looking for a new toy

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

I don't know how much the owner of the 250K4 was asking for the bike, what John offered or what the theoritcal value of the bike was/is, feeling insulted by proxy is not something I have ever experienced.

I do know Ash & John are both enthusiasts of old Hondas being regular contributors, it would be a shame for either party to take their bat & ball home over this.

[Johnwebley]

Let me put this out,

I am looking for a mid size twin,
Something that needs tidying up,

Ideally below £2k

I was told of a restored 250,so I enquired, was given a contact number and name,

Spoke with the gentleman concerned, I told him his bike was to good, and I guessed the value at approx £3.5k,

I explained my budget was under that, but was ringing because I had been given his number,

I felt we parted on friendly terms,



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[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

There are a lot of CB250N Superdreams out there John that would easily fit that bill if you find them attractive.https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/267094339862

[Johnwebley]

There are a lot of CB250N Superdreams out there John that would easily fit that bill if you find them attractive.

I was preferring a 350,bigger bang for the size, I also like the early drum brake

But that said, nothing is off the table

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[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

The 400NA Superdreams do not command big money either.

Not sure if its a fault on my 400NA or the nature of the engine, they have a certain thrum sound. probably the balancer shaft effect. Quite a few about, I know a 16k miler 400 was bought for around £1800 from a dealer near Chester last month.

Some owners have put spoked wheels or the nicer looking reverse Comstars on them.

.
https://wesellclassicbikes.co.uk/products/honda-cb400n-super-dream-1980

[K2-K6]

The 400 has far better torque than the 250, and very worthwhile in my view.

I also liked the original Comstars as they were much close in appearance to the race wheels of Honda factory bikes from that era.

https://www.motorcycleclassics.com/classic-motorcycle-touring/endurance-racing-honda-zmgz19ndzhur/ for good picture of them in period use.

[Murf]

I think the CL 350 is quite a good looking bike and not very common, good if you could find one at the right price, but that may be difficult. Just thought I would mention them as I think they are cool. Exhausts systems are very expensive though.

[Johnwebley]

Thanks Ted

Do the super dreams have points ignition?



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[Johnwebley]

I think the CL 350 is quite a good looking bike and not very common, good if you could find one at the right price, but that may be difficult. Just thought I would mention them as I think they are cool. Exhausts systems are very expensive though.

Yes, agreed

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[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

No points they have an early type of electronic ignition that uses a sensor of some sort on the alternator rotor/stator that sends a signal to the CDi- box.

[Bryanj]

250 generators never had a problem, 400 did have some failures resulting in holed pistons

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

IIRC the 250 has 4 wires for the CDi unit & the 400 has 6.
There is a firm that repairs them if the unit goes fauty, aftermarket replacements I think are around £180.

I'm thinking  Ash is the man who might know what the problem with them was.

[Bryanj]

It was the generators went on the 400 rather than cdi or rather pulse generator coils, they strobe up perfect in the workshop but did something odd in use to the timing

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

My Superdream has done 50k miles so it should have failed by now, was it the early 400N models or did it persist through the variants ? I've read stuff on the SD websites about both the generator & the CDi units, I've no idea of how many actually failed as a % of bikes produced back in the day.

[Bryanj]

I had one N model come in with a holed piston, everything checked out fine but Honda technical told me it was a known fault change the generator and Honda had halved the price of the spares, never had the way more common 250 come in like that so can only guess it was 400 only and whilst known of not super common