Best '90's 400cc sporty bike?

[dave222]

You mean my FXR150? I was hoping to get around 1700 or so for it. Just bought it a couple of months ago for 1950. The fairing has scratches on both the left and right sides, due to previous owners laying it down at low speed, one on each side
Apart from that she's pretty sweet though. Runs really well, and Kms are relatively low (20K). As soon as I bought it I changed oil, oil filter, new air filter foam element, checked spark plugs, thoroughly cleaned and lubed the chain, and basically did a full service. Both tires are new, shims were recently done in the cams, and sparkplug replaced.

Trouble is, I'm only on my restricted, and only just got it. So I have 6 months left on my restricted, or maybe 3 months if I do the street talk course thing.
Man, if you were still looking to downgrade in 3 months, it would be the perfect swap, in my opinion, cos I wouldn't have to also worry about selling the FXR. The timing is just a bit out.

I may be interested in buying/swapping whenever suites you. Its a black black, has a fair bit of scratches down one side as I got a little too keen on the gravel, runs mint although she needs a few revs when cold. Has current rego, new front and rear discs and pads. Wof expired last month and have not gotten another yet as needs new tires, they are not worn just have some slight sidewall cracks. Send me a message and we will talk more.

[scracha]

http://www.silver-bullet.co.nz/event...p?eventid=5510
7th equal place in F3... CBR250RR, only one non 650 ahead.

Blah blah..I had you beaten.
















Until I fell off.

[scracha]

I don't know what he's on about mate... thrashing the Nc30 about a bit with a bit of normal driving I get pretty much 20km a litre. If i was driving it economically it'd get 22k

Nowt to brag about. Other Kiwibikers will testify that my 748r gets 21Km/l even when I thrash the bejezus out of it. The CBR400 runs on fresh air. When racing, Tom's VFR400 used at least twice as much gas as my CBR, I'm not joking. ChrisLost's one uses so much gogo juice that it spits it out the exhaust.

This is the 97/98 octane stuff.

I'm a Scotsman so it's el cheapo green gogo juice for moi. If gogo juice is the main concern then I'd imagine the SV650 twin is a better buy.

Oh...ZXR400....based on the couple I've had a go on they've got the fastest motor but they don't seem so well put together.

VFR400...yeah....the prettiest but an urban tiger paintjob and some fireblade stile drilled fairing holes on a CBR400 also look quite cool.

[Coyote]

I think everyone here will agree with me that the V4's are the most reliable. They are bomb proof. It may be a 90's machine adn getting old but they go forever. They have gear driven cams so it's 100% reliability in that respect, with the added cool sound you get. The wheels will fall off before the motor is done for... this is what these bikes are known for.

Yep. Everything else is falling apart on my bike. But the motor is sweet.

No older bike is truly reliable. However, I'm likely to have just got a lemon. The V4's are great.

[samgab]

There are some great bikes there to be sure. We were looking at some of them for me recently, but we ended up buying an '88 Honda Bros. (NT400) Yes, I know, it's a retarded name for a m/cycle, like parents naming their kid Dudley or something!

Anyway, after spending the weekend working on it, hubby reckons it's the best $2500 we could ever spend on a bike. (This includes the new tyres we put on). He came back from a test ride last night grinning from ear to ear (and he normally rides a 748!) saying that it is a really good little hoon bike. For an unfaired bike it looks pretty cool, and after the pipe mods he's just finished, it now actually sounds like a proper v-twin and has better mid-range torque (well, that's what he tells me at least ) It's a really confidence-inspiring bike for me to ride and a great step up for me from my gpz250. I it! It's very forgiving too.

I don't think there are too many around, but they do come in a 650 version too.

Good luck finding your next dream bike

Cheers for the feedback. Now the "Bros" is certainly outside the norm, and something I hadn't considered, nor even heard of, if I'm honest...
I was surprised to see it has the mono swingarm -- that's pretty cool. It must surely have been among the earliest road bikes with the ELF style mono swingarm?

[samgab]

Yep. Everything else is falling apart on my bike. But the motor is sweet.

No older bike is truly reliable. However, I'm likely to have just got a lemon. The V4's are great.

Wow, a treadplate muffler, really? But the standard stainless steel one looks hawt!

[Coyote]

Wow, a treadplate muffler, really? But the standard stainless steel one looks hawt!

