over the life of the engine. They come with dual 36mm diaphragm-type CV carburetors and a solid state digital ignition.
Depending on application and tuning, The dual pin crankshaft models produce at the crankshaft ~ @ 5000 rpm and ~ @ 2750 rpm. Single pin crank models produced about and less. The 1985-1986 models produced about 78.4 bhp @ 6000 rpm and 73 ft lbs @ 4,500rpm. These engines came with either a 5 speed manual transmission or a 4 speed manual transmission. All years are shaft drive.
Final drive ratio is similar between these transmissions For the VT1100T, Sabre and ACE in high gear RPM is around 3250 @ 60 mph. Honda put a slightly lower first gear in the VT1100T to help with an expected fully loaded touring motorcycle.. Honda placed a slightly lower 5th gear in the Areo to give it around 3380 RPM @ 60 mph. For the higher geared VT1100C 36T on the countershaft drives the 29T on the damper shaft. For the VT1100C in high gear RPM is around 2730 @ 60 mph.
The VT1100 has been used in the following Honda motorcycles with these model designations:
The 1995-1999 VT1100C2 ACE and 1998-2000 VT1100C3 Aero models are single crank-pin models, all other 1100s are dual crankpin. The single crank pin model gave the engine a "loping idle" and more "rumble" in an attempt to mimic Harley-Davidson V-twins. It also lost about and around 5 ft lbs of torque compared to the dual pin engine. There is also more vibration with the single pin crank engine.