Interesting 400 Four

Ebay item 130136115194

But if you look closely, you can see it's a late US model, with the
higher bars and forward mounted pegs[1]. (Other giveaways are the tail
light, indicators and side panels).

Which makes it worth rather less than he's asking for it.

[1] Unbelievably, they did this to the later US models, because the
Yanks missed the point completely about the 400 Four and complained
about the rearset pegs and the flat bars....

 

If it's a US model, shouldn't it have side amber reflectors?

--
Dan L

http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/
1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6/7)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

Erm, I don't think so. UK ones did, on the forks, US bikes I've seen
have had red reflectors.

But this is *definitely* US spec.

 

Heh, I'll definitely bow to your superior knowledge, but I have always
associated side reflectors with US bikes

--
Dan L

http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/
1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6/7)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

Me too. I dunno when they came in, though. Z1s had 'em and they
pre-dated the 400F. Maybe someone removed them?

But the utter giveaway on this one is the forward mounted footpegs and
gear lever - note there's no rearset linkage. That was only the US.

 

Maybe you could explain what is so wrong about sitting up comfortably
on what is essentially a middleweight commutor bike. I fail to see
any real advantage in laying on the tank apart from maybe going a
1 mph speed advantage flat out.

Maybe the only difference is what is considered to look cool in the
USA rather than the UK. Is it all about a "sporty" image ?

 

I refer you to TOG's comments ref: missing the point.

 

But what IS the point ?.

 

Here's a hint: They weren't a 'commutor bike'.

 

Well, Steve has tried and failed to enlighten you, so I will have a go.

The 400F wasn't a commuter bike. It was a pure sports bike, and
originally sold as that. It was the first Honda four to handle and stop
well, and it went bloody fast for the era. A pocket superbike.

It was the first Japanese bike to have a decent sports riding position -
pegs set well back, so much so that the gear lever had to have a rearset
linkage, and a narrow flat bar. At anything over 70mph, the wind
relieved the pressure on your wrists, which wasn't bad anyway.

As for speed, on a relatively low-powered bike like this, the difference
between sit-up-high-and-wide and a sporty crouch is worth nearly 10mph,
not the 1mph that you seem to think.

Oh, and the riding postition also helped shift some weight to the front
of the bike, which is one reason why the 400 handled so bloody well
compared with the rearward weight-biased 250 and 360 twins, with which
it (effectively) shared a chassis.

The Yanks didn't like supersports bikes, not really. So after a year or
two of poor sales, for the US market, Honda fitted cowhorn bars and
forward mounted pegs.

This ruined the style, looks, comfort and (crucially) the handling of
the bike. And the Yanks still didn't buy it, anyway.

Ironically, now, original sporty 400 Fours are rather sought-after in
the US.

Got it?

 

37bhp, 170kg dry, top speed of 104mph attainable only by a skinny rider,
naked and covered in dubbin, 15 second quarter mile. A real superbike!
What was the competition like in 1975?

 

1976 Moto Guzzi V50 490cc 45hp 152Kg 105mph
1976 Moto Guzzi V35 346cc 34hp 152Kg 93mph

I don't have the quarter miles

Just to compare: Norton Commando 746cc 60hp 195Kg 105mph

 

Are these Earth HP or Planet Marketing HP?

Just seems odd that the Commando, which would be physically similar or
even narrower than the Guzzis, and chain drive, shouldn't have any
speed advantage.

Or maybe it was dissipated in engine vibration.

 

The Guzzi figures come from my Mick Walker Moto Guzzi book - so are
probably Italian horse power...

The Commando figures I've cocked up as they were for a 1971 bike and they
were replaced by the 820 in 1973 - although I don't see them being too
different:
http://www.bikez.com/motorcycles/norton_commando_750_1971.php

 

I doubt this. I do have the original Bike roadtest, and there's nothing
in the text or the pix to suggest it.

No. The permanently-on headlights and half-power indicators came later.
They weren't fitted in 1975.

 

Hmmm - Sounds to me like a victory of marketing over reality.
Looks like it is loved as a nostalgia item by those who bought the current
male fashion accessory in the mid 1970s.
OK, so it was good, but not THAT good.
I missed the 1970s, too busy in Africa.
Most of the ones I saw on the road in the 1980s were doing courier duty
around town which labelled it as a commuter bike to me.

 

What would you say was the middleweight superbike?

 

This doesn't make you sound interesting - it makes you sound like an odd
mix of General Melchett and Captain Darling.

Although you could be the fellow who was in that female director's
documentary about his return to a flat in England after he'd been evicted
from his estate in Africa.

Can't remember his name; the documentary or the director. Pity.

 

This doesn't make you sound interesting - it makes you sound like an odd
mix of General Melchett and Captain Darling.

Although you could be the fellow who was in that female director's
documentary about his return to a flat in England after he'd been evicted
from his estate in Africa.

Can't remember his name; the documentary or the director. Pity.

 

Molly Wheelan at a guess and no, can't remember either but it was a
fantastic piece of documentary making.