NATURAL ANKLING wrote: ↑14 Apr 2021, 10:14am
Hi,
The Honda VF 400 was very radical for its day.
It had every conceivable thing on that honda could throw at it at the time.
By far the best bike I've ever ridden at the time!
The handling was incredibly neutral, performance was fantastic, it stopped well too.
if you tried cornering on and off camber bend nothing touched down, but I went sidewards a few times, drift.
At today's standards it might not appear to be anything at all, but the roads haven't changed much since then.
Bigger bikes had too much power And didn't necessarily handle any better.
The two smaller bike meant that you were always under powered, made for boring riding.
I always thought mid range bikes more fun simply because you had to work on them a bit to get them to go.
of course if you're just commuting you don't need loads of power you just need economy.
Oh I forgot to mention that the Z550 for some time, Had more break hp and talk up to 8000 rpm than any other bike in the 650 class.
Even the 750 with 74 break hp Peaked at 9000 rpm.
This meant the Z550 was simply in a class of its own, unless you're on a burn up, you're not likely to be averaging 8000+ rpm much are you.
Kawasaki developed the two valve head to the hilt , When all the other manufacturers were running four valve heads.
what made vf400 so good was it had a very straight power curve, nothing like your two strokes, which would come in just at the wrong moment when you didn't wanted to.
Water cooled I'm afraid is the way to go on Motorbikes, why because they warm up very quickly and don't overheat like air cooled motors.
My xlr200r honda I am refurbishing at the moment.
Rattles a bit when it's cold, it's when it's boiling hot down the lanes with no or little cooling it sounds like a dream.
No doubt it was made that way on purpose.
The old 175CD Hondas, Was sad to take at least 10 miles to warm up, me and my mate had several and I can confirm that.