HONDA CB400 FOUR
A buyer’s guide to one of the archetypal classics.
‘Ubiquitous’ is a word we journos tend to over use but in the case of Honda’s 400/4 it’s totally justified. Go to any classic motorcycle show, a biker’s café, a bike club ride out or your local boozer’s bike night and the chances are there will be a CB400F there. At its launch the bike had instant appeal to a much wider cross-section of motorcyclists than anyone would have expected, even pulling in people who had previously sported one of those period patches that read: “I’d rather eat worms than ride a Honda!” Today the bike is even a constant feature within that bastion of Britishness that is the VMCC. Omnipresent the bike may be but its existence is more happenstance than strategic product planning. Circa late 1972 and Honda is aware that it’s struggling to cut the mustard in the key 350 sector Stateside. Its supposed crowning glory, the CB350F, hasn’t proved popular and those American riders that want a 350 are beginning to perceive the twin-cylinder CB350K series as jaded and careworn. Honda, at this stage, won’t consider making two-strokes despite taking serious battering in dealer showrooms thanks to the stink-wheels twins and triples from Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha. And in just a few months Yamaha will launch its giant-killing RD350, which instantly becomes the middleweight of choice: urgent action is needed immediately. Whether you believe in conspiracy theories or not there’s an interesting background story going on
here in Honda at this critical time. In October 1973 when Honda bike sales are generally in the doldrums two key figures retire; company president Soichiro Honda and executive vice president Takeo Fujisawa. Kiyoshi Kawashima takes over and by December 1974 the factory has a new middleweight bike that looks and rides like nothing that’s gone before it. Has Kawashima insisted on a root and branch change of policy? No one is certain but what’s not up for dispute is the revised ethos from the biggest motorcycle manufacturer in the world. The CB400F was and remains a cornerstone in a new direction for the firm. Gone was the slightly staid styling, the bulbous panels and the almost gentlemanly aura. The new 400 was sleek, minimalist and aimed at a new breed of rider. Honda had taken the old CB350F and over-bored the motor by four crucial millimetres, increased the carburettor size by two, added a sixth ratio to the gearbox and fitted a four-into-one exhaust system; the latter being a seriously radical change in direction. This was Honda making a motorcycle not only designed to be ridden hard but visually tailored to look like it as well. Key to the bike’s success were the numerous changes away from the donor 350/4. Much flatter panels painted in either red or blue with minimal graphics gave the bike a truly distinctive look which was further enhanced by the sinuous chrome plated exhaust pipes; nothing like this had ever come out of Japan before, this was radical stuff! The bike’s line were so totally non-honda that the bike received huge praise from the press and test writers of the day. And finally, after more than a decade, Honda had rolled out a bike that relished being hustled through the twisties. The CB400F arguably saved Honda from losing key sales in the UK and seriously helped revitalise brand image. It was the right bike at the right time and genuinely helped Honda compete against the two-stroke hordes. And yet it was never a particularly profitable machine to make and although there were decent sales stateside the bike wasn’t the overwhelming success Honda had hoped for. Sales of the contemporary, less inspiring, CB360G5 remained buoyant simply by virtue of purchasing and servicing costs. Despite what many of the 400/4’s fan base might have wished for the bike was only ever a stop-gap model. A new six-valve twin was already at prototype stage and even if the CB400T was something of a styling disaster the revised CB400N would be one of Honda’s best-selling middleweights; cheaper to make than the 400/4 and, rather annoyingly, faster as well. None of which matters now to be honest, if you’re in the market for a CB400F the 400N will be of little interest. More than four decades after it was dropped by its manufacturers the bike remains hugely popular, enjoys an aftermarket spares supply like little else out there and, amazingly, still remains within relatively easy reach financially. Someone once suggested that every motorcyclist should sample Honda’s seminal CB400F as a rite of passage and we’d not disagree; try one: you’ll struggle hard not to be impressed!