rewarded with an unenthusi-
astic, "bluhh." This little Honda
loved to sing and its sweet spot
was in the 6000-10,000 range.
With its six-speed gearbox, the
Honda felt right at home cruis
-
ing at 80 mph, plenty fast for a
motorcycle with a single disc
and a rear drum to handle the
stopping chores. The staff also
noted that the beautiful four-
into-one exhaust muffled quite
nicely. "The loudest engine
noise," they wrote, "comes from
the cam chain."
The pretty red Honda said she
wanted to ride fast, and she was
no tease; the CN crew loved the
firm chassis and the two-stage
rear springs, and they gave the
bike a good flicking during their
road test, with only the stock
tires (unidentified) and slightly
limited ground clearance being
the killjoys. "Drop a knee, hang
off or stay put, wish it over, wish
it back up, ride and never want
to stop."
The staffers loved the
CB400F. Sadly, their praises fell
mostly upon deaf ears, at least
those ears that were attached to
the heads of motorcycle shop
-
pers. Yamaha's RD350 and 400
would leave the 400F behind,
VOLUME ISSUE JANUARY , P117
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squealing away as the Honda
sucked up their undigested two-
stroke smoke. Kawasaki's 400
triple, also a two-stroke, would
do the same. The Honda was a
slow mover on the sales floor
and disappeared from the lineup
in 1977.
Before the CB400F, most Jap
-
anese motorcycles had smooth
round tanks, like coffee pots,
and they sported fanciful de-
signs, pinstripes and calligraphy.
Exhaust systems were doled out
evenly—one pipe per cylinder
and our handlebars reached out
to meet us where we sat. The
Honda CB400F broke all those
rules. We knew it when we saw
it.
CN
HONDA CB400F
Unfortunately and somewhat
bewildering, the Honda CB400F
was a slow mover on the sales
floor and disappeared from the
lineup in a few short years.
The Honda CB400F was an eye-catcher.
Eye-Cdy
