Letter From Japan

LETTER FROM Japan

ROUNDUP

KOICHI HIROSE

Riding impression: Honda NS400R

When Freddie Spencer won the 500cc World Roadracing Championship in 1983, some part of his success was due to the unique layout of the V-Three NS500, which was lighter and more compact than the competition. Now, the NS500 has been reborn into the V-Three NS400R, a mass-production, street-legal version of the racer.

Like the NS500, the NS400R is very compact, with a 54.8-inch wheelbase that is only a fraction of an inch longer than that of Honda’s NS250R. Unexpectedly, though, the NS400R feels somewhat fat when you first sit on it, because its seat is wide. Overall, though, the riding position is almost the same as on the NS250R; it has the raciness of the 250, but with slightly higher handle-

bars and lower footpegs. The power characteristics of the Japanese-model 400 are very different from the 250’s; the 400 comes on the pipe gently and smoothly, without any radical torque alteration. You can snap open the throttle coming out of a corner, and the 400 refuses to misbehave. The engine has the character of a big Single, rather than being a peaky, two-stroke Triple. There’s enough low-rpm power that the 400 can be comfortably enjoyed as a sport-touring machine. But the NS400R still is quick, capable of covering the quarter-mile in the low 12-second range. And it's exceptionally agile.

Honda’s concept for the NS400R was superiority in total balance, instead of focusing in on any single performance category. While that may have removed the high-intensity edge of the NS500 racer, it has made for a very enjoyable machine.

Honda futures

The Japanese domestic sales of Honda’s VF750F are slow, while abroad there are complaints coming from Europe (mainly Germany) concerning the lack of changes and improvements in the VF750F. The slow domestic sales of the VF do not seem to be related to the durability problems that are a concern in other markets. Instead, the low sales result from Japanese users finding it difficult to familiarize themselves with the feel of this V-Four. No one yet is sure how Honda will deal with the adverse reaction to the 750cc VFour, but there is almost no doubt that the company will switch to the inline-Four CBX750R for its main 750-class product. After seeing the response to this, Honda could release the VF750R, a companion to the VF 1000R. This might happen in autumn at the earliest, but there’s a chance the project may simply be put in storage for a while.