![]() ![]() one rather than four mufflers), while also upping the 408cc engine’s performance.Īs for the engine itself, Honda based it on the existing 350, enlarging the lower cases to accommodate a close-ratio 6-speed transmission, clearly an improvement over the 350’s 5-speed cluster. Sato-san said that the 400F’s groundbreaking exhaust design actually helped keep manufacturing costs low (i.e. ![]() The new “tuned” exhaust not only became the CB400F’s visual trademark, it also positioned Honda as the first large-scale motorcycle manufacturer to include a collector exhaust system as an OEM item. Sato’s squad elected to take a different approach by following a growing trend among tuners of the time that funneled four individual header pipes into a single collector box that, in turn, fed exhaust gases into a common muffler. Honda’s original inline-four models, the CB750 and CB500/550 (plus the retired 350 Four), routed four individual header pipes into four separate, and rather cumbersome, mufflers. Foremost, the engineers bumped engine displacement that made use of an all-new exhaust. Consequently, several features in particular evolved as the design team moved forward. Improved speed and performance topped the build sheet, plus the replacement model needed new and exciting styling, without increasing production costs. The 350 Four’s replacement had to offer more. Sato didn’t hide the fact that the 350 Four never sold well and was slow, also revealing the 350 as a “failure.” 350 gets you 400 Enter the CB400F Super Sport, and years later in a rare video about the CB400F, Mr. Honda quickly realized the 350 Four’s plight, assigning a development team headed by LPL (Large Project Leader) Masahiro Sato to stop the bleeding, and the only way to do that was to create a faster, more exciting model. Even Honda’s hot-selling twin-cylinder 350 - sold during those same years - was quicker and faster … and more fun to ride. Powered by a spunky inline 408cc four-cylinder engine, the 400F was actually a replacement for the CB350 Four, a bike that Soichiro Honda himself declared at the time to be “the finest, smoothest Honda ever built.” Cycle magazine was less generous, labeling the inline 350 as the “reply to a query never raised - unless someone wanted to know how few cubic centimeters Honda could split by four.” In short, the 350 Four, offered from 1972 through 1974, was exceedingly slow … and dull. Honda’s CB400F Super Sport, a model that enjoyed a three-year run from 1975-1977, is probably one of the most underappreciated motorcycles from Japan. Brakes: Single 10.25in (260mm) front disc, 6.3in (160mm) rear drum.Suspension: Telescopic front fork, dual coilover shocks rear.Frame/wheelbase: Tube frame/54in (1,372mm). ![]()
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