XR400SM
Story Ian Buckley, photos Closersooner
The last thing you want to do when a manufacturer gives you their latest bike to test is crash. I made sure it was the second last thing I did!
Honda's XR400 should be familiar to most of you but for those who aren't, it was for many years the backbone of Honda's enduro range, proving both reliable and popular. Even when Australia's dirt bike community was falling over themselves chasing the latest high revving, multi-valve, super sharp enduro weapon, the XR400 remained a popular model. At one stage in fact as Honda Australia were running out the last model prior to extinction, it topped the charts as fans of the model flocked to grab one before it was no longer.
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...tall, light, extremely agile and punchy fun to ride... |
When Honda later announced the release of the XR400 Super Motard with an electric start, it begged the question, "why didn't they put an electric leg on the enduro bike and keep it?" The answers to this question are beyond my contacts in the game but I would hazard a guess that the desire to move forward with more advanced machinery in the competition enduro class sat well with the suits in control. The reasons for then putting such a motor in the road going class became much more obvious during my time on the bike.
Hybrid Life
As super Motards go, your hard-core fan would initially dismiss such a bike. True motards, if there is such a thing, are race weapons and as a result require major servicing every ten hours of use, usually have the oil changed after every ride and will require a full engine rebuild somewhere between fifty and one hundred hours of use. This type of maintenance has no place for the daily commuter or even the weekend warrior when looking for longevity. KTM nailed it with their 640SM but even it wanted to rattle your fillings out with the vibration factor. Honda have certainly thought about this bike prior to putting it on the market and at just under ten grand, have made sure punters will want to give it a second look.
When in Rome
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Featuring brakes... |
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...adjustable damping... |
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... red bits... |
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... and more red bits. |
I was no sooner on the bike than lofting the front wheel. To wheel stand, there was some effort required but once in the zone, it never wanted to kick skyward threatening to flip you off the back. I like this in a fun bike mostly because I am not so good at wheelies. Just like a dirt bike, the high and wide bars made locking the rear tyre up easy as pie and reassuringly controllable. I have never raced Motard but harbour a deep desire to try it sooner rather than later. Never the less, the basic requirements of at least feeling like you could be a Motard racer were ever present in the XR400SM.
The front brake is as effective as the bike is intended. It is more than adequate for the job at hand and holds true the Motard theme of big rotors dominating a 17" rim. The forks are inverted which was never the case on the enduro and to suit the Motard theme offer a little less travel with simple preload and rebound adjustment. The wheels are basic 17" motard rims laced to standard hubs and this is more than fit for purpose.
To the uninitiated, it looks like an XR parts bin but this is evidently not the case when you look close. The engine is a completely different unit to the enduro motor. While the bore and stroke are the same, it is clearly built to run a starter motor, not retro fitted from the 400 quad which many enduro riders started doing later on in the life cycle of the early four hundreds. The head is different running smaller valves both inlet and exhaust meaning you can't just buy one of these and throw all the cheap XR go fast bits from ebay straight in. If I had one to play with though, the first thing for me would be to try and fit the enduro head and grow from there. The air filter is an old school paper item and I have it on good authority that a replacement Twin Air foam filter livens the bike up considerably.
That said, it is on the road that the XR400SM really shines. There is no doubt that this is a road bike for the city and I found it superb to commute on. It would rocket to 60km/h then on to 80 easily, running along the freeways at 100-120km/h. I wouldn't want to do it all day but in the traffic, this range easily tops out the limits. Cutting through traffic is a breeze with the handlebars floating well above the car mirrors and the flickable lightweight mass means evasive and cunning maneuvers are well received.
Weekend Warrior
When I got the bike, I headed up into Melbourne's mountain region to meet up with 'Closersooner', a member of the BIKE ME! Forum and budding photographer. The plan was for me to test the bike whilst he practiced his art. The mountains would provide the perfect backdrop with twisty roads and apparently some unsealed sections to really go motard mad. The ridiculously cold Melbourne weather saw me wearing three layers of clothing starting with Andy Strapz thermals and finishing with Joe Rocket kevlar jeans and leather jacket. An RJays helmet and goggles had me looking the goods.
The ride up was uneventful enough and felt like I was heading to the Antarctic. On the twisty sections of road, the XR400SM proved more than capable. I have always enjoyed riding moderately powered bikes that handle because they allow mere mortals like myself to squeeze every last ounce out of them. This is a bike you can literally give everything you've got and change your line mid corner if what you've got is wrong. There is a level of confidence that comes from these types of bikes that makes the transition to bigger machines all that much safer and rewarding in my mind.
Show time...
As Closersooner lived on an unsealed road, we agreed that I would play around doing circle work and wheelies until the neighbours had had enough. "Remember, if I fall off, you need to get it", I said, tongue in cheek. "Yep! No worries!" was the reply.
We did this for a while and I became more and more enamoured with the little Honda as I easily produced perfect donuts eventually making my own Olympic symbol. The wheelies were simple enough and long enough to give Closersooner time to set up his camera.
Bored with this we set out to find a corner for a couple of road shots. A nice easy corner was found and no sooner had we set up with some shots that I went down the road. "Did you get that?" I called as Closersooner ran toward me. "No" he said, embarrassed, as he realised he had forgot to be a photographer and decided to be Joe Helpful.
It was a simple crash resulting from the front end casually slipping away. I say casually because there was no tuck or twitch to react to. It was a case of going around a corner and then as if in a dream continuing to the point where things were scraping that shouldn't. It was my mistake for all the reasons given and nothing else really matters. I would like to point out that I was still in the riding position when I came to a halt having kept my left side under the bike as a sacrificial anode. What impressed was that the bike had only a bent gear lever and a scuffed front guard as visible damage. That no other damage was done to the bike amazed us as much as Honda. So I can assure you that this is the most crashable bike on the market in my experience.
So Why?
So why buy one of these? Well I have thought about this a lot since using it for a week and I have the following thoughts. You would buy one of these:
1. Because you like the idea of a
Motard but don't want to go racing.
2. Because you like the idea of a Motard but can't afford to put it in
for a service every Thursday.
3. Because you like the idea of a Motard but don't know anything about
them.
4. Because you must ride a LAMS bike but still want to be cool.
5. Because you only have $10,000 to spend
6. Because you want to frighten a few punters on over powered bikes they
can't really ride.
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"I was no sooner on the bike than lofting the front wheel..." |
As you can no doubt tell, I liked this bike a lot. It kept a smile on my dial all the time and met all the criteria for fun motorcycling. Honda is on to a good thing with the XR400SM and it won't surprise me to see them sell in increasing numbers over time. Ultimately I think there will be many young riders from the mini bike ranks go for this as they progress to their first road bike as well as those who emerge from the scooter ranks. Additionally those who like the idea of a Motard will be hard pressed to go past this one because it really does hit all the right buttons. Watch out on your favourite stretch of road as well because a handy rider will easily give you a lesson in corner speed.
