Cb400 on Nanikore

Air Filter Replacements

Sun, 25 Sep 2016 01:10:58 +0000

Maintenance time. One of the side benefits of motorbike ownership are the odd bits of maintenance which need doing. You can get a garage / shop to do these bits of course, but quite a few checks and changes most people can do themselves. Even I can. One thing which I’ve been wanting to do for a few weeks was to replace the air filters since they were due and it’s a simple task. What’s been annoying is that since I bought the new filters on Amazon JP, every day has been rained out.

This morning it was finally sunny, so out I went to get those filters swapped! There’s two parts to be done - the first is the main oval / cylindrical filter box, which is a metal mesh frame with the usual folded paper as a filter. The second part is a small sponge-foam piece, which sits in a nearby bracket. (In the Japanese documentation, they’re air cleaner boxes and sub air cleaner elements.)

On my CB400SF, it’s simple, and takes about 15mins, unless like me you were cleaning other parts since I had access, and most importantly, drinking tea.

Firstly, unclip the fuel hose just under one side of the tank, and then unclip a cable on the other side. You then have to remove the seat, and a couple of plastic panels, which are both held on by single screws - these cover the coolant tank on one side and some electrical cabling on the other on my bike. Then, remove the main bolt under the seat, and lift that whole fuel tank off. I always think the bike looks really odd without the tank.

As you can gather, this isn’t a how to - there are plenty of good examples of those on YouTube and other places, and I doubt I could add anything beyond pauses to drink tea and to answer questions from passing kids about why the bike looks odd.

On the photo below, I’ve clumsily labelled the main air filter and the smaller filter. After you’ve replaced those you can give it all a quick clean and reverse the process - just remember to get the tank sat correctly around the 2 nubs on the main frame, and not on top, though it’ll be obvious when you’ve gotten it wrong.

The second photo shows the old and new. I don’t have a picture of the sub-element as it somewhat fell to pieces when I I removed it, which shows it was definitely time to be done.

So that’s another job done, and this post is to remind me and anyone else to not forget the unsung air filters, and that it’s so simple even I can do it myself.

Another quick motorcycle trip to Chiba

Sat, 28 Dec 2013 10:15:16 +0000

Now and then, I like I take a day to go over the bay for a quick motorcycle trip to Chiba and just run some of the twisties on that peninsula. It was a nice day, and after a 7am start, took a relaxing ride down the coastal road to Kurihama to meet a friend, and take the ferry over - just a nice relaxing 40 minute boat ride, and time for a chat and a cup of tea on the way over. There’s usually a few bikers on this ferry, and a decent percentage on dirt bikes, as Boso apparently has quite a few kilometres of off-road for those so inclined.

My friend was looking to give his new Triumph Tiger Explorer a good run on some twisties, and I was looking to simply have a more successful run than last time. When we came over in March, we had stopped for a traffic light when some genius in an SUV rammed my bike, forcing me almost 10 metres forward and effectively stopping the run before lunch. That day, dealing with the police and the hospital meant we’d lost most of the day, but with bits taped up on my bike, the police at least let me ride it home.

For some reason, I get a really simple pleasure from riding my bike on and off ferries, and we found some great little twisties along the way, very little traffic, some nice views, and generally had a good time.

We stopped for lunch, originally intending to eat at an Italian restaurant we saw, but it turned out - after we’d walked in - that it was closed; generally unless there’s a sign outside saying “Closed”, I work on the theory a place is open. Anyway, it wasn’t, but the upside was that the neighbouring ramen place was, so we settled for that, and in a great piece of serendipity, the place turned out to be fantastic and quite cheap. Getting good food on a run is always good, with the bonus that you can balance your expanded stomach on the tank when you set off again. The only downside - I lost the receipt and forgot to mark the place on my map.

The Boso area is very different to the crowded urban Chiba bordering Tokyo; where we were it was very rural, lots of fields and hills, though I got this sense that it’s faintly run down - we passed a lot of abandoned or disused buildings, and it seemed like a lot of the petrol stations had closed. I wonder how the local economy is faring nowadays since so much seemed to hark back to the bubble of almost two decades ago.

As the afternoon moved on though, the weather began to close in a little, and we opted for coming back via the Aqualine, a part bridge, part tunnel connector between Yokohama and the Boso peninsula.

I have to admit, I don’t especially like the 4Km bridge section - it’s across Tokyo Bay, it can be windy, there’s a lot of fast, big traffic, and even in good weather, it’s not so fun on a smaller (400cc) naked bike. The weather was getting worse too.

As the road goes from the bridge section on the Chiba side, to the tunnel section on the Yokohama side, there’s a very large service area called Umihotaru, which is on a man-made island. It’s basically a multistorey car park and shopping centre, well known as a bit of a date spot. We weren’t on a date, but we did stop off, if only to have a last warm drink before the last 50Km run home.

