Touring on a Honda CB400T from 1978

[jkrijt]

Has anyone experience with long distance touring on a Honda CB400T (a 400 cc two cilinder from 1978).

What are the things that I should modify or take extra care of ?

[backofbeyond]

How far are you thinking of going on it? Presumably people toured on them in 1978 when they were new but for a bike now over 30yrs old I would have thought the condition yours is in would be the most important factor rather than any inherent weaknesses.

Having said that I'd be checking the electrics and making sure the battery charging system is up to spec - particularly when its under a bit of stress. I have a number of bikes from around that time and almost all of them have shorted out their alternator rotors - the varnish insulation breaks down with age. If that does happen the regulator is usually the next thing to go. You can get the rotors rewound easily enough. The one bike that hasn't (so far) is the 400T's predecessor, a 1978 400/4. I'm currently setting that up for a tour of France next summer and trying to use period accessories such as Craven racks / panniers -

[jkrijt]

The bike is in very good shape (only 22000 km).
I'm thinking about touring to France and maybe Spain from the Netherlands. I like this bike very much. It is fun to ride and cheap to maintain.

[PanEuropean]

Jay:

Way back when I was much younger and much poorer (early 1970s), I rode across Canada on a Honda CB360 Twin.

I made it, but it was not fun. The bike barely kept up with the flow of traffic on main highways (it had trouble maintaining 110 km/h in winds and up hills), and it had no wind protection. It would not have been possible to put wind protection on it, the bike could not have handled the aerodynamic loads.

My suggestion to you is that you confine your trips with your "classic" to within a few hundred km's of home. If anything every breaks while you are away, you are going to have an awful time getting parts for it. Plus, unless you restrict your travel to a couple of hundred km's a day, I think you will get fed up with the performance of the small bike pretty quickly.

Consider also that "only 22,000 km" might be considered low mileage for a Gold Wing or a ST1100, but it is pretty darn close to the design service life of a small bike like a 400 - especially one that is 30+ years old.

Michael

[mark manley]

I am have to confess to having owned a couple of Honda superdreams in the past which are the same bike with different bodywork and while they were pretty boring to ride were reliable so if your bike is in reasonable condition I see no reason not to take it on tour.
I have to disagree with PanEuropean on the 22,000 km being too much for a 400, it all depends on how it has been ridden and maintained in that time, I have had a Honda 400 four that had done 90,000 km and ran well, I actually did 1,500 km in a day on that bike and it was still running well when I sold it.

[mustaphapint]

I agree with Mark and backofbeyond. I too used to own one in the 80's. It was reliable but a bit unexciting. I wouldn't let the engine size put you off. It's well able to keep up with the legal speed limits if you avoid the motorways. As regards spares, there is no reason why you can't get them posted out to you from your usual supplier if you need anything while on the road.
ps nice looking 400/4 in the above photo

[farqhuar]

Originally Posted by PanEuropean

Plus, unless you restrict your travel to a couple of hundred km's a day, I think you will get fed up with the performance of the small bike pretty quickly.

Michael

I think that is very much a North American perspective. My expereince of riding through China on a local 125cc bike was that 500k, per day at an average of 40kmh was that it was an absolutely brilliant experience - so much to see, do and enjoy at low speeds, both off, and on, the major roads.

Away from the autoroutes in France would be very similar to this.

[jkrijt]

Thanks for yor input.
Freeway riding is no problem on the CB400T. I sometimes took it to work, 110 km away. Doing 120 km/h on the freeway, I had no problem keeping up with the other traffic.
On long trips, I try to avoid freeways as much as possible anyway.

This is the bike


I was wondering if anyone used a CB400T for a real long trip and I am curious about their experience.