Bike features
Here are the main features of the machine:
- excellent vintage design and lack of plastic in the exterior;
- hard seat;
- Small dimensions, the motorcycle is not suitable for two.
The disadvantages of this bike in no way prevent the model from remaining one of the best retro classics at the budget level. Yes, there is a small design flaw in that the engine is made of gray aluminum, and it would have been much more correct for the manufacturer to make it chrome. But this is a minor minus.
Owner reviews
Screenshot No. 1. Owner's review of the Honda CB400
Ilya, 32 years old
The motorcycle is very reliable, ideal as a first bike. The speed picks up quickly, fuel consumption is minimal, especially when you are driving alone. The handling and maneuverability are simply amazing; neither city traffic jams nor potholes are scary. I drove it for two seasons, no problems, never broke down due to my own fault. Due to the driver's misfortune, it was once repaired; it landed very hard; as a result, the headlight and instrument panel had to be replaced. The Honda cb400 dashboard and Honda cb400 headlight cost me 7900 and 2500 respectively. I installed it myself, nothing complicated. I’ll skate another season and will sell it, the equipment is good, but I’ll take something more serious.
Screenshot No. 2. Review from a Honda CB400 owner
Dimensions and weight
This motorcycle is definitely not big. It barely fits even the average size. The CB 400 SS is 2145 mm long, 780 mm wide and 1125 mm high. The wheelbase here is 1405 mm, and the seat height is 790 mm. The curb weight of the model is 159 kg, and the tank volume is only 11 liters. Gasoline consumption per 100 km is insignificant - about 3 liters.
Price
The cost of a motorcycle largely depends on the year of manufacture and its technical condition. Since 1999, Honda CB400 engines have been equipped with the Hyper Vtec system, which allows, by opening additional valves, to significantly increase the power of the motorcycle. The presence of a Vaitekov engine significantly affects the cost of the motorcycle. Currently, you can buy a Honda CB 400 before 1999 for 100 - 150, after 99 for 130 - 200 thousand rubles.
Screenshot of the price of the Honda CB400. The average price is around 150 thousand rubles.
Read other motorcycle reviews Detailed review of the Yamaha YZF-R6 motorcycle
Chassis and brakes
The semi-duplex frame of this motorcycle is made of steel. Its appearance exactly conveys the exterior of those motorcycles that traveled around the world in the 60s of the last century. Of course, the wheels here are spoked, and the steering wheel has dimensions corresponding to the class.
At the rear, a pendulum version with a double shock absorber is used as a suspension. At the front it is a telescopic fork. The rear brake is a drum, and the front brake is a disc and a two-piston caliper. It is worth considering that the brakes here are not strong enough in relation to the engine power, and therefore you will either have to somehow solve this problem yourself, or never reach critical speeds.
As usual in my two-wheeled life, everything happened suddenly, which makes it even more interesting. I was sitting at the computer looking at the options of what I would like to ride someday... Less than a month later I was riding my new Honda CB400SS-E motorcycle. It all started simply by studying the demand for my then Kawasaki Estrella motorcycle, I honestly assumed that there would be no interest and I posted an ad just for the sake of marketing research, so to speak. Imagine my surprise when the next day in the evening, when I went to the site, I saw that there was more. Wow! I thought, then there were calls and meetings with potential buyers, there were... one, the guy had not yet received his license and wanted to see the motorcycle just to understand how it looks in person, I personally understood from the conversation. The second buyer immediately said that he would take it. A week later, I drove the motorcycle to him and we shook hands. The job is done with 120 rubles in your pocket. The future owner did not bargain, but I, for my part, honestly told and showed everything. He said that he was ready to help find consumables and advise on maintenance. The motorcycle scene, especially among classic motorcycles and cafe racers in the city, is very close and I prefer to act on the principle: “do as you want to be treated,” in short, humanly speaking. Well, the money is in the nightstand and of course there was a daily, hourly combing of information about a potential motorcycle for the 2016 season. The contenders were: Kawasaki W650 The first on the list is probably my favorite, for me it’s the most interesting classic that you can really buy and probably the most interesting in terms of price/motor ratio. But it still wasn't in my budget. Of course, you could buy a worn-out version with a high mileage of thousands for 200 rubles, but this is not my approach.
