The CB1100 Community Forum

Part 1

Last year I added to the fleet a 'one owner' 2008 Honda CB400 with 11,000 Km that had been unused for the past couple of years. Although it had been garaged its entire life it needed a spruce up and a bit of work in the tank to remove some surface rust. This is how it looked when ready to ride.



My eldest son developed an itch to ride a motorcycle and promptly worked through the rider licensing system to get his Learner's permit - wish he'd show that much enthusiasm to help me around the house! Initially we scooted around the local streets together and gradually extended the riding distances until he was more comfortable on the machine and ready to head out into the hills. We ventured up to Lake Mountain, I posted a Seat Time thread of a ride I took up there last summer. Well the young fella came unstuck on a tight left hander resulting in low-side crash. Normally not too much of problem, just pick it up and keep going, but this time the bike found the only segment of concrete kerbing within 12 Kms. Unluckily that kerbing ripped the LHS stator cover off taking a chunk of the crankcase with it. Now the once pretty little CB400 looked like this :





The list of damaged components includes:
Bars, headlight, mirrors, instrument cover, fuel tank, engine, front fender, tail piece, foot pegs and frames, gear and clutch levers, muffler, ...

So what to do with the wreck? I found a replacement engine with only 15,000km on it so I grabbed it. Given the young fella needs to develop a few skills we decided that a track bike for him to work out this bike riding stuff would be a useful tool ... the CB400 Track Hack project is born.

First task was to ply my old buddy Mick with a few bourbons for some inspiration and a moment of weakness to agree on helping me ... several drinks later we'd hatched a plan .

Then up she went onto the bench for removal of the unnecessary bits and broken stuff including the engine.



Mick likes to build model engines, this home-built 40cc unit was briefly considered ... clearly we've been fueled with too many bourbons!



Honda engineers did a lot of work to make this bike as compact as possible. Trying to shoehorn the correct engine into the frame was difficult and resulted in few scratches on the frame and on my knuckles. After a healthy amount of perspiring and the necessary cussing we had the engine, air-box and a few other bits in place.



Now is the time to refit only what's needed for the track application so that meant no lights, a set of clipons for a more aggressive body position, a front number plate to hide the wiring that is normally in the headlight bucket. The instrument casing was glued back together, gear and clutch levers straightened, and Mick made a slight modification to the muffler by way of chopping it half! I took it for a sly blast around the back streets to make sure it worked but found that the engine wouldn't pull. After much head scratching and navel gazing through the bottom of an empty glass we swapped the TPS and and the manifold pressure sensor connectors. These are the only two identical connectors on the entire bike that could be incorrectly fitted ... which is exactly what we did

Well, that chopped muffler is way too loud and crackles terribly but now with the correct sensors plugged into the loom the motor is pulling nicely



Next steps will include: installing fork emulators and springs from my CB1100 which should be about right for this bike, fitting sticky Dunlop Alpha14 tyres, a set of cheap rear-sets, a fork brace and steering damper although it probably doesn't need it 'cos the CB400 isn't strong enough to power wheelie even over bumps in the track, but they do look good! I'm going to keep an eye out for a reasonably priced set of adjustable rear shocks which are an essential.

After all that's done then maybe I'll be successful in convincing Mick to craft up an 80's style superbike ducktail and a slap dash paint job. Lots of other priorities at the moment for both myself and the young fella so this thing will take a while to finish, plus it's getting cold now that winter has arrived.

In the meantime I did find a replacement CB400 (2014 one owner with only 5,000Kms).



Happy days again

Now that's what I'm talking about! Thank you for the pics and write up. Sounds like she's gonna be a blast!

I so wish we could get those bikes stateside. Perhaps someday.

Love to have one here.....like you said....maybe someday!

Very nearly bought one of those brand new the day before i got the 1100, probably one of the finest smaller bikes around, would last a lifetime easy if looked after, technically better than the cb350 four of the seventies but not quite so smart looking to me.
very reliable and easy to ride, just hope he makes the most of the opportunity he is getting.

nice!

Love it.

Sweet

I'm very slow with some projects, you know how it is, other stuff gets in the way. Finally have the little 400 rolling on it's own wheels again ... here's a few pics.

The 99% finished product needs just a few tweaks here and there to finish it - new or rebuilt rear shocks, front brake pads, perhaps braided front brake lines. The bike now includes a second hand engine, reworked fuel tank with longer cuffs for taller riders' knees (son and I), reworked Ducati tail (had to cut the rear sub-frame), upgraded front suspension, cheap muffler, clip-ons, sticky Dunlop track/road tyres, removal of all lights, and a simple paint job.



The forks received my ex-cb1100 springs along with Racetech gold valves and 15W oil.



The second hand engine is low miles, works just like it should and looks good.



Now all I gotta do is lose these COVID kilograms acquired during our 7 month lock-down so I can fit back into my leathers to get it on the track!

That bike looks very nice now and thanks for the great write up . Would engine protectors have saved most parts ???

Beautiful little lump. In all nicely done.