Beggars can't be choosers. Or something like that. Stop making excuses, I tell myself, it ain't as bad as all that! Put it like this - for eight hundred quid it was the only thing available with low mileage (7700 miles) that wasn't some daft 100/125cc commuter. A 1983 grey import in bright red, flat track style. A mere 27 horses at 6500rpm, 350lbs of somewhat faded metal. It fitted me like a glove, the upright riding position reassuring me that it would be the business in my cross London daily commute. Money changed hands, all set for another great motorcycle adventure.
Immediately, there were a couple of things I didn't like. Attached to the cast wheels at each end were a pair of single discs, with calipers that age had left all jerky and lacking in power. The forks shuddered and the back tyre skipped whenever I tried to pull up in the normal way necessitated by London traffic. Rather than stopping I had to wrench the bike around the offending cage, admittedly easy enough. At least the horn was some nonstandard item rescued from a ferry, or something, and made the poor old car drivers jump in their seats.
Then there was the motor. An absence of both power and torque below 3000 revs suggested it would need a firm hand on the throttle; not to mention that the transmission felt like it was falling apart and the gearchange was of the shotgun going off variety. Unfortunately, wringing the engine mercilessly merely provided an excess of terminal noises and not a lotta of juice. The bike thudded up to 75mph but then went to sleep.
An all time high of an indicated 95mph was experienced - after about 12 miles of motorway, with the obligatory following gale. It was fairly safe in the slow lane but had little in hand when I wanted to overtake some wallowing caravan or lumbering artic. Several times its lack of zip left me stranded in the middle lane with cars zooming past on each side.
It wasn't all doom and gloom, especially back in town. Being a 400cc thumper it was at least narrow and fast turning, making it a breeze through the cages. After I fixed the calipers, following the obligatory imprecations, duffed up thumb and excessive hammer work, the brakes reacted to a hefty input by squealing the merely adequate Far Eastern tyres.
Some spectacular slides were experienced in the wet but the relatively neutral steering allowed me to grin and bear them rather than check out my life insurance policies. If the bike was often burnt by derestricted 125's it could at least cut and thrust past lumbering fours with an ease that annoyed their owners.
After the first month I was quite pleased with my purchase, the engine noises seeming to fade a little, though it never gave an impression of astounding build quality - more your jack-hammer than Swiss watch!
Those of a caring, kind disposition might describe the thumper vibes as character building but an hour in the saddle had me wondering why I was losing all feeling in my hands and groin. The motor has one of those balancer systems that, when a little wear gets into it, does more harm than good. Turns the buzzing into a high pitched grinding that absolutely refuses to fade into the background. It did smooth out in the 45 to 60mph range and didn't really disturb me in my 30 minute commuting sessions.
I was less sanguine about the fuel and oil consumption. A 100 mile ride required a pint of 20/50 and fuel varied between 35 and 45mpg, on a whim of its own rather than relating to how I treated the throttle or gearbox. The fact that the baffles had gone should've made it run leaner and more efficiently than stock, so other than pure bad engine design I can't think of any reason why the consumption should've been so bad. Unless it'd been clocked and the motor really was as shagged as it sounded.
When the can finally fell off I was a bit panicky, what with the rareness of the bike (I only ever saw one other in London). But apart from the engine's stroke, the FT400 and 500 were identical, and I was able to pick up an intact exhaust system from the breakers for £30 (I think he'd despaired of ever selling any FT500 stuff, as they are also rare). That went straight on with a bit of hammer work.
That was after nine months and some 11000 miles. The winter hadn't been kind to the finish, save that the tank and panels had retained their bright red shine - a useful safety feature as it sorted of glowed under the street lamps at night. The rest of the bike was submerged under the rot. The alloy corrosion was worse than getting barnacles off a ship, whilst the frame paint fell off in great scabs. A mad weekend in March sorted the worst of it out.
At least it was cheap on the consumables, neither tyres, chain nor pads showing any sign of wearing out. And it was a reliable starter, clanging into life even on the direst winter morning. Somehow, its base nature got into me deep enough to make sure I never left it outside without a couple of shackle locks to secure it against the nasty nature of the locals, who from its appearance probably thought it quite butch! I wasn't that far gone, though, that every night I went to the hassle of carrying it into the house.
I should've been, though, because one morning she started up in the usual way only to develop a fit of the stutters half a mile down the road. I swore my head off at it and she promptly locked up...it looked like some vandal had put sugar in the petrol tank! I was almost a goner by the time I pushed the bike back home, those damnable dragging discs.
A quick and bloody strip down revealed just about every engine component was shagged out, not from the seizure but down to wear - this with 24000 miles on the clock! An all too common hassle on Hondas but to be fair usually at twice that kind of mileage.
As the chassis was in reasonable shape I had the choice of fitting one of the larger Honda thumpers or an RS250 mill. I say choice, but it was only insofar as when I checked out the bikes in their photo's then the motors looked like they might fit. As I didn't want any more vibration and the RS250 made 26 horses, it seemed sensible enough to fit one of these engines.
No, it didn't fit straight in but I got there in the end. The trouble with RS engines is that most of them are worn out by now. The one I bought I heard running and it sounded good compared to the 400 motor (not hard, not hard...) but its performance was diabolical ... some rascal had removed its balancer! It vibrated across the floor like some old British twin even at tickover. There wasn't a remotely smooth spot in the whole rev range. Amazingly, I sold the bike for £550. What's known as cutting your losses.
Dave Kerridge