Yamaha SR400 The second one on the list was a serious contender, it had huge potential for a very easy conversion into a cafe racer. They also have an excellent price on the secondary market, and a huge selection of options at auctions. But for me the only minus is the kick starter. Many people think that starting with Kick all the time is so boring and old and it’s a must-have... but no, it’s not for me. CB400SS-E I chose it in the end, and why, a little later.
Honda CB400SF Yes, in this company of classics this road worker, or whatever it should be called correctly, was squeezed in... This could perhaps be the most rational purchase, there are a lot of them on the secondary market, you can really choose from dozens of options, a bunch of colors and modifications, years of manufacture for every taste and budget and they are very diverse in condition. It’s probably stupid to say anything else about this legendary Honda CB400 Four model. This Sibishka seems to me the most beautiful, it’s not for nothing that it’s an anniversary one. In the appearance of the motorcycle, the creators captured, as it seems to me, the awesome moment of transition from a classic motorcycle to a sports bike. Unfortunately, they are very rare and at auctions good specimens are valued at 220-260 thousand rubles.
Of course, everyone liked these beautiful motorcycles, but no one canceled the budget and it amounted to 160-180 thousand rubles. So the search was narrowed down to something classic, single-cylinder, from the mid-2000s and preferably with a mileage of up to 25,000 km. A natural question arose: where to buy. In principle, there were two ways: look for something at an auction and buy through an intermediary company, or look for it from private owners in St. Petersburg, or buy something brought from an auction in St. Petersburg, but in a showroom.
There are now a sea of intermediary firms, all working on approximately the same terms. In short, this is the scheme. You look on the Internet for lots that will soon be traded at auction, the intermediary places an agreed amount on the desired lot, if you win, it is brought to the Russian Federation, cleared by customs, packed and sent by a transport company to the buyer. It seems to me that the downside of such a purchase is that it is impossible to touch the motorcycle before buying, although this is not offset by the fact that auctioneers experts evaluate the motorcycle soberly and from the auction sheet it is quite possible to understand what will arrive, plus the auctioneer comes with a bunch of photographs of the motorcycle, plus the auction sheet is written for that specifically the grades have been reduced. The big advantage of this method is the final price; all other things being equal, a motorcycle can be 15-20% cheaper than a similar one available in the Russian Federation.
Private owners in St. Petersburg did not find anything suitable. Few people here ride motorcycles like this and they are apparently sold on their own or just very quickly; in general, I haven’t found practically any option that I could get hooked on.
I started searching on advertisement sites and discovered that there were very tasty options for equipment available, but at the upper limit of my budget and since there was no extra money lying around, I began to communicate with an intermediary and look through options at Japanese auctions... So two weeks passed , I didn’t find anything interesting for myself, but what I liked ended up costing the same money as what was available in St. Petersburg or Moscow time, apparently due to the fact that by the end of the season the sellers slightly lowered the prices for motorcycles in stock. It was the third week of searching and I couldn’t touch a single motorcycle with my hands; it turns out there are simply no good options in St. Petersburg. It was due to the fact that I was looking for a motorcycle in good condition, that is, I wanted it to be a motorcycle with a minimum of traces of use, no rust, low mileage, fresh paint... Of course, I still had the same requirements, but as they say, I wanted the most for my money money.
And then the thought occurred to me, why not look for a motorcycle in other cities? I go to advertisement sites familiar to everyone, make a selection all over Russia and bam!, a decent amount of what I’m looking for falls out in Moscow! I’m researching and seeing that there are really good motorcycles from showrooms that they bring to auctions. I called, two motorcycles actually appeared to be in stock, and began to find out how to bring the motorcycle to St. Petersburg. As it turns out, there are no problems with these, there is even one, this is when a person not only brings you a motorcycle, but also evaluates its real condition with his experienced eye. I decided to trust the auction sheets that sellers almost always include with photos of the motorcycle. Fortunately, I learned to “read” them well.
