Not Your Father's 400 - Honda CBR400RR

[The Red Scourge]

I finally did it.  I got my hands on one of the legendary Japanese 4 cylinder inline 4 sport bikes from the late 80's.  It's a 1988 CBR400RR.  When I bought it, I couldn't find another model for sale online in the U.S. (eBay, Facebook, RareSportBikesForSale.com).  What's wild to me is that I paid $3,000 for it and it had been listed for 2 months.  To me, I got a hell of a deal.  It runs well, maybe a little rich, but it's so much fun to ride!  Handling is superb and turns into corners like nothing!  It came with race fairings that I'll be refinishing using the stock reproduction decals.  I don't know what it is, but I love old fiberglass race bodywork!  For those who aren't familiar with the little Fireblade, they were only sold it Japan.  Apparently there were hefty taxes in place for bikes over 400cc, so the Big 4 put a lot of love and then cutting edge tech into their 400cc inline 4's.  A good number of these made it into the UK as grey market imports.  It has a wicked sound due to the gear-driven cams and it redlines at 14,500.  It just wants to be opened up. 

This particular bike apparently was brought to the U.S. by a military servicemember who had bought it in Germany while stationed there.  It has a title, so it is (thankfully) street legal.  It needs the fork seals replaced, so that's up first.  I just bought a house with a nice garage space, so working on it will be considerably more enjoyable than my last place.  These pics are from the ad as I haven't had the chance to get any pictures of it yet.  More to come!

[The Red Scourge]

More pics.

[m in sc]

thats sweet!  I had a 75 400ss... was a turd. I hear those like yours are excellent! congrats!   

[The Red Scourge]

thats sweet!  I had a 75 400ss... was a turd. I hear those like yours are excellent! congrats!   

Thanks Mark!  Here's some good reading on this class of bikes from MCN if anyone's interested.

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2016/august/sport-400s-zxr400-cbr400rr-fzr400-vfr400/

[rodneya]

I had a VFR 400 grey import bike in the mid 90's for a while. Fantastic little bike to ride, but not so great to work on as everything is shoehorned in.

[85RZwade]

Great find, that'll be so much fun 

[zedixe13]

Most of these japanese 400 were smaller version of 600's we got . I had a few Honda CB-1 400 and the motor was based on the CBR600 F1 1988-90 .

[The Red Scourge]

Most of these japanese 400 were smaller version of 600's we got . I had a few Honda CB-1 400 and the motor was based on the CBR600 F1 1988-90 .

Sort of.  The US market never got the gear driven cams.  One could argue that the CBR600's were based on the 400's.  The Japanese never got the 600 to my knowledge and the CBR400RR was the first to carry the CBR badge.

[pdxjim]

The late 80's-early 90's 400's (and 250's too) were much higher spec than the 600's.

Aluminum frame and swinger, fully adjustable boingers, etc ...

[zedixe13]

Motor look the same as the CB-1 and CBR600 F1

[The Red Scourge]

Motor look the same as the CB-1 and CBR600 F1

It shares some parts, but trust me it's not the same engine.

[zedixe13]

CBR600 1988 Hurricane

[zedixe13]

1990 CB-1 400

[The Red Scourge]

All I see is engine side covers and that's not enough to tell me the engine is the same.  The CB-1's engine code is NC23, the early CBR400's model code.  This whole thing is just pissing me off at this point, so this is the last time I'm going to post about this specific topic.  If you believe the CBR400 is derived from the 600 Hurricane (even though the 400 was the first CBR) or that it was derived from the CB-1, I probably won't be able to change your mind.  Some brief googling will back up what's been said about the pedigree of the CBR400RR.  I will say I'm glad that the RR doesn't come with the cheesy Ikea bed frame swing arm like the CB-1 does. 

[85RZwade]

Like Jim said above, the JDM 400s and 2-stroke 250s were way more impressive than anything imported to the U.S. at the time, IMHO. That RR is a great find and worth every penny!