I’ve had a soft-spot for the CB400F since I was a teenager growing up in Southern California. But I hadn’t thought much about owning one recently until I saw a beautiful ’76 model in Parakeet Yellow on display at the Barber museum several years ago.
My father actually found one first—a 1975 model with a bit over 19,000 miles on the clock. The bike he bought apparently hadn’t been used much in recent years, but it was a runner and in reasonably good condition. After a thorough tune-up including carb rebuild, etc., chasing down a couple minor oil leaks, and some new tires, this beauty was ready to ride. I flew out to Arizona to visit my dad a couple of times and was able to ride her. It was wonderful. My father also undertook quite a bit of cosmetic restoration (mainly new paint, e-chroming of the wheels and header pipes, new spokes, new seat cover, etc), and together with much cleaning and polishing.
Then last November Dad calls and says, “So, do you want the 400? I’ve had fun with her these past couple of years, but I’m ready to let her go.” Well, yeah, duh, of course I said yes!
She arrived on Christmas Eve. It’s been a crappy winter in Northern Virginia, so I haven’t ridden her much yet. But over the winter I spent a lot of time learning everything I could about SOHC4s, much from this forum of course, and completely going through the bike identifying bits that need replacing or more refurbishing. I also did more cleaning and polishing, replaced the battery, new spark plugs and caps, set the valves, timing, oil/filter change, etc.
This bike is in very good condition, so I’m not going to do much more now except ride her as much as I can. You can’t tell in the photo, but the frame as the usual 40+ years of dings and scratches, and the engine has some corrosion on the cylinder head fins and the silver paint on the cases is rough in some areas, but I am not going to concern myself with that until I have to, though I would like to replace that aftermarket muffler.
In any event, it is going to be a great summer!
