Honda CB 1100 BadSeeds 125th Lee Anniversary 2015 — Specifications

When denim meets chrome, the result is sometimes surprising collaborations. Honda and Lee, the American jeans manufacturer founded in 1889, decided to mark the textile brand's 125th anniversary by giving a CB 1100 BadSeeds the role of roving ambassador. Not a motorcycle for sale, but a piece to look at, photograph, and circulate through France's trendiest venues as a rolling manifesto of two industrial cultures coming together.

The foundation is solid, in the literal sense. The CB 1100 BadSeeds is built around an inline four-cylinder displacing 1140 cc, producing 89 horsepower at 7,500 rpm and 93.2 Nm of torque available from 6,000 rpm. All housed in a steel double cradle frame, suspended by Öhlins rear shock absorbers and a telescopic hydraulic front fork, also Öhlins-sourced on this version. Sporting lightness is nowhere on the agenda: 248 kg fully fueled, a seat height of 795 mm, a 14.6-liter tank, and a five-speed gearbox for tackling roads at a leisurely pace. Top speed is capped at 200 km/h, which perfectly suits the spirit of the machine — a neo-retro built for unhurried riding, not lap times.

What sets this one-off apart from the limited BadSeeds series produced in 100 units in 2014 is the customization work. The tank features a Lee denim topstitch motif reproduced in paint, the perforated side panels display the 125th anniversary logo, the two-tone quilted leather seat adds a couture touch, and a solid machined aluminum triple clamp engraved with BadSeeds crowns the ensemble with ostentatious restraint. The front fork is finished in matte black. It's coherent, it's clean, and it avoids the trap of garish customization that so often disfigures this kind of styling exercise.

Richard Mathiau, marketing director at Honda France, emphasizes the shared values between the two brands: attention to detail, reliability, and a refusal to follow trends without defining them first. This is not empty marketing. Honda built its reputation on rigorous mechanical foundations; Lee on a fabric that has survived a century and a half without losing its relevance. The pairing makes sense, even if it edges into pure communication exercise territory. In that game, Bimota had already lent its machines to similar operations — notably with Borsalino and DAAD Dantone — with more eccentric results but an equally legible niche logic.

This Honda will not sit in your garage. It will travel across France from showroom to lifestyle boutique, from Paris southward, a mobile showcase for a marriage between textile and mechanics that nobody had really called for but which ultimately proves convincing. For those interested in the standard CB 1100 BadSeeds, the few remaining units available at €15,590 represent a serious option in the neo-retro segment, facing Triumph Bonneville and Kawasaki W800 rivals that play a comparable register with different philosophies.