Only the Good Die Young Honda Cb400f

Only the good die young HONDA CB400F

IN WAR MOVIES, WHEN A SQUAD'S out on patrol. the guy on point always seems to get it first. And that, in a manner of speaking, is what happened to Honda’s CB400F. Sent to do battle on these shores in 1975, the 400F was in the vanguard of the café-bike boom of the mid’70s, a trend that eventually produced the hardcore repli-racers of today. Indeed, it was one of the first Japanese motorcycles to offer both the look and the performance of a sportbike.

And the CB400F telegraphed its intent just as clearly as an incoming barrage before an invasion. That much was evident from the gas tank’s crisp, clean lines, the insouciant flip of the saddle’s tail and the orgy of pipes that made up the 4-into-l exhaust. Mechanically, the F stemmed from Honda’s CB350F, a rather slow, dull little machine distinguished by its Swiss-watch-like inline-Four engine. Honda transformed the bike by adding bigger pistons, a redesigned clutch, new fork and shocks and a thorough restyling job.

The cleavage point, though, between the 400F and the 350-and most other Japanese bikes of the period—was its riding position. The F had a low, narrow handlebar that bent the rider’s torso slightly forward and down, while the rearset footpegs hiked his heels just a touch. Compared to many of today’s sport hardware, the F’s ergonomics seem remarkably humane.

But not to Americans in 1975. Some dealerships had to change the handlebar before they could sell just one CB400F. Honda took the hint, and altered the bar and the footpeg location for 1978, but the bike still didn’t play well in Peoria. Plus, the F simply lacked the horsepower to keep up—on the street or on the racetrack-with the firebrands in its class, such as Kawasaki’s S-3 400 Triple and Yamaha’s RD350/400. Like an old soldier, the CB400F faded away.

Honda apparently took the loss to heart, too, because the company has not offered a 400-class sporting multi in this country since. Not that Honda didn’t have such machines; the firm produced the two-stroke NS400 Triple, the air-cooled inline-Four CBR400F2 and the liquid-cooled inline-Four CBR400R, all for Japan’s domestic market.

Now there’s the CB-1, a motorcycle which owes more to the CB40ÖF than the NS or CBRs that came before. In fact, Honda’s internal designation for the CB-1 is CB400F. The two bikes share many physical similarities, as well. Both utilize steeltube frames with wheelbases measuring to the same inch, powered by sixspeed inline-Fours, and they’re unencumbered by the currently fashionable full-coverage bodywork. Of course, the CB-1 incorporates certain modern touches, such as liquidcooling, 17-inch wheels and more horsepower than its predecessor ever dreamed of making.

It’ll be interesting, then, to see how Honda’s CB-1 fares-to see whether times have changed enough for American riders to take a sporty small-bore motorcycle to heart. It might have its work cut out for it, too, because like the CB400F, the CB-1 is in the front lines. Only this time it’s leading the charge away from hardcore sportbike fashion, and toward a simpler, more-standard style of motorcycles. It deserves a better fate than the CB400F. —Charles Everitt