So, something of a surprising new bike to add to the garage: this is my ‘new’ CB400 Super Four.
Inspired by more than a few episodes of Top Gear and, more recently, BvG’s Budget Bike Battle, next March nine of us are on a three day tour up to the Peak District and back. During the tour there will be a number of challenges set. We don’t know what these are yet apart from one will be on an unpaved road. Fairly safe assumption that there’ll be a drag race of sorts and some kind of time challenge.
The rules? Under 400cc, under £500 and two wheels. The budget has to include repairs but oil, fuel, fluids, tyres and essentials for safety are exempt. And I think I’ve got a winner. After weeks of looking at 125s, the occasional 250 and even some 300cc scooters, I got lucky with this for exactly £500. 1997, 59,000 miles and an MOT until May 2018. Pushing out around 52 bhp when wheeled out of the showroom back 20 years ago, I reckon I’ll have a power advantage on pretty much all my fellow competitors.
The bad news is that, despite the MOT, a bike at this price comes with some challenges. The starter motor works best when the bike is warm, and at other times can need to be coaxed into life with a hammer. There’s a tiny leak in a seal on the petrol tank and the rev counter doesn’t work. The good news is that the fork seals are new, the electrics all seem to work and there’s a new rear tyre included in the purchase.
I’ve got three months to get the bike up to scratch, and I’m quite looking forward to it. Any more serious bike maintenance than washing the bike is, normally for me, phoning the dealer. I’m hoping that this bike is basic enough for me to have a good mess around with limited risk of getting anything hopelessly wrong.
Initial plans are a deep clean of the whole bike, fit the new tyre, re-seal the tank (should be ‘free’ under the safety rule) and remove and clean up the starter motor. If there’s nothing hugely wrong after that, I’ll see if I have the spare time to do a basic refresh and do some de-rusting and maybe some basic paint work. I’ll need a rule check on oil and air filters, but other than that I’m not planning on making any performance modifications. Every £1 over the £500 budget incurs a 2 point penalty, so there’s unlikely to be any performance upgrade that’s going to pay back in challenge points.
Hopefully this will be a fun three months, ending in an equally fun weekend. Oh, and yes, there is a support vehicle. A couple of wives / girlfriends will be meandering behind (or ahead?!) of us with a horse box!
maybe a very good mirrorless camera.