It was also raining by then, which is no real problem - the rain gear is always under the seat - but the wind was also picking up, so we got the rain gear on, and headed down in to the tunnel, then broke off from each other as I headed to the west.

My route takes me over a lot of bridges, skirting the coastal industrial areas which means a lot of wind and large lorries, but not usually anything dangerous. The wind was really cranking up though, and I was having to lean the bike into it, hunkering down low over the tank, and trying not to let the bike veer too much from my line as some cars were passing just off to my right, not really judging it well (I could easily touch a lot of wing mirrors), and then the rain started coming down.

In these conditions, on this 80Km/h road, I usually drop it down a gear, keep the revs up, and go down to about 60 Km/h, meaning that usually there are people still blasting past me and probably cursing this biker who is making them actually maneuver their nice wind shielded, dry cars.

Over one bridge and the inevitable swirling of wind around the large bridge towers, and I noticed that no one is passing me any more, but I’m still the same distance behind a tanker in front of me, so I have a look around, and it seems like this weather isn’t just affecting me - everyone is going 55 - 60 Km/h. Nice to know I’m not the only one having to be careful. After about 30 minutes the road took me a little further inland, giving some protection from the wind, to sit up a little more, increase some speed, and not have to lean in so much. I ride year round, and try to be wary of ice and such, but one thing I think I handle better now than previous years is riding in the wind - revs up, tank gripped with the old legs, arms relaxed, and hunker down over the tank.

It was nice to quietly roll up the hill to the house, a little tired from holding the bike through what seemed like the edge of a decent sized storm, but I think it was another good day out if only because it was good to feel like my biking ability had improved a bit through the twisties and that weather, which is always a good thing.
[Run length only ~260Km + ferry]

New Tyres - Michelin Pilot Road 2

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 02:21:29 +0000

I’ve discovered that one of the few downsides to owning a very reliable motorbike is that even though you do the regular checks on it, there are times where you think, “When was the last time I checked that?”. For me recently that was the tyres, as I knew they’d been on quite a few years, so I did a close inspection, and whilst they had wear left, there was a small amount of crazing in some of the tread, and since I actually have a lot of riding to do over the winter, I decided it was time to swap them out. I asked around, checked in on the GaijinRiders forum and I was actually surprised that for the two things I needed to know, I was getting quite a few people saying the same thing - for my bike and riding style, the Michelin Pilot Road 2 tyres would fit the bill, and the best place to get them fitted was a small shop in Setagaya in Tokyo called Speed Stars.

I called them a couple of days before to confirm the tyre and the dimensions, and they’d said they’d need to order the tyres in, which I thought might mean a week or so wait - actually it would be the next evening. That’s just good service and market knowledge.

The shop is about an hour from me, but it’s a decent run on a good road, so no problems there. The day I went the weather was miserable and raining, but I’m an all weather rider, so I got on the rain gear and the trusty 2006 Honda CB400 SF to make the run.

The SpeedStar people come across as really friendly, and had the job done in less than an hour. I’d actually arrived a few minutes after they opened and there was already a couple of people in - I get the feeling this place is really popular. I waited in the adjoining cafe they own, where the staff were friendly, even showing me around her own bike (a nice Harley) and chatted until the new tyres were on. They’ve got a very nice atmosphere there, and it’s the kind of place which is worth stopping in if you happen to be passing in Setagaya. The pricing was good too - cheaper than NAPS, and there’s a small discount for paying cash, but even if NAPS were a little cheaper, I’d still go to SpeedStar just for the people and service.

I’ve now done a few hundred kilometers on the Road Pilot 2s, and they really area a good tyre - very stable with good cornering and you can really feel the improved rolling characteristics over the old Battlax. That cornering is going to be important - I love riding the twisties and I’ve also noticed they’re a lot better in wet corners too.

I’m looking forward to getting a few thousand more kilos under these.

A Cover for the Motorbike

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 03:16:56 +0000

For some reason, this month seems to have become the month of getting a cover for the motorbike. Just to go over the history a little then.

My previous cover was one I bought at NAPS a couple of years ago based on the recommendation of a friend. I can’t remember the brand, but it felt thick, and seemed well made. Indeed it started out well, kept the bike nice and dry, but sometimes the local cats would sit on it, and scratch it, and chunks started to come out of it. It’s difficult to describe the material - it was like a thickly woven paper, a bit like the one-shot oil change overalls material, but several layers of it bonded together. After a year, I found it left a lot of ‘dust’ from the inside layers on the bike after putting it on and taking it off again, and finally after two years I’d decided I really didn’t like it, as now some of the seams were ripping, and some holes exposed the bike, so I planned to buy a new one.

I could have gone for something from NAPS since it’s just down the road, but decided to ask around, and ended up getting a few suggestions from Jason Fullington, and after reading some reviews and thinking about it, I decided to order a cover from Nelson-Rigg - the Falcon Defender 2000 - through Jason’s company AFGMoto.

