1986 Honda NS400R
Miles: 7,500
Original fairings
$14,500
Willow Springs, IL
Outside of Chicago
SELLER
Japanese market import. 2-Stroke V-3. Original fairings, upgrades include forks,brakes and wheels from a Honda NSR. Run’s excellent, looks fantastic. This model is getting very hard to find , even in Japan nice examples are getting scarce. If taken care of will only continue to increase in value.
RSBFS has shown many of these over the years, and they are a favorite. Tad reported on one in 2018 that sold in one day stating, “Seen here in Freddie Spencer-inspired colors, the NS400R obviously differed from its Grand Prix sibling in terms of displacement. Why just 387cc, instead of something closer to the racing version’s 498cc? Well Japan had regulations that led to much higher costs for 500cc machines that made them impractical for the vast majority of riders so, instead of creating two different versions of their bike for domestic and overseas sales, they created just one well-conceived and thoroughly-developed version.”
Donn reviewed one on RSBFS in 2022 sharing some history, “To keep up with the other race reps, Honda produced a fair likeness of Freddie Spencer’s NS500 racer, with a peculiar V3 smoker, small pattern alloy chassis, and classic full fairing. Three Keihin flat-slides are in the vee, making 72 hp available on an ATAC power valve-assisted torque curve. Sleepy through 5,000 rpm, the screaming shortly starts and runs to 9,500 rpm and 125 mph. Forks were air-assisted with TRAC anti-dive, and a Pro-Link monoshock was underneath. Brake and tire sizes remind you that this a potent middleweight rather than a superbike. Oil injection and all the street gear brought the fueled weight up to just over 400 lbs. wet, not bad though Spencer’s 500 weighed almost 100 lbs. less.”
Here is one that sold quickly at $10,000 in 2014, ten years ago on RSBFS, with over 11k miles. The bike we are showing today has a mere 7,500 miles. As I reviewed our history of these bikes, the value has only gone up. Clearly rare and collectable, I’m happy we were able to find this one for our readers.
Beyond all the historical and mechanical reasons to love this motorcycle, the lines on this bike are sick! That look is never getting old.
Good luck to the buyer and seller!
Hi guys,
Thanks for choosing my motorcycle! I’m a fan of your page and use it for reference often.-Michael
@michael – Excellent! Please let us know when it sells! Goodluck!
i bought one of these in ’86 and really enjoyed the handling and sounds… i also had several RG500 suzukis and the NS400R was
only slightly slower in the canyons despite the lower power… with a better rider the NS was actually faster as it handled the
tight curves easier than the RG… the RG has the light switch power band compared to the NS’s smoother explosive one…
cheers and enjoy it to the winner…
The NS400R is my favourite in my collection, which includes an RG500 and RZ500. Exceptional build quality and typical Honda reliability. Below 7500 RPM it is fairly tame, but at 7500 when the ATAC valves snap closed the bike is transformed into a beast and that transformation is simply amazing. I rarely get above 3rd gear as 3rd will keep the engine in the sweet spot and at 160 kph the engine is just under red-line. I find the bike not well suited for traffic as the engine tends to get very hot very quickly and below 7500 RPM seems rather pedestrian, but keep the needle between 7500 and 10,000 RPM and enjoy back road curve carving with exceptional braking and sure footed handling. Keep it in the sweet spot and those corners very quickly. If you’ve never ridden one as Honda intended, you’re missing out on something special.