When I started the David Silver facebook page in October 2011 a regular commenter was Kerry Cornish. She was very supportive of me, a non-biker in a biker's world and encouraged me to get going on taking my CBT (the UK's Certificate of Basic Training for bike riders). Thanks for that Kerry (she also understood the problem of getting the old fun bags into biker's jackets!).
When the bike arrived it was in quite poor condition, the header pipes were rusty and the outer one was dented, collector box not bad and end can good. Rims were covered in dirt and baked on grime. I spent nearly two weeks, off and on, scrubbing, cleaning the whole bike. The chain guard I had to use a flat head screwdriver and strong stick to remove all the built u grime. Spokes were scrubbed clean, basically the whole bike was scribed, washed and polished. My fingers and nails had a permanent black/brown stains (glad I wasn't working then!).
I am slowing restoring the bike but I am not too fussed if it is not concourse condition, I want the bike to be restored enough to be ridden and attract plenty of attention, which it does! I still need to replace the header pipes, I have a set I bought from Motad, and there is a minor oil leak which I am hoping is only the head needing tensioning. When we got the bike there was a gasket set and the w/shop manual had a lot of grease marks where the head gasket section is. Most parts for the bike have come from David Silver Spares except the ignition switch, which went out on me one day on a ride, bummer!
My CB400/4 SuperSport is the F1 model manufactured in Dec 1976 and it originally started life as the Varnish Blue and is now a brilliant Candy Atares Red. Why red? They go faster! We purchased the bike in 2010 from a guy in Victoria, Australia who used it as a daily ride as much as possible. He was quite rapt with the bike but had to sell due to family commitments. We saw it on eBay, asked some questions, put in a bid, then asked for a Buy it Now price, just in case someone else got it. And bought it. We paid $3500.00 plus freight.
When the bike arrived it was in quite poor condition, the header pipes were rusty and the outer one was dented, collector box not bad and end can good. Rims were covered in dirt and baked on grime. I spent nearly two weeks, off and on, scrubbing, cleaning the whole bike. The chain guard I had to use a flat head screwdriver and strong stick to remove all the built u grime. Spokes were scrubbed clean, basically the whole bike was scribed, washed and polished. My fingers and nails had a permanent black/brown stains (glad I wasn't working then!).
The bike is staying with me and will not be sold. When I got my full bike license and was looking to upgrade to a bigger bike, I read an article about the CB400 and fell in love with it. Unfortunately I found out they were no longer available new, that was in 1998. I have wanted one ever since."
Kerry Cornish
03/07/13
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