Honda 400 Four

[BobM]

One of these filtered past me this morning on the way into work in my tin box, P or R reg. Haven't seen one for years, I remember wanting one when I was a teenager.

Still looked very nice, but couldn't get over the little skinny tyre on the back!

[hiccy]

The most gorgeous 4-1 ever though!

[wedg1e]

Girl's bike

No really they were: small and light and ideal for following a shapely ar53 in tight leather... OK, I'm just off for a dribble

There's one for sale in Preston (A1 Bikes, advertises on Autotrader)... about £800 IIRC, on an S. That's 1978 to those of you who weren't even a twinkle in the milkman's eye...

[BobM]

wedg1e said:

Girl's bike

No really they were: small and light and ideal for following a shapely ar53 in tight leather... OK, I'm just off for a dribble

There's one for sale in Preston (A1 Bikes, advertises on Autotrader)... about £800 IIRC, on an S. That's 1978 to those of you who weren't even a twinkle in the milkman's eye...

Funnily enough the reason my brother tapped off with his wife years ago was when he serviced her 400 Four for her

[Mon Ami Mate]

I used to have its big brother, a 1971 CB750K3. Absolutely fantastic, but I was too young and stupid to appreciate it, abused it horribly and sold it in bits. It'd probably be worth something now. God I hate myself sometimes...

Edited by Mon Ami Mate on Tuesday 23 January 16:46

[Busamav]

Mon Ami Mate said:

I used to have its big brother, a 1971 CB750K3. Absolutely fantastic, but I was too young and stupid to appreciate it, abused it horribly and sold it in bits. It'd probably be worth something now. God I hate myself sometimes...

Edited by Mon Ami Mate on Tuesday 23 January 16:46

I had a K2 in 75.

Your 71 was probably a KO or a K1 , both of these were the faster models of them all , only they were detuned after some frightening handling .

I truly loved my Honda ,cant believe I am saying that about a Honda

[Lewy]

My uncle has one that he has barely used from new, p reg in blue, i think they did yellow too.
Sounds great but a pig to ride compared to modern stuff. I made him promise never to sell it as i want it in the corner of my garage one day. I guess it could be considered a Jap classic.

[s7paul]

The 400 is generally considered a classic these days, provided it's in excellent original condition. The early ones were either plain red or plain blue. Later ones IIRC were either yellow or metallic maroon, with pin striping. The truth was that although they were nicely built, with a real sewing machine of an engine (meant in the nicest way), they had no real punch and overall performance was pretty much on a par with a 2-stroke 250. That's why I went for the 500, which IMO looks better anyway. I had a 500 Four from 1979-81 and did 34000 miles on it in those 2 years. It wasn't perfect, but had so much character, and was the only bike I've ever really regretted selling. Consequently, when I saw a rusty box of bits on eBay a few years ago, I just couldn't resist the challenge. This is it now :-

[wedg1e]

Good stuff! Can you still get tyres that narrow?

[s7paul]

wedg1e said:

Good stuff! Can you still get tyres that narrow?

Of course, I nicked them off my daughters mountain bike!