As it was coming from the States, I expected it to take a week or two, but it made it within a week, and since I was looking to go to the AFGMoto shop anyway, I decided to drive on up there, though in a four wheel vehicle and in traffic, it took a little longer than expected - it’s just outside the Yokota airbase on Route 16, which is not a quiet road.

In the meantime though, and in an odd twist, I went out on my bike for an hour last weekend, leaving the old cover neatly folded next to the conifer tree in front of our house, so it wouldn’t move, and when I got back, it had gone - yep, someone stole my old, hole-riddled cover in the hour between 9.30-10.30 PM.

Fortunately the bike was only under a tarp for a few days.

As you can see from the image below, the Falcon Defender is a rather tasteful black and silver. The black is a thick polyester weave, which feels very sturdy; the silver is a heat treat version of that. Unlike previous covers which had straps, this one has an elasticated skirting which I actually find feels far more secure, and should prevent flapping in the wind. Under the silver logo triangles are some holes to allow some venting, which the previous cover lacked, which I think was also an issue.

It feels very good, it looks very decent too, so frankly I’m very pleased with it, and it’s far, far easier to get on an off. As a package, it also comes with a backpack to pack it in if you want to take it with you, or store it - something else I just couldn’t do with the bulky cover before, and actually something I’d want to be able to do. One minor issue for me is the eyelets for a bike lock are just a little too small for my lock, which isn’t a major issue, and they eyelets are re-enforced, which is nice. This may be more or less of an issue depending on where you live - I don’t think my old cover would’ve been stolen if it was on my bike.

For sizing, buying from a US site for a Japan only bike was a little concerning, and from their sizing, it seemed a medium size would do, but I saw a couple of reviews which praised the cover itself, but advised going one size up, and I would agree - for my Honda CB400 Super Four, that’s a large size cover on there. The only downside is that the heat shielded material stops just short of the end of the exhaust, but I generally let my bike engine cool anyway before putting any cover on it.

Price wise, given the exchange rate (Yen wins) and buying through AFGmoto, it was much cheaper than I think anything I could have gotten from NAPS, coming in under 7,000yen (though I picked it up of course), making that previous cover at 10,000yen even less of a deal.

CB400 Super Four

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 00:31:18 +0000

After a couple of years on my old faithful 50cc Zoomer, last Friday I took delivery of a new Honda CB400 Super Four bike, and very nice it is too. It had always been a bit of a goal to have a ‘real’ bike, and this one really doesn’t disappoint at all. Then again, I wont be able to afford a new one any time soon, so I’m hoping it’s as reliable as people say.

In the few days I’ve had it I’ve only notched up 60Km, but it feels like a nice smooth ride, but with enough grunt to be able to get around Tokyo very nicely. I suppose more importantly I feel a bit safer on it in traffic than I did the Zoomer, but that’s certainly no slight against that bike, that’s just the nature of city riding. Then again, being a rather heavy person the 400cc engine seems a bit more sprightly.

Anyway, here’s a quick picture:

Original Comments

Comments from the original WordPress blog post.

Dylan — 2007-01-18

I’m thinking of buying a Honda 400 Super Four. It is a “grey” import and seems to be in very good condition - almost new. Would you recommend the bike for commuting and the occasional blast into the country? What about spare parts (I live in South Africa)?

graham — 2007-01-27

I’d definitely recommend the bike if it’s in decent condition. I do my short commute (about 10km round trip) as well as a lot of short runs around Tokyo and find it a nice balance between a bit of speed and power, but maneuverable in traffic. I;ve also done a couple of tours (about 250Km in a day, cruising small roads, and expressways at up to 120Km/h, and had no issues. In Japan parts for these are very cheap, so whilst you may pay shipment, there’;s probably lots of places you can get them because the bikes are so popular.

Joe Micallef — 2007-02-09

Hi there About 3 years ago I bought a CB400 super four 1992 model in Malta which is a Japanese Export machine. Recently I wanted to change some parts which I could not find easily in Malta or in Europe. Could you tell me from where in the world I can get spares either original or imitation for my bike. I trust you would help me in this and thank you in advance.

Regards Joe

graham — 2007-02-13

I think the easiest place is Japan ;) . However, I think there are some biker site on the web which sell parts. If a Google search fails to turn some up, you can try Honda directly, or post the part numbers. I can’t promise too much assistance myself right now as I’m a bit pushed for time of late, but if I can help out, I’ll try.

HUS34 — 2008-03-18

Hi there,

I am interested in buying a CB400 SF or a CB500. I’m not able to find anything here in the area. I live in the Caribean and am not able to find anything. not even in the US. I hope you guys can help me out. Do you guys know a website where i can buy a bike online and ship it over. I know a lot o people buying cars from Japan here on the island they might have some space in the container to ship it. Thanx in advance for your help.

Alexander