Honda teases CB400 Super Four ahead of show debut

New four-cylinder retro headed for Osaka and Tokyo Motorcycle Shows in late March

The launch of Honda’s new generation of small-capacity four-cylinder bikes has been unusually confusing for a company usually associated with its slick operations but a new level of clarity is expected to emerge when the CB400 Super Four gets its official unveiling at the Osaka Motorcycle Show on March 20.

So far, Honda has shown two machines based on its new small four, the CB500 Super Four retro naked roadster and the CBR500R Four sports bike. Both appeared last September at the China International Motorcycle Expo, although a series of trademark applications meant the existence of the machines was already common knowledge. It’s also long been known that smaller-capacity, 400cc versions would join them to suit markets like Japan where there are licence or tax advantages to the 400cc class.

But while Honda showed both 500cc models in China and has added them to its Chinese-language website in that country, six months on from that launch the CB500 Super Four and CBR500R Four still aren’t in dealers and Honda hasn’t released anything but the most basic technical details. Official prices, power and weight figures are still under wraps, for example. Only leaked details from Chinese type-approval documents have revealed that the CBR500R Four version manages a peak of 52.8kW from a 502cc capacity, with a curb weight of 189kg.

Despite expectations of a global launch, driven by Honda’s trademark filings around the world, export versions of the bikes didn’t appear at last November’s EICMA show, but now they’re set to be shown in 400cc form at the Osaka and Tokyo Motorcycle Shows that take place on successive weekends towards the end of March.

Right now only the CB400 Super Four has been teased – via a video on Honda’s official channels that shows a silhouette identical to that of the Chinese CB500 Super Four – but Honda is promising two secret models at the show, so the faired CBR400R Four is also likely to be on display there.

Technically, we know that the CB500 models use a bore of 60mm (rounded to the nearest millimetre), suggesting a bore of around 44.4mm to hit that 502cc displacement, thanks to the engine’s codename: WH460MR-A. That stands for Wuyang-Honda, Honda’s Chinese manufacturing venture, 4 cylinders and 60mm bore. Bringing the bore down to 55.5mm would achieve a 399cc total for the CB400, or Honda might choose to keep the 60mm bore and cut the stroke to 35.3mm for the same 399cc but a higher-revving character. The old CB400 Super Four, which ended production back in 2022, used a 55mm bore and 42mm stroke.

The bikes also get a new, more compact version of Honda’s E-Clutch system, as well as a multi-mode TFT dash, upside-down forks and Nissin radial four-pot front brakes. They’re intended to take on the growing number of Chinese-made four-cylinder bikes like the Kove 450R and 450RR, CFMoto’s 500SR, ZXMoto’s 500RR and 500F, and Voge’s RR500S. Outside China, Kawasaki is also in the four-cylinder, 400cc market with its Ninja ZX-4RR.

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