Honda-SOHC
General => New Member Introductions => Topic started by: Yetanotherbike on March 21, 2022, 05:57:50 AM
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Hi, my name is Rob, I just wanted to introduce myself to this forum. I am a long time biker (46 years), I still ride almost everyday to work and for pleasure. I have several other classic bikes and cars of interest.
Back in my youth, the CB400F became the second motorcycle I owned and I fell in love with it straight away. I had several of these bikes including a single seat racer which I put on the road, which had a full 460cc Yoshimura race engine.
Over the years my bikes got bigger, but I still had a soft spot for the CB400F. Many years ago, a college friend, (on his wedding evening) mentioned that he had one that I could buy off him that was a 'rat bike', for the princely sum of £90! I bought it off him, ran it for a couple of years whilst slowly taking the layers of black paint off everything and then it seized. :-[ .
I started to restore it years ago and had the frame and various parts powder coated, but after two house moves and several relationships and many other classic bikes and classic cars, the CB400F project stalled. My friend had two children, divorced and the bike is no closer to completion!
A couple of months ago, almost on a whim, I bought another CB400F on eBay which needed a little bit of work. I didn't want to play with it, I just wanted to ride it, but the urge to tinker with it and make it better was overwhelming and I started to sort it out bit by bit.
I had almost forgotten how much I loved these bikes. One evening I had something of an epiphany moment and realised I simply 'had' to restore my old project and not waste any more time on other bikes, because at almost 61 I have more years behind me than in front.
So, today, I sold my latest Honda to another enthusiast and my focus has now turned onto my project Honda.
I have owned a blue, a red, a maroon, a black and one with a 5 gallon alloy tank, but I have never owned a parakeet yellow one, so I think I know what colour this will be.
After owning several of these bikes I know how to fix and maintain them, but one area where I am reaching out for guidance is about restoring them so they look original and ‘correct’. No doubt I will ask the questions on another part of the forum.
So that’s me, looking forward to gaining and even sharing knowledge with other Honda Enthusiasts. Thank you to Nurse Julie for pointing me in this direction from SOHC.net
Pleased to meet you all.
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Hi Rob from the Orkney Islands and welcome to the forum. You have reached the right place for what you are wanting to do with your bike. Great story too. Loads of help on here and can be a source for some of that rare unobtainium parts.
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Welcome to the forum Rob. Enjoy your restoration.
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Great story and welcome.
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Interesting back story welcome to our community.
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Hi Rob, i'm just along from you in Anglesey, some great people on here who have helped me loads.
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Hey Rob,
Welcome and another soul saved from SOHC.net! Julie saved me as well, thankfully ;D
Top story and you've definitely landed on yer feet coming on here, the knowledge is incredible and a we're all a good giggle to boot. Ask as many questions as you can, nobody minds and all will do their best to help. After you've posted four or five times, you can post pictures and we all love a bike so get a piccy up of your steed for us all to look at won't you?
Enjoy and have a look in aladdin's cave for tech info, parts lists and other vital nibblets of info you never knew you needed to know, it saves an awful lot of grief whilst in the shed believe me?
Bestest regards
Roo
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Welcome Rob, can definitely recommend parakeet yellow especially as it's one you haven't had before!
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Welcome to the forum and have fun :)
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Thank you good people for the warm welcome. I'm looking forward to be able to contribute on here as well as ask questions. I've already gleaned some very useful information. I concur with 'smoothoperator', my bike will be parakeet yellow, as we all know these were more powerful and were at least 5mph faster, so I'm reliably informed. You see, I said I'd already found some useful information. ;) Many thanks Rob
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Welcome ... so nice when new members introduce themselves properly with a great intro story. I have had four 400/4s over the years but never a Candy Antares Red one. My yellow one was only owned briefly before getting nicked from work so I can't confirm if it was faster ;D . All the docs you need are in this link if you haven't discovered it already!!
http://www.sohc.co.uk/index.php/topic,8884.0.html
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Welcome to the forum Rob. You will find lots of help on here.
400/4's do get under your skin once you have ridden one and especially back in the day.
I have owned four in total, one of every colour and I can confirm the yellow ones are the fastest and especially when standing still :)
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That's very interesting, when I rolled my Ducati 853 out I was told the yellow ones were faster and I'd made a mistake painting it red (it was HRC red I hasten to add and nobody noticed ;D ;D 8)),............ they definitely were'nt ;D
Interesting that theres a similar equation with the 400's, I can only believe what I read on here to be 'gospel' so I'd go with the yellow Rob 8)
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Welcome Rob - I'm sure you'll enjoy the forum
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