HONDA CB400 FOUR

ebbo said:

Lucky Alan we need some pictures mate

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Cheers Ebbo!

Here you go. Complete except for waiting on a couple of original mirrors from David Silver and I have a set of carb kits to fit as it runs a bit rough at the moment:









And for completeness, here's my old Matchless waiting for a spring clean and polish after its winter slumber:

Very nice

Hi Alan,

Nice looking bike mate! I would like to come over at some point and take a look over if thats OK with you?

Mines in bits at the moment, if i can get it looking anything like yours i'll be well pleased!

Cheers,

Steve.

I remember when one of my mates from school traded his FS1E for a brand spanking burgundy F2 with a Dunstall silencer. He was the first one to turn 17 and we all watched in awe when he decided he would do a 100mph run through the main road in our village
It was a lovely sound. So refined compared to the Brit stuff and the Jap strokers. If a car had pulled out of the staggered cross roads he wouldn`t have made 18 years old mind you, but there wasn`t so much traffic about in thoise days.

jez said:

those downpipes were sooo sexy

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absolutely & very nearly tempted me away from the 'new' generation of sportsbikes like the RD350LC - Thankfully it didnt, but it didnt stop me from (still) admirimg that gorgeous exhaust system layout !

I picked up a very nice example back in 2006, before all of the hype started.
This is the old girl on the day she arrived.

One previous owner, an old chap from Walsall who bought her new in 1977.
I have the original documents, plus all of the previous MOTs and tax disks

A winter of polishing and re-plating had her almost as good as new.

I showed her a few times, with a couple of BiC wins, but some corrosion on the upper surface of the rear fender always let it down.
Due to the spot welds on the tail-lamp cable guide - They all do that, Sir !

After years of hunting, I managed to find a NoS Honda rear fender.
I can now genuinely claim that it is mint, and will show it again next season.

I have scanned the Classic Bike article on DS/captain Slow, and will email it to anyone who PMs me.

It will be interesting to see how the 50 'minters' from DS drive up the market price for good 400/4.
You cannot remove 12 previous owners, or invent 30 years of careful service history !


Alan, if you are looking for high quality repro decals - I have used Sunrise Graphics in Blackpool for at least 10 years, and their 400/4 decal kits are spot-on.

I can help you with 10% off all genuine Honda spares - I refuse to use DS, as they do not offer trade discount.

OK. Did a bit today.

Cleaned up the swing arm/centre stand/torque arm reading for coating/painting.

De-greased and polished the chain guard. Come up rather well I thought!

stripped the front suspension forks......

L/H one has a bolt snapped off, think I can drill that no problem.

Removed stanchions, slight pitting, rubbed down with P800 and polished up, unfortunately they need re-chroming but the worst was to come.

rolled the tubes on the kitchen worktop and, theyre bent

Only slightly but enough. Both seem to be out by about the same amount so i dont think its been hit, maybe years of riding/sitting have 'bowed' them.

Can anyone recommend someone who can straighten/chrome/harden them?

I've looked up David Silver's, who do aftermarket ones for 75 each + vat, which dont seem to bad??

Cheers,

I've had a set of forks done by philpotts, http://www.pittedforks.co.uk/price.php came out really nice, but they are pricier than your replacements, can't recommend which way to go unless you want originality, and the replacements will probably rust quicker too.

GS_BOTT said:

I've had a set of forks done by philpotts, http://www.pittedforks.co.uk/price.php came out really nice, but they are pricier than your replacements, can't recommend which way to go unless you want originality, and the replacements will probably rust quicker too.

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What He said. Philpotts are your best bet