They do. But I was just having a bit of fun at metalwork class

I've still got my Zorsts muffler with several dents in it (thanks to a prick backing into the bike) and the stock one which doesn't fit for some reason.

Nothing on that bike hasn't been fiddled around with now. I did the paint last month myself. Just finished making a wiring loom for the lights today. Tomorrow, buying an installing an air horn. Hopefully get it's warrant after months of waiting.

[Dargor]

Weeeeeeeell, seeing as you asked; and just for the sake of it:

http://tinyurl.com/7ebgs4

Same sort of thing as before.
It's harder with older bikes, because different websites show differing specs, and there are different models for different markets all here in NZ.
I have to assume that they're Jap imports available here in NZ, in which case they were restricted to 59HP up to '92, then restricted to 53HP from '93 onwards (Japan 400cc power restrictions). Dumb.
Anyway, take any specs in there with a grain of salt, as they could well be wrong, such as the weight for the VFR... They were quite different weights, depending on which market they were for, or which website you read. Also different power ratings etc.
Although now, about 15-19 years later, I doubt that any will be making their original power output anyway. I don't care, they're all more powerful than an FXR150!

And yes, again; I know that specs on paper are almost meaningless.

In that comparison is the "NM" "nanometers of torque". If so shouldn't the v4's have bigger numbers for that than the IL4's.

[samgab]

In that comparison is the "NM" "nanometers of torque". If so shouldn't the v4's have bigger numbers for that than the IL4's.

Figures might not be accurate... I just went with what I found on the internets... If anyone has a correction to the figures I'll fix them.

[MsKABC]

Cheers for the feedback. Now the "Bros" is certainly outside the norm, and something I hadn't considered, nor even heard of, if I'm honest...
I was surprised to see it has the mono swingarm -- that's pretty cool. It must surely have been among the earliest road bikes with the ELF style mono swingarm?

I hadn't heard of them before we found mine either Apparently they are really popular in the UK and US (where they are branded as the "Hawk GT"). They were among the first production bike to have the single-sided swingarm (I think). The wheels are pretty cool too Hubby has just finished mods on the pipe and now it sounds awesome, you'd never think it was a widdle 400 It certainly is a very modern looking bike for its age.

[racefactory]

Nowt to brag about. Other Kiwibikers will testify that my 748r gets 21Km/l even when I thrash the bejezus out of it. The CBR400 runs on fresh air. When racing, Tom's VFR400 used at least twice as much gas as my CBR, I'm not joking. ChrisLost's one uses so much gogo juice that it spits it out the exhaust.


I'm a Scotsman so it's el cheapo green gogo juice for moi. If gogo juice is the main concern then I'd imagine the SV650 twin is a better buy.

Ok... Chris's bike runs on 3 cylinders... think he told me it hasnt had a carb balance in yonks either... it's got different exhaust probably isnt rejetted for it because of damn difficult V4's, so it could be running really rich.

The answer probably lies in unbalanced carbs and the fact that they are so fucking hard to do on these V4's.

But above all... race bikes? god know's what they've been through, it's just not the same as a stock road nc30 with balanced carbs. I've had 3 of them and they've all been on 20km a litre.

Just don't think that a different engine, same displacement can suck that much more... something is just not right clearly.

Interesting though!

[vtec]

Several things,

If my VFR does get 20km/l I will be pretty happy, most motorbikes seem to get around this figure, even my CBR250RR got 20km/l. Don't think that a CBR400RR has much of a chance of doing any better, there's no reason for it to do so.

Also, I don't see why the V4 should get better torque, only real difference to the IL4 will be the way the power pulses. Some do say it gets better power down low, but the torque figure is merely the maximum torque which could well be at different points in the rev range and still end up with the same max power and max torque figures.

Totally agree on the "urban jungle" paintjob comment, I feel a bit ricey riding it. But hey, it's got plenty of poke to back up the venomous looking paintjob.

Also Samgab, the SV650 will be equally suitable a step up from the FXR150 as the 400's are. In fact for your purposes I would really advise you to get an SV650. Easy torque, very well behaved, nimble, fast, fuel efficient, reliable, and you get a really good resale because they are so in demand for both road and race purposes.

To me the VFR400R does feel like a very lazy engine, I think changing to a smaller front sprocket may aid my cause. 100kph in first gear is too fast... and yet slow. Still it easily reaches it's speed limiter, did it again tonight.

