Honda Rebel 1100 (2021+) Maintenance Schedule & Service Intervals

This is the full maintenance schedule and service intervals for the Honda Rebel 1100, also known as the CMX1100.

The Honda Rebel 1100 is a big sibling to the Honda Rebel 500 (CMX500), using similar styling and riding position, but an all-new chassis and an engine borrowed from the Honda Africa Twin 1100, but detuned somewhat.

So the Rebel 1100 is powered by a 1084cc liquid-cooled single cam parallel twin with a 270-degree crank. It has a heavier flywheel, less aggressive camshafts, and overall gentler tuning than the CRF1100L, meaning it puts out a slightly lower peak of 64 kw (86 hp).

The schedule applies equally to newer models released, like the 2023 Honda Rebel 1100T with a mini touring fairing and hard cases.

Originally published July 1, 2021, but since considerably updated.

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Service Intervals for the Honda Rebel 1100

Like many Honda liquid-cooled motorcycles, general service intervals for the Honda Rebel 1100 are 8000 miles / 12800 km between oil changes.

Honda does recommend shorter service intervals for many items like the brakes, clutch (if non-DCT), checking the coolant etc.

The major service for the Rebel 1100 is every 16000 miles / 25600 km, where you inspect or change the spark plugs and do the valve clearance check. Luckily the check is quite easy — the blessing of a mostly naked bike with a parallel twin engine. But you do have to remove the tank for access to the cylinder head.

At the same time, change the oil filter and the clutch oil filter (DCT).

Since the Rebel 1100 has a liquid-cooled engine, keep the coolant up to spec, replacing it every 3 years. Similarly, keep the brake fluid fresh, replacing it every 2 years.

Finally, unlike many cruisers, the Honda Rebel 1100 has a chain drive, so do keep that lubricated.

What you need to service your Honda Rebel 1100

Aside from basic motorcycle maintenance tools, here’s what you need to service your Rebel 1100.

Maintenance schedule for the Honda Rebel 1100

Below is the full maintenance schedule from the manual for the Honda Rebel 1100 (CMX1100), adapted for web page display.

Legend for maintenance schedule:

• I: Inspect (clean, adjust, lubricate, or replace, if necessary)
• R: Replace
• L: Lubricate
• C: Clean

Notes:

• At higher odometer readings, repeat at the frequency interval established below.
• Honda recommends you get steering and wheels / tyres serviced by a professional for safety reasons

Maintaining Your Chain on the Honda Rebel 1100

It’s important to maintain your chain on the Rebel 1100, as on any chain-driven motorcycle, even if the Rebel 1100 is a more relaxed “cruiser” that you’re less likely to belt like a sport bike.

Use a good-quality chain lubricant like Motul chain paste, or a Motul chain care kit which comes with a couple of handy tools to maintain the chain.

Honda recommends you follow the following chain maintenance schedule:

Notes:

• Do these items (checking/adjusting slack, and checking/applying lubrication) more often if you ride your Rebel 1100 in dusty or rainy conditions.
• Always lubricate the chain after washing the motorcycle.

Measuring and adjusting drive chain slack

To measure drive chain slack on Honda motorcycles, measure the free vertical movement of the chain midway between the sprockets.

You need to measure it with the transmission in neutral, with the bike on a level surface on a kickstand, and with no luggage (or empty cases).

If the slack is out of spec, you need to adjust it by loosening the rear axle and the locknuts, using the slack adjusters on both sides of the axle (evenly, paying attention to the markings), and then re-tightening the axle when you’re done.

Tire sizes and pressures for the Honda Rebel 1100

The Honda Rebel 1100 has the following tyre sizes and pressures. It runs tubeless tires and ships with Dunlop D428 tires.

Yes, the Rebel 1100 has the same recommended tyre pressure front and rear, unlike many sport bikes.

