New member and older motorcyclist

[meerkat]

Hello everyone, I finally managed to get to grips with registering as a member. Many thanks to SteveD for his invitation to join and subsequent help.
I've ben riding and owning bikes continually since the early 1950's, the majority of them recently being BMW's of which I currently have 2.

I recently bought a 1977 Honda CB400/4 F2 model and although very tidy and sold as 'fully restored', it needed a few jobs sorting.
Fork seals, wiring and the suspension being the main ones. The aftermarket rear units didn't fit, so they wouldn't work.
However I've bought a pair of Koni's which I'm fitting today.
Looking forward to hearing from you. Cheers.

[mick]

Morning Meerkat & welcome to this forum glad to see you found us  , might bump into you when up and around Kendal, cheers Mick.

[Bryanj]

Fork seals are common problems, particularly if not used much and 40 yr old wipring does have its quirks!! Have you discovered Dave Silver yet? If not hide your credit card and forget the numbers before you look!!!

[meerkat]

Fork seals are common problems, particularly if not used much and 40 yr old wipring does have its quirks!! Have you discovered Dave Silver yet? If not hide your credit card and forget the numbers before you look!!!

Discovered David Silver ?

Oh Yes.

Almost immediately - along with Wemoto, various ebayers, local mechanics and sundry others.
My target is to see if I can spend a total of less on parts than I originally paid for the bike, but I look like failing.

[UK Pete]

Hi Meercat welcome to the forum
Pete

[matthewmosse]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Depending on the finsh your happy with I've found sohc hondas way cheaper than my airhead beemers to run, but then I'm perverse and like rusty bikes and ride in all weathers using the bike as my only transport until it falls appart. (rebuild them then)

[Spitfire]

Welcome to the home of the "money pits"

Cheers

Den

[meerkat]

I recently bought a 1977 Honda CB400/4 F2 model and although very tidy and sold as 'fully restored', it needed a few jobs sorting.
Fork seals, wiring and the suspension being the main ones. The aftermarket rear units didn't fit, so they wouldn't work.
However I've bought a pair of Koni's which I'm fitting today.
 

Thanks for the welcome to the forum everyone.

An update - I fitted the Koni's and they really have made a difference to my ageing bones.
I now need to fit a better headlight bulb than the 35/35w which is not much use on unlit country roads.
Does anyone know if the generator and battery will run a higher wattage bulb ?
Thanks in anticipation.

[florence]

There used to be a cibie replacement lens/reflector/bulb which was much better than the original fitting, I had one on my CB350 but essentially it's the same thing.  It would save upgrading your electrical system.

Sadly the reflector on mine is now very rusty and needs replacing for the MOT.  Does anyone know if these are still available and, if so, from where?

[K2-K6]

I can't remember what size they are, 5 and 3/4 inches rings a bell? if so one of the best units I found for that size was from a Honda Accord car (one with 4 headlights) labelled same as the bike units "Stanley" H4.

They use a 55/60w bulb so you'll have to find out about that for this application and generator rating but the beam pattern I think is one of the best you can find and you may be able to get one from a car scrap dealer, think they may fit into existing rim/flange also.

[dave400]

I improved my front light on my 400 with a Cibie H4 car lamp it's a 5 3/4 inch unit the 400 lamp is 6 and a bit inch and those 400 size of lamps are hard to find so i had an adapter ring made to fit the lens holder fits a treat... much better night driving is a bonus .
Cheers
Dave

[K2-K6]

That sounds familiar, didn't some dealers sell a kit of Cibie + step-up ring when the bikes were current?

Most of the cars that ran with 4 headlamps had a standard 5 3/4" fitting so it should be the easiest scource for any supplies now either new or secondhand.

[matthewmosse]

I ran for a few years with a second headlight on my sidecar, 35W one, which was ok until something stopped working in the charging system. The bike was running standard headlamp and it was commuting 2 miles each way so got a good long run to recharge the battery, mostly running quite hard ( A470, lovely bit of tarmack to ride on) That was a 500/4 but I think the generator and electrics are nearly the same, just different loom?