Coyote, you going to race that VFR now that you've got it sorted?

Freer flowing exhaust will mean that it's running lean... more air flow for the fuel. Which would give it more power, but could be harmful to the engine. Also, carb balance isn't required for racing, at full throttle all the carbs are fully open even if your balance is noticeably out. May only run on 3 at low revs but be fine at high revs, could mean that the low rev jet is blocked but will still deliver power in that cylinder at maximum throttle. Does sound like it could do with some work though. Think I might just keep my one standard for now and see how I get on.

[samgab]

Several things,

If my VFR does get 20km/l I will be pretty happy, most motorbikes seem to get around this figure, even my CBR250RR got 20km/l. Don't think that a CBR400RR has much of a chance of doing any better, there's no reason for it to do so.

Also, I don't see why the V4 should get better torque, only real difference to the IL4 will be the way the power pulses. Some do say it gets better power down low, but the torque figure is merely the maximum torque which could well be at different points in the rev range and still end up with the same max power and max torque figures.

Totally agree on the "urban jungle" paintjob comment, I feel a bit ricey riding it. But hey, it's got plenty of poke to back up the venomous looking paintjob.

Also Samgab, the SV650 will be equally suitable a step up from the FXR150 as the 400's are. In fact for your purposes I would really advise you to get an SV650. Easy torque, very well behaved, nimble, fast, fuel efficient, reliable, and you get a really good resale because they are so in demand for both road and race purposes.

To me the VFR400R does feel like a very lazy engine, I think changing to a smaller front sprocket may aid my cause. 100kph in first gear is too fast... and yet slow. Still it easily reaches it's speed limiter, did it again tonight.

Coyote, you going to race that VFR now that you've got it sorted?

Freer flowing exhaust will mean that it's running lean... more air flow for the fuel. Which would give it more power, but could be harmful to the engine. Also, carb balance isn't required for racing, at full throttle all the carbs are fully open even if your balance is noticeably out. May only run on 3 at low revs but be fine at high revs, could mean that the low rev jet is blocked but will still deliver power in that cylinder at maximum throttle. Does sound like it could do with some work though. Think I might just keep my one standard for now and see how I get on.

Hey, cheers for that info.

The SV650 is definitely on my test ride list. It's been on and off and on again the list. It never much appealed to me for some inexplicable reason, but so many people speak so well of it, that I'd be an idiot not to at least take one for a ride and see what it's like, closer to purchase time.
I know it's light for a 650, and everyone says it's easy to ride, fun and handles well, so I'll give it a go for sure.

The way things are looking now, it'll be a toss up between the NC30 and the older tube framed SV650.

I'd prefer something fuel injected but I guess that'll be the next step after whatever I end up getting next...

I'm already getting sick of waiting, I think I'll just have to go and do the street talk riding course so I cut the time down to 3 Months rather than 6!

[quickbuck]

Several things,

If my VFR does get 20km/l I will be pretty happy, most motorbikes seem to get around this figure, even my CBR250RR got 20km/l. Don't think that a CBR400RR has much of a chance of doing any better, there's no reason for it to do so.
.

Okay, it ,may be that the particular VFR's I have had anything to do with had a lovely exhaust note, and the owners just loved listening to it.... This could increase fuel consumption like you won't believe....
Also larger lads on them.... and I'm not going to comment on their tiding abilities.....

It can all add up to some dodgy fuel figures.
All I know is I had to thrash my 87 CBR400 before it would drink anything like what the VFR's frequently did.... Well I think I made it drink 12 litres in 150km at Manfeild once...
But it was always good for 250k + from the same 12 litres.

Ad Big Dave said, there can be between 50 and 80 km difference on tank range between bike testers... so at the end of the day it is up to the rider.
I do feel the VFR's are likely to burn more fuel though.
Could well be the fact carbs are a pain to balance.

[scracha]

Don't think that a CBR400RR has much of a chance of doing any better, there's no reason for it to do so.

Honestly, they run on fresh air. Dunno how they do it. I go to race weekends and if I fill the tank up on the first practise I rarely have to refill.

If ChrisLost's bike runs on 3 cylinders then I'm an Englishman.

VFR, better midrange but not got the top end of the inline 4's.