Did Honda find the CB400F to expensive to continue?

[Athame57]

Was the CB400F/2 too expensive for a 400cc to continue producing?

[Mikep328]

It WAS expensive to produce relative to a Honda twin with similar power.  I have read that it cost Honda close to the same as it did to produce the 750! So it was priced higher than other bikes of similar size/power. 

Related to that - Honda's biggest market at the time was the USA and it was not competitive there because it cost more/weighed more than the two stroke RD350/400 which were quicker/faster. 

[TrickyMicky]

Being a curmudgeonly old git with a twisted mindset, after a couple of beers, I can convince myself that the 400 and its associates are probably the last of the breed that encouraged owner maintenance, being reasonably easy to work on.  So, many of this type of vehicle survived for longer than was expected by the manufacturers, thereby upsetting the bean counters.  This brought forth the type of vehicle we now see everywhere on which you cannot do anything without computers and other electronic wizardry.  Welcome to the 'throw away' world, just have a look on Fleabay, and see the number of bikes that cost an absolute fortune when new, but have been upstaged byn the latest super/hyper two wheeled Tonka toy that will only be kept for a couple of years.  The nearest I've got to succumbing to this is a 1987 GB250 Clubman, (import).  Nice to ride, economical, BUT, what an absolute swine when it comes to attempting any servicing chores. 

[Laverda Dave]

I remember reading the Bert Hopwood book 'Whatever happened to the British motorcycle industry'. He mentions the cost of manufacturing motorcycles and the cost being nearly the same for a 250 as it was for a 750 Trident. The smaller bikes were loss leaders designed to encourage brand loyalty with the owner moving onto a bigger bike by the same manufacturer. Honda probably thought the same, get a rider on a 4 cylinder 400 and they'll move up to the 750/4.
The same applies to restoring bikes, it costs nearly as much to restore a 125 as it does a bigger bike, you still have a frame to strip and paint, two wheels to rebuild, tires, electrics, paint sets, chroming etc. obviously a 4 cylinder engine will cost more to rebuild than a single but on a single most engine parts need replacing due to owner neglect whereas on a four they are generally stronger and better maintained.

[Bryanj]

They didnt computerise to stop us servicing they did it for the forced "enviromental"  reasons.
A local buisiness run for decades closed because 125 learner bikes had to have abs and efi but the manufacturers had not designed any 6 months before the date of implementation, he said he made sod all on the bikes but the profit on the "gear" to go with them and servicing kept him in buisiness.