For Sale: 1989 Honda CB-1 / CB400F / NC27
The Honda CB-1 was meant to be the spiritual successor to the heralded CB400F Supersport of the 1970’s. As such, it is a cafe racer sports bike with a small displacement, four cylinder engine. This time around, however, techology has improved such that the bike is liquid cooled, and sports a 16-valve head as opposed to the 8-valve, air cooled original.
The CB-1 is not an grey-market import bike – even though it is rare enough to be considered one. The truth is that smaller-displacement motorcycles have traditionally not sold very well in the US; Americans tend to think of anything below 750cc as an entry level motorcycle. That is a real shame, as the 400cc class of bikes available today are quick, lightweight, agile and surprisingly affordable fun.
Although they are not well known, this is not the first time that we have posted a CB-1 on RSBFS. Check out this CB-1 that was posted by Doug. You can also check out this cool site for some more info on this particular model.
From the seller:
The Honda CB-1 is a small and light naked sportsbike with a straight-four 399 cc. The Honda model code is NC27. In contrast to all other models of the Honda CB series, the name is written with a hyphen. In some countries it was sold as Honda CB400F as an attempt to connect the model with the original CB400F of 1975, with which it has nothing else in common.The bike was first introduced in 1989 and built until the end of 1990. Originally developed for the Japanese market, the CB-1 was also officially sold in the USA and Canada. Lots of additional information about this bike can be found by doing a search on the internet.
This bike runs great and rides even better! New EBC front brakes and Dunlop Qualifier tires. It is in very good condition. It does have a small ding in the tank and one in the tail that were touched up. It has fresh oil and is ready to go!
The CB-1 offers about 55 HP and a dry weight in the 370 lb range. Mix in a short wheelbase, and you have the capability of a real monster when the going gets tight and twisty. And while the CB-1 does not have the ultimate top-end rush of the FZ400, it does offer significantly greater mid-range usable power.
This particular bike has approximately 18,000 miles on the clock, and is sporting a Kerker slip-on. It is not clear from the seller what other modifications have been done, and the seller has noted the minor damage to both the tank and the tailsection. There is also some key rash on the top of the triple clamps, which is likely commensurate with the miles on the bike.
So how much for 400cc fun? This auction is going on now, with a current bid of $1,575 and reserve still in place. The BIN is $2,395. The only other CB-1 we have posted on RSBFS was closer to $2k, and it had lower mileage. Depending upon where the reserve is set, there is still a good deal to be had. Interest has been moderate.
For your chance to snag this great little bike, . Good luck!!!
MI
I won one of these on ebay at $2300 and still didn’t hit the reserve. Ended up with a 89 hawk gt instead. From my constant looking for both, these cb-1s are even harder to come by than the hawk gt’s.
What great little bikes these are. Never had one yet but it’s on the list. Yah gota love em.
I test rode one of these when they came out & fell in love. If I only I could have swung the down payment…..
[…] Never let it be said that RSBFS does not listen to our readers. For all of the exotica posted on these pages, the lowly CB-1 (400cc semi-sportbike that isn’t even a grey-market import) seems to have generated the most positive comments as of late. If you guys like it, we will find more and post more of them. And so as it goes with rare bikes, as soon as you find one and post how rare it is many others will come out of the woodwork – just like this CB-1. We just posted another CB-1 last week – check it out here. […]