1978 Honda CB400 Type II

[He Man]

You guys got anything to say about this bike?

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/mcy/1213061397.html

clean title 18,000 miles, $600 bucks!

[Popeye the Sailor]

Offer him $500. 


You can do some nice things with that.

[NAKID]

I would have offered 4 and work from there. Yeah, it's all black, but how does it look up close? You'll probably have a lot of re-work to do...

[He Man]

tried to see it today, got confliced with my scheudle with school, but i will try and see it tomorrow afternoon.

Black out? who cars, I have a powder coat oven designed to fit a 999 frame. a little bit of work will make it fit a whole honda CB frame.


I was thinking about $500 cash, but maybe ill try $400 and work from there. Still depends on how it looks, i hope he didnt spray paint the freaking forks. that would just be dumb as brick balls. i saw a Suzuki GS1100 once that was spray painted black.... like he just hit it with a spray can and watever he didnt feel like covering was left original. so behind hte forks were still bare!

[Buckethead]

Show him 4 x $100 bills to start and have 5 $20's in reserve.

Fork legs (or at least the important parts of them) don't APPEAR to be painted, but its a craigslist ad so all bets are off.

If you end up getting it, we'll need a build thread to see what you do with it.

One that gets updated every once in a while so's we can follow what you're doing.

Yeah, that's right Stu, I'm callin' you out! 

[ducatiz]

he's not expecting to get $600 for it, that's a starting price.

he will take 500, offer him 400

tell him the paint has ruined the value.  it has unless you're just going to tear it down and redo the whole thing.

it really depends too, check the engine case well.. i rarely see a NYC bike without a good number of "drop bruises".. those honda side covers are prone to cracking

what do you plan to do with it..

the 400 is not my favorite, i'd prefer a 440F, but those are pricey..  any of the 400-550cc I4s are hawt

[faolan01]

those little bikes can be a lot of fun. I still have my 1978 CB400A. Learned quite a bit owning a bike so cheap I didn't care about wrecking it while learning how to work on it 

[teddy037.2]

+1 on the $400

I see much potential here, young jedi

[xcaptainxbloodx]

anytime ive ever checked out a bike thats been spray bombed like that it has been a total mess. black bbq paint can hide alllllotttt of shit.

[dbran1949]

here's another in portland for comparison

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/mcy/1215384027.html

Not quite sure where he gets "cafe style" I guess when you put something in quotes it means you're just kidding

[He Man]

Okay, finnaly set the time to see the bike tomorro 430pm!

is there a difference in the type II and Type Is? or if there are more?

Also, was thi year like other years as in a CB400T and CB400F? Is there a big power differnce between the F and the T? smoothness? I dont mind waiting for more bikes to pop up.

[dbran1949]

One thing to watch out for. They made a CB400 with a two speed automatic. The F is a four cylinder. There is a bigger following of the F, might be easier to get parts and advice.

the F might have a little more power, but power is not what you get one of these bikes for

[He Man]

But mo'powah don't hurt! twin or four, im just looking for a smooth ride and a low price.

Ive heard of the "hondamatics" just the idea of an automatic bike is terrifying to my left hand.

Any idea where i can find a reliable source of parts for this thing? Ive checked a few sites out, most of them are the older wirespoke wheels or for the F.

[ducatiz]

The Hondamatic was actually fun.  I had a CM400A for a while and it was heavy, underpowered, rode like a overeating Rhino, but the shifty thing was fun.  It was like riding a 400 lb scooter.  rofl

Check ebay for parts.  They come up a lot.  Thre is a lot of interchange with the other CB models, but look around.  Honda made 12 billion of them.

[Drunken Monkey]

The CB400F rules them all.

I'd love to find and restore one, as it was my very first bike back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.