This is the motorcycle that my gaze fell on!
I was immediately drawn to the color! This is my favorite, bright blue, and also with a white stripe, for me it’s a great color scheme for this model! Then he began to study the auctioneer. The year of first registration was 2006, the mileage was 19,500 km, and it was noted that the last technical inspection of the motorcycle in Japan took place at a mileage of 16,100; experts have no doubt about the mileage. In general, it must be said that in Japan they are very strict with the twisting of mileage, so of course they do it there, but not as completely as we do. And the mentality is not the same, I think. The grades aren't too bad, let's see why they were lowered. Engine: noise, noise at the top, paint peeling, oil leaks - in reality, there is paint peeling off in flakes on the cooling fins, oil leaks from the oil filter cover, it looks like someone with not very straight hands changed the oil there or the O-ring gasket is torn. It’s actually a joke about the engine noise, they write this in all auction houses in a similar way. It makes noise as it should, in my opinion. The gaskets on the engine are all original, it is clear that the bolts have not been unscrewed. The front part has a torn fork boot, rust, where I never found it, everything is pristinely clean, it’s very difficult to find fault. The brake disc wear is weak. The tire is worn out, in reality the tire is zero, but apparently the original tires are old and have become stiff to the touch. the handles are not original parts, the rating is reduced for not original parts and here is the biggest joke, the handles, as it turned out later, are awesome, heated! big respect to the Japanese for such a fit!) The exterior appearance was rated above all else, it’s understandable, there’s really nothing to complain about, but here in the minuses they wrote that there is a small chip on the tank, it’s not the original seat, although it’s also very good. The electrics here are also well rated, reduced for a non-original headlight, turn signals, and rear light. Also for rust on the exhaust, but in fact there is not rust there, but a change in color due to temperature, which is absolutely normal. the rear part here has the lowest rating, reduced for the lack of rear steps, it’s a mystery where the Japanese lost them, also the shock absorbers are not stock, which immediately lowers the rating. Although, again, there is an opinion that the stock is so-so and everyone is changing them, apparently later I will also thank the Japanese for this, until I have fully tested it. Well, the rear tire is also old, although the tread is ideal. frame Good rating, it’s hard to find fault with anything there, but they lowered the slightly rusty footrest, and they also found rust somewhere below, I didn’t find it during inspection.
After a couple of days of doubts, I called the salon in Moscow that sold it, they offered to bring it to St. Petersburg, I bargained and they brought it to me at the salon’s expense, it’s a small thing, but it’s nice, in general the guys were very pleased with their communication, it’s a pity you can’t give direct links here to the interior
What can I say, at the first inspection the motorcycle seemed better to me even than what was written in the auction book, I simply did not find most of the rust spots that were written in the auction book, it looks like it was just thoroughly washed when it reached the Russian Federation.
The final price in St. Petersburg was 180 thousand rubles, which is quite a high price, but after seeing the motorcycle in person I realized that the price was quite justified.
I quickly completed the purchase and went to park it in the garage for the winter... Oh, what a pity that it’s not summer, what a pity that I can’t ride normally now (On the road from the place of purchase to the garage, the most pleasant emotions, the motorcycle of course rides much better than my previous Kawasaki Estrella, Needless to say, 400cc is still not 250. It easily picks up adequate city speed, you can calmly, without straining, drive a little faster than the flow when you need to have a reserve of traction. I liked that the engine pulls from the bottom, not for nothing that it is installed on the Honda XR400 all-terrain bike. And what a thrill it is to drive with heated handles! Huge + in comfort when driving a motorcycle in November, at +3!
This is such a wonderful motorcycle, I bought myself, there are plans for modifications, styling, so to speak, but more on that in the next posts...
