Picked it up today and even managed to ride it back. Packing both the RAC membership card *and* the CN breakdown hotline must've been giving me good juju because it completed the journey under it's own power. So, what did I get for the money then? A bit less than expected but after talking to TOG it still seems like decent value for money. The new chrome parts - well, they were certainly new when the PO fitted them but that wasn't exactly last night. They're showing a little corrosion again so it looks like they'll have join the rear mudguard on its journey to the chromers. The rear mudguard (which is still the original one) looks salvageable but will need to get done this winter as I doubt it'll survive much longer as it is. At least it doesn't look too frilly. The seat's dead and the chrome on the wheels isn't too good either but the wheels will do for the time being. The seat won't, though. A couple of chrome parts have been painted black so I'll have to go ogle TOG's, err, The Doctor's 400/4 to find out what should be what. Great hardship, that. Frame paint looks OK, the tinware is painted in the wrong shade of orangish pink so that'll need sorting out and the paint on the engine has mostly evaporated so it's very matt silver at the moment. I guess I'll try to clean it up a little to make it look more presentable a polish a couple of parts as I doubt this can be resprayed in any decent way. Started on the button from cold, idled OK and no real noise from the camchain (given that the SOHC Honda lumps are fairly noisy anyway). So I rode off into the midday sun to discover that the front brake was positively lethal, and that it wouldn't pull that well in the higher gears. Determined to make it I pressed on; after about 40 miles the tank had emptied sufficiently so I could top it up with fresh petrol. That, plus the fact that I was gradually giving it more welly seemed to do the trick even though it was idleing at around 2.5k at this point. Another fifty miles later and I pull into Fleet Services. Suddenly the engine dies while pottering to the petrol station and when I restart it, the oil pressure light won't go out. Oops. Maybe I shouldn't have done 80 on the motorway. Indicated, that was... Anyway, topped up the tank with V-Power, noticed that it'd done about 40mpg and also discovered that the oil was a tad low. So I also topped up the oil, bike fired up instantly and the oil pressure light goes out again. Phew. Back onto the motorway and the bike was finally running a lot better. So the M3 and the M25 are quickly demolished but instead of doing the usual M26-M20 routine I turned off down the A21 to Lamberhurst, then cross-country to Ashford. That's definitely a road that suits the 400/4 which was now happy to rev up to 8k (didn't dare to take it higher, I'd want to change the oil first, do tappets and all that) and it's not struggling uphill in top anymore. Guess that the 200 mile journey blew out a few cobwebs. Oh, and the front brake has improved from 'positively lethal' to 'christ, that's bad' so it's almost working as designed again. The verdict so far - not a bargain but a fair price (I reckon, TOG will probably point and laugh on the way back from the French Run). It's missing one piece of unobtanium (the grab handle) but seems to be mostly complete otherwise. The cosmetics aren't too great so if I decide to keep it I'll have to improve them over time. And I guess next weekend I have to work out how to fit it into the garage. At the moment it's residing in the "overflow garage" that normally houses the convertible, but fortunately that's away for a respray at the moment.
