By Donn Maeda
Photos by Kinney Jones
or the past several years, a
mythical motorcycle has
been spoken of in off-road
riding circles. Rumors have
circulated, speculation has been made,
and Honda XR lovers everywhere have
looked to the future with high hopes of
the perfect off-road weapon.
Somewhere, it was rumored, Honda
engineers were designing the perfect XR
- one that was not too big, not too little one that would fill the void between the
all-powerful XR600 and the mellow
XR250. Year after year, however, the
much anticipated XR400 failed to materialize and some began to wonder if the
bike was ever going to materialize.
But just as even the most faithful
believers began to doubt, Honda has
decided to deliver. To American offroaders, 1996 will be the year of the
XR400. According to Honda's Bruce
Ogilve, the XR400 has, in fact, been in the
works for several years.
"Oh, we began reading about the
XR400 in the magazines about five years
ago," says Ogilve. "But it wasn't then
that Honda decided to build such a bike.
Counting bad attempts, I'd say that the
XR400 has been in development for
about four years."
Perhaps one of the most highly awaited motorcycles ever, the XR400 was
designed and built almost exclusively for
the American market. "The United States
will receive the majority of the bikes produced," says Ogilve. 'The 400 has a definite niche in the American market, but
surprisingly, we don't expect it to be
much of a hit in Japan or Europe. The
Japanese tend to favor the smaller 250,
and the 600 is a great seller in Europe. I
expect the 400 to sell fairly well in Australia, but the bike was basically developed solely for the American off-road
rider."
ASK, AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE
Obviously, the new 397cc engine is
the biggest news about the new machine,
so we'll start there. Rather than simply
!\leeving down their tried and true XR600
engine, or digging out the old XR350
engine and punching it out, Honda opted
to start from scratch. As expected, the
new 397cc air-cooled engine incorporates
the well-known Radial Four Valve Com-
(Above) At long Iut, the 1996 Honda
XR400 has flNl11y arrived.
