Help me choose a motorbike
- Thread starter Mike P
- Start date
-alan-
pfm Member
Welcome to the vintage Honda club Mike 
That looks in great shape. Good work whoever did it. I had a 400/4 back in the day, and one of my friends bought the 550/four. A bit heavier, but a useful increase in power and torque. He could carry a passenger and outrun the 400 (which is the kind of thing we considered important back in the day )
Any more background on yours ?
That looks in great shape. Good work whoever did it. I had a 400/4 back in the day, and one of my friends bought the 550/four. A bit heavier, but a useful increase in power and torque. He could carry a passenger and outrun the 400 (which is the kind of thing we considered important back in the day
)Any more background on yours ?
Brown Bottle
UTB
Looks great, seen a couple of these in London recently, ridden by Hipster types! I always admired the sweep of the downpipes back in the day.
Cheers BB
Cheers BB
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
Single 70's front disc 'n all
Mike P
Trade: Pickwell Audio
Mine is a USA import and was restored in the UK after being imported. The seller (a dealer) told me it was restored by a retired Rolls Royce engineer.
It looks to me that someone spent quite a bit of money on the restoration but then oddly the bike appears to have been somewhat neglected in recent years.
It ran very poorly when I got it but I've been doing quite a lot of work to it over the last few weeks and it's now running really sweetly. I daren't look how much I've spent at David Silver over the last few weeks!
It has a non-standard cross-drilled disc and Hagon rear shocks. I have the originals too should I ever want to restore it back to original spec.
It looks to me that someone spent quite a bit of money on the restoration but then oddly the bike appears to have been somewhat neglected in recent years.
It ran very poorly when I got it but I've been doing quite a lot of work to it over the last few weeks and it's now running really sweetly. I daren't look how much I've spent at David Silver over the last few weeks!
It has a non-standard cross-drilled disc and Hagon rear shocks. I have the originals too should I ever want to restore it back to original spec.
Mike P
Trade: Pickwell Audio
Single 70's front disc 'n all
Indeed.....The brakes aren't its strong point.
Arkless Electronics
Trade: Amp design and repairs.
I remember riding a mates CB500 Four when I only had a GP100U Suzuki and it seeming incredibly rapid! hey when you're used to 10bhp 45 seems mind blowing!
wow&flutter
pfm Member
This is my mid-80's Honda, an XBR500, which would make a pretty decent first bike and a good commuter etc.:
Something like a CB500 (either the current one or the last generation) would also be a pretty good choice.
My son is currently learning on our little MSX125 and I'm giving some thought to what his first big bike will be once he gets around to passing his test. The CB500X is definitely a candidate although he fancies the idea of a Royal Enfield and I'm thinking a BMW 310GS perhaps.
Wow, that still looks in great order Steve.
I’m into my 3rd year on my 2015 GSX 1250 FA in red and it’s been pretty flawless. Needed a starter motor due to some rust on the motor body which jammed it. Stuck a new one on from eBay for £110.
https://www.motorcyclenews.com/bike-reviews/suzuki/gsx1250f/2010/
I must admit the Suzuki is starting to feel heavy (270kg) and wheeling it in and out the garage with damp leaves about is starting to worry me a bit. It’s weight aside I feel the engine spec hits a sweet spot with around 100bhp and 80lbft of torque, it’s never once ever felt wanting for performance and to be honest I’m not sure at my age I would want anything faster especially with all the 20 and 50 mph limits locally!
Having just put it through another mot it appears to be averaging just over 2000 miles a year since it’s purchase and that’s as my only mode of transport.
As for a replacement, I would imagine a Suzuki SV650, Yamaha XSR900 or Triumph Speed Twin would tick the boxes especially the torque and weight boxes but two of the above are likely to be twice the current value of the GSX!
One of the Ducati Monsters would also fit the bill I guess but no dealers on the east coast (Scotland) any more.
richardg
Admonishtrator
My short list was Speed Twin or 701 Vitpilen. The price difference was too great to not be the thing that swayed it. More than 3 grand and my company was paying cash.....so 701 it was.
richardg
Admonishtrator
Same here...sort of.... I think the list price stayed the same but is heavily discounted. Its 10,300 euros in France. No way. Its an 8000 euro bike to me. I got mine from England for £7000.
Mike P
Trade: Pickwell Audio
Welcome to the vintage Honda club Mike
That looks in great shape. Good work whoever did it. I had a 400/4 back in the day, and one of my friends bought the 550/four. A bit heavier, but a useful increase in power and torque. He could carry a passenger and outrun the 400 (which is the kind of thing we considered important back in the day
Any more background on yours ?
I agonised for ages about whether to go for the 400/4 or 550/4. In the end I went for the bigger bike on recommendation from a friend who had one years back and loved it.
I'd love to try a 400/4 and there's a part of me that wonders whether I would prefer the smaller lighter bike (I'm not a big chap). The performance of the 550 is very satisfying though
-alan-
pfm Member
Fwiw the 400/4 is nowhere near as good an engine as those with rose tinted glasses would have you believe. They were an interesting thing back in the day - a proper four cylinder bike for roughly the same money as the other Japanese 400 offerings, and a four stroke with at least a fighting chance of keeping up with the 2-stroke competitors like the RD400/GT380/Kwack400s out there. They weren't built with longevity in mind though, and many of them ended up as rattly smoking heaps that needed a major top-end overhaul by 40,000 miles.
As a restoration project, they tend not to be very popular because with 4 pots, like any multi, if anything needs done, generally you need to do all of the valves, guides, rings, pistons, etc at once. On something desirable like an early 750/4 Honda, if done right, you'll usually recoup the spend - but I don't think that's the case on the 400s - hence why you don't tend to see many of them around.
Purely from a nostalgic point of view, all other things being equal I'd probably go for a 400/4 over a 500/4 or 550/4 - but only because I owned one. By any other objective measure, I'd say the larger bikes win hands down. Yours is a cracker looking thing
As a restoration project, they tend not to be very popular because with 4 pots, like any multi, if anything needs done, generally you need to do all of the valves, guides, rings, pistons, etc at once. On something desirable like an early 750/4 Honda, if done right, you'll usually recoup the spend - but I don't think that's the case on the 400s - hence why you don't tend to see many of them around.
Purely from a nostalgic point of view, all other things being equal I'd probably go for a 400/4 over a 500/4 or 550/4 - but only because I owned one. By any other objective measure, I'd say the larger bikes win hands down. Yours is a cracker looking thing
