The Honda Owners Club

Hi Guys,

I am a noob on here and I would like to say high and ask a question of any CB400N owners.

I returned to biking last year after a gap of 10yrs or so (previous bike - Suzuki T500) and bought a dog of a 250 honda dream which I restored and it runs and handles nicely but is FAR TOO SLOW even for a 60 yr old.
Because I like the ride I have purchased its big brother (sister?) a 1984 CB400N .I have seen all sorts of different BHP and Top speeds quoted for this model. I find 100 + mph hard to believe !
I am going to restore it so it wont get ridden for a while and 85mph will do fine when I do .

Question is How quick are they in REAL life ?

My 400 did 115MPH on a good day 90-100 readily and would cruise all day at 80.

Brilliant bike just keep the brakes clean as you will need all they can give.

Mine was so good that someone else nicked it.

Thanks for replying Dibble ,

you've cheered me up no end Lets just hope this one is as good when I get around to riding it .

I,ll post a picture of the restored 250 when i figure out how to do it.

I used to get scared at about 70MPH on my CB400N as it started to weave at that speed. I didn't particularly like the bike and moved it on fairly quickly. It was fairly grunty though and could get the front wheel airborn at times. I never maxed it out but I believe they were good for over a genuine 105.

Regards

Chimpy

Thanks Chimpy ,.

It looks like my cynicism was premature I didnt believe the extra 150 cc could transform a buzzing fart into something useful. anyhow ,I,ll start on the rebuild tomorrow. Heres a picture of how it will look :- this is the 250 which will be for sale once I,m on me "400".



WILT

Hi Wilt,

They are good bikes. Ive had mine since december and had no real problems with it (the problems i had where all down to me ) Ive only taken mine upto 85mph but she had some left, havent tried to max it to be honest i much prefer just cruising at a steady 50/60/70. Overtakes arent bad and overall it goes really well and most importantly it will most likely continue to for as long as i keep it.

I have a 'few' bits if you want anything but all the spares are easy to come by anyway, cheap too.

Anyway heres mine, its the 250N with the 400 engine.

Ant132

If you have the 400 engine in I would recommend fitting the 400 front end as well with the twin discs. It does fit as that is how my stolen one ended up. That extra 150 makes a lot of difference that requires a lot more stopping.

Here's a picture of my old 400N. If I'd bothered to fit new swing arm bushes and a pair of new tyres it probably would have been a good bike. It just wasn't for me.

It sold really easy to the first guy that looked at it, must have been too cheap.

Regards

Chimpy

Crikey,

that looks brand spankers!.

WILT

Well I started today by removing and stripping the rear wheel & Ive already hit a small snag.
as is usual with these old CB's the cush drive is in dire need of shimming or new rubbers so I removed the sprocket and found it different to the 250 in as much as there was an outer dust cap ,the circlip , an oil/grease seal. then a mysterious spacer with a lip that appears to have split somehow leaving 2 jagged edges .I cant envisage its purpose or how it got torn apart.
Is anyone familiar with the later CB400N rear wheel assembly that can shed some light on this?

Get your haynes manual out and it will show you exactly what each part should be like and the sequence for fitting.

Sounds as though your spacer is knackered if it has jagged edges.

Yeh ,

Its well knackered being split in two ,I have ordered one with a new chain and incidently it was a good job I did strip the back wheel or I might have just ordered the appropriate 520 x 100 chain listed instead of the larger 530 x 100 as fitted now. It would not have fitted these larger sprockets !

Get your haynes manual out and it will show you exactly what each part should be like and the sequence for fitting.

I did and its still not clear from the pictures and its not shown separately in the exploded diagram .But for the sake of anyone else I assembled it in a way that I now consider to be wrong first time and had to take it all apart again. So for reference assemble it with the flange to the outside edge of the sprocket so that the plastic cush drive cover can sit on the spigot created on the inside of the sprocket by the sleeve.This also gives enough room to fit the shim washer behind the circlip.

WILT

STOP PRESS

I was refitting the brake anchor arm and noticed cracks about 4" long in both sides of the strengthening gusset where it is welded to the swinging arm tubing .I presume this is stress/corrosion cracking and intend to drop the swinging arm and MIG weld the cracks .The weld itself had not broken but the heat affected zone about 1/8" away.
I do not know if this would greatly affect the handling at moderate speed but I intend to rectify it and urge other owners to check their bikes .This is a 1984 model ,i.e. quite late, and there are loads of earlier ones about.

WILT

It shouldn't effect the handling but could have caused a nasty moment if the bracket had let go when braking.

Well spotted.

Regards

Chimpy