About the Honda Rebel 1100 (CMX 1100)

The Rebel 1100 is kind of a new concept for Honda… and for motorcycling in general.

Honda is no stranger to cruisers. It has been building them for many years. But like most cruisers inspired by the Harley-Davidson aesthetic, they’ve typically been big bore (or medium bore, in the case of the Shadow) V-twins — high on aesthetic, but low on tech.

For example, Honda sells the Rebel 1100 against the striking but very contrasting Honda Fury, a low-tech but very striking liquid-cooled chopper with a 1312cc V-twin engine.

The Rebel series has also always been predominantly small motorcycles. The Honda Rebel was, for three decades or so, a 250cc mini cruiser that was favoured by many for being an awesome bike to start on. It was replaced by the Rebel 300 single-cylinder bike in modern times.

But the Rebel 1100 is a weird blend of those two things, plus others. What makes the Rebel 1100 stand out are these features

• It’s a cruiser… but it doesn’t sit so low to the ground that it has very limited ground clearance compared to other cruisers. Honda says the Rebel 1100 has a max lean angle of 35 degrees. It has more clearance than the Indian Scout, for example, an already quite sporty bobber (29 degrees). (And as you lean, every degree feels like exponentially more… for an extreme example, degrees 45-90 feel much more intense than the first 0-45)
• The Rebel 1100 comes with optional DCT (Dual Clutch Transmission), which is Honda’s very refined, responsive, and almost unique to Honda automatic transmission. (MV Agusta has a competing tech).
• The Rebel 1100 has cruise control, making it decent for highway work (especially with the optional fairing)
• It has a parallel-twin engine, like the Rebel 500, but like very few other cruisers (notably the Kawasaki Vulcan S), and no other big-bore cruisers. And unlike other cruisers, the Rebel 1100’s parallel-twin engine has a 270-degree crank.
• The feet are forward, but not as far forward as on a big lounge-chair like Dyna. They’re “mid controls”.
• The weight is quite low for a cruiser, bringing it into “standard” or “commuter” territory. Even the DCT (automatic) model is 231kg wet, and the manual model is even lighter at 221 kg wet. This is much closer to the Triumph Speed Twin (about 216kg), a sporty bike, than to the Triumph Bonneville Bobber (about 250kg), with which the Honda Rebel 1100 is meant to compete.

So the Honda Rebel 1100 isn’t trying to be a Harley-Davidson or even trying to be anything. It follows its own aesthetic and is charting its own path.

In the US, another very appealing part of the Rebel 1100 is the pricing. Considering everything you get with it, the Rebel 1100 is cheap! The MSRP is $9,299 for the manual model and $9,999 for the DCT model — a lot cheaper than the Africa Twin CRF1100L from which it borrows its engine, and amazing value considering everything you get with it. Unfortunately those prices aren’t so low when they reach foreign shores, but they’re still not so bad.

The 1084 cc parallel twin engine has some significant changes to how it is in the Africa Twin.

1. The flywheel is 20% heavier, which results in 32% more spinning inertia
2. The valve timing and lift have been modified, enhancing the low-down torque, at a cost of a bit of top-end power
3. There are changes to the intake and exhaust (necessary on the different frame)

The resulting engine has a very linear spread of torque from as low as 2500 rpm all the way up to the 8000 rpm redline.

The suspension on the Honda Rebel 1100 is pretty basic, with only preload adjustment front and rear (no damping, neither compression nor rebound).

If you’re looking for a similar setup but with a sport touring chassis, then you should look at the Honda NT1100 — same engine, very similar ride gear, but fairings and luggage.

Reference — Maintenance Schedule for the Honda Rebel 1100

This maintenance schedule was sourced from the manual for the Honda Rebel 1100. It hasn’t changed across the years it has been available.

2021 Rebel 1100 screenshot from manual

2022 Honda Rebel 1100 maintenance schedule screenshot from manual

You can get the manual for the Honda Rebel 1100 here.