Before, during and after (another restoration)

[DaveN]

Hi All,

Courtesy of the lock-down and getting truly bored, the Good Lady Wife decided to sort some boxes of old photographs out and lo and behold, turned up some pictures of my 400F the day after I picked it up in September 1995 and installed it at a local indoor kart circuit where I worked and was fortunate to be given storage space.

Flushed with enthusiasm, I stripped it to the last nut and bolt and got the relevant frame bits powder-coated and re-sprayed the tank and panels. DS seat and exhaust system was purchased in readiness for the rebuild to be taken at a careful, leisurely pace.

Unfortunately, the kart circuit lost it's lease due to redevelopment, the bike had to come home and be stored piecemeal all around the house, minus the exhaust silencer which had apparently been 'liberated' from my storage area! Then life, a divorce and second marriage sort of put it all on the back-burner and in a flash, 23 years had passed!

[DaveN]

Finally, a couple of years ago, I managed to persuade Mark at South City Garage to put it all together again, his time in exchange for the C90 and spare engine, and the CB550K and on condition that he could fit it in between his other (paid for) restoration work. The first year was spent re-powder coating the black bits and auditing the four boxes of bits to see what was missing or needed replacing.

[DaveN]

Then it was the engines turn...

[DaveN]

It all got put back together and delivered back to me 26th February this year, minus a misplaced kick-start lever and mirrors. The paint work was the worse for having been stored/knocked about/trod-on over the previous 25 odd years and the off-side panel had cracked through at the front grommet mount, so off they came and were stripped, sanded, repaired and re-sprayed. The kick-start lever was found and fitted and a new pair of mirrors installed. Also had to re-fit the rear brake pedal to clear the collector box and replaced the original plug caps. Just waiting for the delivery of the decals and a clear-coat and we should be there.

Meanwhile, first day of running it in and my neighbour turned up with one as well!

[TrickyMicky]

Interesting set of pics and write up, looks good. At the risk of sounding "picky", is it a trick of the camera on pic. No.13, or are your rear shox a bit on the long side? In the photo, even with the bike on its centre stand, it looks as though both wheels are still in contact with the ground. Having been down this road myself, it gave all manner of problems, so much so that they were sent back for a refund while the old ones were refitted until I managed to locate a pair which were a perfect copy and the correct length. I hope I'm wrong! Regards, Mick.

[ST1100]

Excellent, turned out really nice! 

[DaveN]

Interesting set of pics and write up, looks good. At the risk of sounding "picky", is it a trick of the camera on pic. No.13, or are your rear shox a bit on the long side? In the photo, even with the bike on its centre stand, it looks as though both wheels are still in contact with the ground. Having been down this road myself, it gave all manner of problems, so much so that they were sent back for a refund while the old ones were refitted until I managed to locate a pair which were a perfect copy and the correct length. I hope I'm wrong! Regards, Mick.

They are the correct replacements from DS Mick. The bike is on its side-stand in picture 13, hence both wheels on the ground. It's on the centre stand in Pic.12 (offside) and it does indeed look like the rear wheel is touching, so I guess it's an oddity of the lens/angle combination. The rear wheel is definitely clear of the ground when it's on the centre-stand.