Honda CB400F: Less is More
Thirty years later, Honda’s CB400F never looked better.
November/December 2006
Robert Smith
 |
Though the 400 Four sparked the café racer styling trend that would eventually give us today's repli-racer sportbikes, it wasn't universally appreciated at the time.
Photo by Robert Smith
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The 1958 C92 Benly showed the world that Honda was serious about performance....
Looking back, it's easy to think the first Gold Wing in 1975 was a revolutionary motorcycle. It was...
When Honda introduced the CB700SC Nighthawk S in 1984, the words of praise from the motoring press ...
If two was enough, and four supreme, then Honda’s industry-leading six-cylinder CBX was nothing sho...
The beefiest of Honda’s middleweights was the CB550 Four. A smooth, capable machine based on the CB...
Honda CB400F
Years produced: 1975-1977
Total production: 105,000 (est.)
Claimed power: 37hp
Top speed: 95mph
Engine type: 408cc overhead cam, air-cooled inline four
Weight (dry): 179kg (394lb)
Price then: $1,470
Price now: $1,800-$3,000
MPG: 45 (period test)
Thirty years later, Honda’s CB400F never looked better. A stalwart British bike fan, I’d never ridden a Japanese multi until one day in 1975. My “daily driver” was a persnickety BSA Victor, a worthy enough machine, certainly, but a real clunker. It was, after all, just an old-fashioned and only partially civilized dirt bike.
A friend offers me a ride on his new CB400F. I’m not going to like this, I tell myself. It’s a wussy rice burner. I’m still trying to kid myself that it’s nothing special when I hand it back. Just six years separate the Beezer from the F-bike, but the contrast is huge; it’s like the Space Shuttle just landed in the Stone Age.
I doubt I could have chosen a more stark comparison if I’d tried, and in spite of my own laggardness, by 1975 the rest of the world was used to four-cylinder Hondas. The 750 came first, of course, in 1969, and created the pattern for all Honda Fours for the next 10 years. The air-cooled in-line four cylinder wet sump engine used a chain-driven single overhead camshaft and breathed through four carburetors. The engine was constructed in unit with the primary drive, wet clutch and five-speed transmission. An electric starter was standard, as was the disc front brake.
Honda’s mini-multis
Having effectively created the four-cylinder category, Honda took its bag of tricks and downsized them. Next came the 1971 500 Four, then the 350 Four in 1972. This last machine exemplified Honda’s flair for miniaturization but was not a technical success. With four heavy chrome pipes, mild tuning and meager power, it was slower than the
company’s same-size twin and barely capable of highway speeds. It nevertheless lasted two seasons on the back of the four-cylinder fashion.