Despite the bike being set up for Japan, I found that acceleration in top from 70mph was more than adequate for seeing off the vast majority of cagers. For high speed cruising the riding position was much more comfortable than it looked. I could quite happily scream along between 90 and 110mph for an hour or two. The howl out of the exhaust was rather invigorating, especially at 15000 revs in the lower gears!
However, it was a very sensitive bike that required me to relax, almost just using my mind rather than muscle to change directions. As I'd come from a top heavy Superdream that needed a lot of violence to control this was something of a culture shock. Some massive suicidal twitches were experienced until I realised what was going down.
Once used to this, I found the thing could be flicked through corners at an incredible rate. Bends were taken at ever increasing velocities until I seemed horizontal and my mind was turned lightheaded with the vicious flow of blood. It had taken me three days to get into this mode. On day four I was turned over by the cops after transforming my favourite country lanes into the Isle of Man. Doing 125mph down a bumpy single track road hadn't gone down too well, the cop complaining he'd almost driven off the road trying to keep up. They only caught me when I stopped to turn around to repeat the whole experience. I was in tears at the thought of losing my licence and much to my amazement they let me off with a warning!
I did notice a bit of head shaking over the bumpy road surface but it didn’t seem to threaten to build up into a speed wobble. More down to the firm front end than anything else, I think. With brakes that would throw me over the bars if I used three fingers on the lever, firm springing and damping were necessary. So there I was... on a crazy bit of machinery that just cried out to be revved to death but totally paranoid about being pulled over for a second time. Hmmm, holiday time beckoned, rumble down to Germany and do the autobahn blues.
Why can’t we have unrestricted roads over here? Would you believe I was pulled out of a pack of cagers, all of us ticking along at 90Mph, on the way to Dover. I couldn't believe it, swallowing my anger I pleaded with them that I was just going with the traffic and hadn't realised that we were doing 90mph, They were more interested in checking out the bike's details to see if I was a thief, Luckily, I'd actually registered the bike and the tax was still valid. I was let off with another warning. Don't give the cops any lip as they come down real hard. I pretend that I’m about to burst into tears which seems to make their day!
Dover, Ostend, Belgium and finally Germany! I couldn't wait to hit the autobahn. Brilliant, 135mph on the clock, the motor still silky smooth and that fantastic howl out of the exhaust. The riding position let me do five hours of madness without going into a screaming fit. The minimal seat was actually amazingly comfortable with a useful bum-pad to brace myself against. Honda have managed to perfect the ergonomics of the race replica.
Towards the end of the first day in Germany the bike began to weave and wobble above the ton. I slowed down which left me as a traffic hazard until I could turn off. The problem was obvious, a bald pair of Yoko's. They'd had 2-3mm when I set out 1200 miles previously! I found a hotel for the night in Hamburg and spent the morning having a pair of tyres fitted (about £200). Tyre life turned out to be around 3500 miles, although fuel was reasonable at 40 to 45mpg. Hmmm!
This ruined my holiday as I'd planned to do about 10000 miles in three weeks but the cost of three or four sets of tyres would have been ridiculous. I ended up hauling arse along brief stretches of German motorway then holing up in different cities for the night, doing about 3000 miles in total. Still, I had a lot of fun stringing the CBR400 out at maximum speeds.
Back in the UK I decided that not cleaning the number plate would be a useful aid to keeping my licence pristine. Any endorsements would’ve made even third party insurance ridiculous. As the nights drew in I was relieved to find that the front light was very powerful and spent many an interesting evening howling through the countryside. In the dark, I seemed cut off from reality, in a world where the only thing that mattered was the bit of road in front and my mastery of the Honda.
The small mirrors gave a good view behind and I could pick up car lights from way back. As I was riding fast and hard, anything that stayed with me was assumed to be a plod vehicle, causing me to back off pronto. If I'd been doing desperate speeds, I'd run off the road when a curve cut the car off and switch the lights off. One time a cop car shot past in a blaze of glory. I wasn’t sure if he’d seen me so scooted off in the other direction with only the moon for illumination. The great escape proved that paranoia works.
The motor ran best around 10000 revs, where it was very smooth, had a nice power punch in hand and equated to just over 90mph. Ideal for our motorways when the cops were in a reasonable mood. When 18000 miles were on the clock the gear change became really nasty. Slipping out of gear and sometimes locking up solid.
The water-cooled, sixteen valve engine was far too complex for me to work on. I approached one of the grey importers who reckoned he could get the new selectors within ten days and it’d cost about £350 for labour and parts. Two weeks later the bike was ready for collection and I handed over the agreed sum. The box was brilliant... well, it engaged with a minimum of rumbling and didn’t slip out of gear. The dealer had even checked the valves for free (they were OK) and balanced the carbs.
A month after that all the bulbs started blowing and the battery was going flat. Could I fit a CBR600 regulator? Apparently not, the 400 has a very powerful generator that stresses the whole electrical system - considering the rev range it works in this wasn’t surprising. £175 I was quoted for shipping a new one over from Japan but spent fifty quid on a used one from a crashed CBR400. Still extortionate, grey imports are fine until something goes wrong. Luckily, the battery was still usable.
The finish was beginning to go off as 23000 miles were approached. Some hairline cracks in the upper fairing didn't inspire and the wheel's were losing their black finish in favour of white corrosion. The British winter also caused the back caliper to gum up and the sensitive steering combined with the wild brakes didn’t leave me grinning on icy roads. The Superdream was pulled out for December and January, the difference in power and handling left me confused and desperate for a few days.
Brake pads lasted about 6000 miles but by 25000 miles all three calipers needed a strip down and rebuild. The grey importer had the bits in stock but along with new pads, nearly two hundred notes were blown. I could turn my Superdream into an immaculate steed for that. The discs were also looking a touch thin, with some squealing from the front end. God knows what they would cost to replace.
Spring arrived, and I went for many a crazed ride, really enjoying the way the bike performed yet inflicted none of the pains of the typical race replica. 30000 miles came up and there was some banging in the silencer. I could find no obvious holes so it was down to the dealer for a valve and carb job at £100. Apparently, I'd managed to have the valves done just before they were going to burn out due to excessive tightness.
These bikes really should have a perfect flow of power, if they don’t something's on the way out. The gear change and gummed up calipers are two other obvious things to check out but the general standard of build quality is very high, as the 600 was derived from this motor.
Come May the CBR400 was sold privately for £2750. I was depressed for days after, knocking around on the rat Superdream, but the Honda was just too expensive to run and, perhaps, with 33000 miles on the clock, starting to come to the end of its useful life. Something that likes to rev to 15000 ain't going to last 100000 miles. If you can afford the running costs then a low mileage example has to be a blast.
Dean Oldham