“This is just what you need, son. 1988 FX400R, very exotic import all the way from Tokyo. A real CBR killer that can also tour almost as well as a Gold Wing.” I looked the water-cooled four over as the dealer went on cooing about the machine's virtues. I'd never heard of one before let alone seen one, but the exhaust’s bellow was strong and I could almost believe the nine thou on the clock. Almost.
My demand for a test ride was refused but I was cajoled on to the seat which felt nice and secure, not too much of a stretch to the flat bars. The front light stood out on brackets that made it look like the fairing was missing but the dealer reckoned they came like that stock, a bit of added street cred for me. I was allowed to play with the throttle and pretend I was the fastest kid on the block.
Three grand was the asking price but I mentioned cash... mine for £2250 if I was willing to forgo the guarantee and engine service. I tried for two grand but just received a nasty glare. I tried walking away but he just let me go! The next day I turned up with the cash and he reckoned it was now worth £2500 but called me back this time when I walked out in disgust.
The deal done, the bike was rolled out on to the road, ready for me to do or die. The engine burped into life, wisps of grey smoke, valvegear clatter and a rather loud rattle that I couldn't recall from the showroom. Gave her five minutes to warm up, then stalled it first time out as the clutch was dragging... the cog engaged with a bang that suggested something had broken in a big way.
After three minutes, or so, the motor fired again and I gave it a second go. The gearchange was a nasty piece of work. Graunchy, full of false neutrals and with a tendency to stick in neutral. It was a bit embarrassing to find 12000 revs on the clock in the midst of angry peds. I got her into third and used the throttle and clutch to control things on the way home.
The bike felt very light (380lbs?) with fast turning sixteen inch wheels. Just the slightest input had it careering off after the sides of cars and innocent peds like some kind of rabid dog. A little bit of a straight, open road... see what it'd do in third... not too impressive until eight thou came up on the tacho, when the front wheel went light and my wrists began to strain.
The tacho shot around to thirteen grand in no time at all. Forgetting myself I tried for fourth, ended up in a neutral with the mill screaming away at about sixteen thou, trying to scramble right out of the square section, wraparound frame. I closed the throttle before my eardrums and the motor both burst. Much mucking around with the gearbox followed trying to attain a working ratio.
This was a trait I never entirely mastered. Annoying on a machine that really needed to be revved hard all the time to get anywhere fast. They are supposed to make sixty horses but with a modded exhaust and ignition, mine knocked out a bit more than that judging by the 130mph it'd put on the clock. Flat out, she was a flighty old thing but never terminal, it'd just leap up and down as if there wasn’t any damping and need a yard or so of space to weave around in.
The front forks were a bit spindly, the twin discs about three times more powerful than necessary, trying to twist them out of their yokes. Pot-holes made them feel like they were going to break in half and had the poor old Kawa all over the place. I once hit a false neutral. and a pot-hole at the same moment, which blew my mind away and almost broke both legs as I tried to stop the thing falling over. I pulled over and gave it a good kicking, which just hurt my foot.
A lot of the excitement drained out of the riding experience after that little contretemps. Also, fuel was around 35mpg and it burnt oil off like a stroker. I never changed the lube, just bunged in the cheapest 20/50 I could get my hands on. Perhaps this didn’t help the gearbox any.
Still, after a couple of months I was more or less used to the FX’s wacky ways. Once up to 10000 revs it’d run along very well indeed, and even the gearbox would start to work in a predictable manner. Most of the time. Most of the weaving was down to the Far Eastern tyres being more than half worn, but they never seemed to wear any more, which was OK by me!
The rubber worked OK in the wet as long as I didn’t go too wild on the throttle. The engine would sometimes have a fit of the stutters in heavy downpours but never actually cut out. I know the bike was naked, but even mild drizzle left me soaked all the way through in about two seconds.
So where did the bike really shine? Country roads were fun as long as I left it in third or fourth, it could be heeled over until the exhaust's collector scraped up the tarmac, and flung from side to side with gay abandon. I even annoyed my mate on a CBR600 by wobbling around bends on his inside! Town work was alright, potholes and false neutrals apart. Fast cruising was too expensive to indulge for very long.
Overall, the bike was competent rather than exceptional in any particular area. It was also wearing out fast. A friendly mechanic reckoned that there wasn’t much life left in the rings or valves but it'd still hurtle along at high speeds, so I didn't really believe him, and decided that it was just the oil rings going down.
I tried a few dealers but they all shared the same view as the mechanic - the most I was offered was six hundred notes. I couldn't afford to take that kind of loss and thought about looking for a replacement engine. The FX shares its mill with the Jap market GPz and GPX400s but not the ZXR400 or ZX-4, which meant there weren't any available.
In the end I took the mill apart myself to see what needed doing. I was right, it was the oil rings. The dealer I bought the bike from made some phone calls, secured a new set COD for the next day - amazing, I thought I'd have to wait for months and months. The only other thing wrong with the engine was the cam lobes which were nicked and scarred... on the way out in other words.
Still, the reassembled engine ran well enough to get the dealers offering £1500 to £1750 as it was that time of year in 1996 when everything was walking out of showrooms. Better still, I managed to get two grand off the retail price of a 1200 Bandit.
Conclusions. Even a rare import like the FX400R has good spares availability but bikes nearly ten years old are likely to need lots of attention (I reckon mine was clocked). 400s have plenty of go, handle reasonably and can be fun in the Curves. It's vital to have a test ride to check out things like the gearbox, if the dealer refuses walk out in disgust.
Despite all the hassles, I quite enjoyed my time with the FX and reckon one in better mechanical condition would be a very useful tool for most kinds of riding, though not a very frugal one. It can take on some of the 600’s in tough going.
Adrian Burroughs