Topic: 400 rear fender ?

[Uncle Ernie]

Any body have a good one for sale or know who might?  Not especially looking for cheap, as I'd rather not have to deal w dents or rust.

[supersport_CB400F]

Are you worried about keeping the bike original?

[Uncle Ernie]

No.  I've had a custom tank made, the old seat was shot (even though it looks good in my avatar) so I did a bum-stop style, I plan on painting the frame red, etc. I waant to put an older style rear light on, but my current fender is in really good condition, so I don't want to mess it up by driloling new holes or anything.  Do you have something that will fit in there?

[bryanj]

I got a black fibreglass nos rear 500 if that would fit.

[Zane]

You probably won't like either this or where this is, but I thought it was kinda interesting .. ebay item number 7989350257

[Zane]

I stumbled across another one on ebay, if you're interested.  It's ebay item # 4617014169.  According to my parts list, it will fit the 75 and 77 400F's.
 

[Uncle Ernie]

Zane, that chrome fender looks outstanding.  I suppose I should bid no matter what, but I'm going to keep my eye on it.  I've often fantasized of painting the fenders for a sort of British look... in such a case, that plastic fender would be perfect. Another project built around fenders...

[Zane]

I'm glad you like it, Uncle Ernie.  I wonder if there's a place for a discussion group just about parts, finding parts, and helping others finding parts and vendors??

It's funny (in a paradoxical way) that I can often find more parts on ebay if I restrict my search to the US only.  You'd think world wide would turn up more stuff, but it doesn't.  I guess the reason for that is there are a lot of US sellers who don't ship outside the US, and any search besides strictly US doesn't show the item.  I look at that stuff though, because I'm fortunate enough to have a friend in Buffalo who will take US shipments for me.

I'm considering painting a front and rear fender too.  I have the front one already.  I've stripped the chrome, but it still has some pits in the metal.  I suppose if all I'm going to do is paint the thing I could fill it.  However, my (accursed) perfectionist tendency is to get it smooth somehow, without the use of filler.

As for the rear fender, I think I'd like to stay with metal.  I think the structural support qualities of the rear fender (in the original design) are far less than they are for the front fender, but I still feel better with the strength of steel.  I have a rack on my bike too, and I've moved the signal stays to the plate holder, so it's even more important for me to have that rigid tail end.

But I like the looks of some of those bikes that have been painted.  You must have seen the ones on the Japanese sight. 

http://www.mc-again.com/honda_hp/c4_castom/c4_castom.htm

And that Carpy fellow sent me this shot of a 400/4 he "cafe-ized". The fenders are still chromed, but the frame is painted.  I kinda like it.

I like this yellow one too ....

 

[Uncle Ernie]

I think a perfectly excellent job can be done on a painterd surface using filler.  The best pros I've seen do it.  If it's really bad, and you have way too much time on your hands, you can fill in with lead and sand back down.  One problem, though, is that over the coarse (wrong sp ?) of time, any flux left behind will cause the metal to rust.  Go with the improved technology.
Some of those Jap bikes are very interesting.  I guess there are no really new ideas- I'm thinking of painting my frame red, also, but I have an alloy tank.  I'm inspired by a Guzzi I had, but for some reason it didn't really "fit" me.  The bikes too small and I'm too old for low clip-ons, but I do like the look...
I guess I need to look at the cross reference to see if anyone here is bidding on that fender (and if they're close enough to kill on a weekend)...

[Ted Nomura]

I was lucky. I noticed that my used 1971 CB500 Four that I got for free had a late model taillight. Upon examination, I also noticed that the mounting holes are different, that's when I realized that this is a fender from the CB400F! And sure enough, they fit! Better yet, I managed to get a stock replacement fender with correct taillight unit for my CB500 Four from ebay for $25, including shipping!

[Zane]

Hey Ted, you're not lucky - you're good! 

Speaking of cross-fitting between models, check this one out.... (look at the questions at the bottom of the listing for some 400F discussion).

ebay item # 4616768974

[ttr400]

A couple of questions seeing as we are talking rear fenders. In 1975 I purchased a new CB400F varnish blue, the same bike is on the cover of the Haynes manual, I still have the same bike today but is no longer standard and over the years my original fender has disapeared. I am restoring another 400 back to original and have noticed that on some bikes the tail light bracket is chrome with a big tail light and bolted to the fender with 3 screws, my bike had a black tail light bracket with a small tail light and held on with 4 screws, was this a year thing or a country model thing? my original bike was from the UK.
One more question, my 75 has the steering lock on the neck part of the frame and my new resto has the steering lock in the ignition, I need to get a new lock set so is this a US type? or was it common for other parts of the world?

Thanks Kevin.

[supersport_CB400F]

The UK bike has four holes and two of the lower holes are raised on the mudguard but the US version is a bit shorter and has three holes and no hump the UK bike has a black rear light holder also with four holes and small lamp fitted and a bigger plate for the number plate and the steering lock is at the side of the steering neck and has no lock in the ignition switch they are separate keys for each.               

[Ted Nomura]

UK models also uses the smalled turn signals, like the ones used on Hondas during the early 1970s.

[GroovieGhoulie]

When I go through my 400, I'm considering switching over to the UK lights as they are smaller and neater compared to the stupidly large US lights.