Kawasaki Z 400F-II

Review

NEVER having had much to do with bikes below 650cc in my early biking years, it follows that I didn't care much when Honda's CB400F rolled out of Japan in the mid-'70s to become the yardstick by which all four-hundreds have since been measured.

Nor did I take any notice of the outraged bleatings of the specialist press when the same bike had the corporate rug whisked from under it in 1978 or thereabouts.

Maybe I should have looked further than the drip tray under my Bonneville and made an effort to scrounge a ride on one, because I've just finishing testing another 400F—this time prefixed by a Z'—and I'd like to know what all the fuss was about.

It's irrelevant now in any case, because the latest 400 from Kawasaki can hold its own against any bike in its class—except, of course, the new toast of the road circuit, Honda's VF400F.

Not so magically transformed from last year's Z400J by the simple expedient of slotting the air-cooled 399cc across-frame four-cylinder engine into a Uni-Trak chassis, the Z400F is the twin of the Z550F we tested back in June in every respect bar capacity.

A couple of changes to the well-proven eight-valve engine have given the F an extra five horsepower over the J model, although a swift comparison of the top speed and standing quarter times for the two doesn't show much improvement for the trouble Kawasaki have taken.

The bank of 21mm TK slide carbs has been discarded in favour of a quartet of heavy-breathing 26mm CV items of the same make, and changes to the valve timing also help to up the horsepower.

This has been achieved, regretfully, at the expense of mid-range grunt—peak power comes in at 10,500rpm as opposed to the J's 9,500rpm—and fuel consumption, but back to that later.

At the dragstrip (sorry, MIRA) the F managed a not entirely unrespectable 14.7 second pass at 90.14mph. Its mean standing quarter of 14.74, though, is not a fantastic improvement on the J's time of 14.89. The highest speed we managed to squeeze out of the F was 106.09mph, as opposed to the J's 105.34mph.

That's all academic anyway, and on the street the Z400F showed itself capable of cruising happily at an indicated 90-95mph, with over 110mph showing on the cheerfully optimistic speedo on occasions.

The Uni-Trak frame is a good all rounder, and it goes without saying that the bike's handling is superlative. The air-assisted front suspenders and monoshock rear are both well sprung and damped, and although the task of adjusting the preload collar on the rear shock can only be described as a pain in the arse, it was ideal for solo riding as set up from the

factory and was up to the task of carting heavy pillions around without demanding adjustment, albeit at the expense of some ground clearance.

That aside, I found no cause for complaint about the bike's roadholding or cornering capability, apart from building up a healthy distrust of the front 3.25 H19 Japanese Dunlop.

On two occasions it let go in circumstances which could have been very painful, and were it my bike, I wouldn't wait until winter before relegating the tyre to child's swing status.

Kawasaki's excellent twin discs combine with sintered metal pads for good braking in any conditions, and the rear drum proved well up to its task—far more sensible than a rear disc on a bike of this size.

The 400's light, compact size and quick steering makes it an ideal town hack, though those factors work against it on the open road.

In all fairness, anybody under five feet ten or thereabouts shouldn't be too cramped on long journeys, and indeed really liked the riding position for the first few days I rode the machine, and it wasn't until after a couple of non-stop 120-mile stints that the aches and pains began.

This was aggravated by high-frequency vibration which soon numbed anything in contact with the handlebar grips and hard seat—pillions complained bitterly about the back-seat arrangements after an hour or so, too.