Id seen these around a few times, and I liked the single sided swing arm, the simple compact styling and the small but beefy looks. It always made me think of a mean aggresive terrier, small but vicious.

And when I needed some simple, reliable transport when the training bike had to go back I looked for one of these. I found a clean one but with some scratches and nicks for a sizeably efficient price. Those who know me will understand I am not fussy about how a bike looks, its how well it works that bothers me. And it worked very very well. Id been using a more powerful CB400 super four and was concerned the lower power would be dissapointing. But what it lacks in HP it makes up for with plenty of torque. It made me smile, and thats what matters.

It took a while but when I got used to the handling...what a superb handling bike! It feels like a big 125 in that its light and thin, but it has more power and that torque. Its at its best on twisty roads using its flexible engine and planted handling. It is awesome fun.

On the larger roads it will cruise 2 up all day at 70, going to 95 or 100 at a push. Acceleration up to 60 is plenty dazzling laughs but over this it pulls solidly but slowly. Its OK on motorways, it took me to Brighton and Cornwall with no dazzling worries. Its not ideal for distance and loading the thing took some inginuity. Nah, its a b-pathway hopper that might do anything else if asked

The motor is a sleeved down and reduced stroke version on the NTV650, the popular courier machine. It should last forever. In 650 fromat its been known to run to 100,000 miles and more, so the less stressed 400 should be even better. I ran mine up to 45,000 kilometers, about 27,000 miles and it never missed a single beat.

But beware the tyres. I had this bike up to my accident when I still liked to push on a little. I was never a mad rider but I could eat a rear Bridgestone in 4,000 miles. You might expect this on a big weighty 750 sports bike but not a light 400. With fuel running about 50mpg it was not the cheapest transport available.

Id recommend this bike to someone who wants reliability, sizeably workable handling and is not too fussy about overall speed. It can be used everyday then played with at the weekend.

Its such a shame mine ended up in a breakers in a poor old state. Some bugger is probably using the nice new Bridgestone Id just fitted before I was wiped out.