CB400T Honda Hawk, handlebars and tachometer

[flammenwurfer]

I've had my 1980 Hawk for a couple years now and what I've done so far: changed oil and filter, adjusted cam chain tensioner, adjusted valves, new tires.

I am getting the itch to do a little more but don't have much experience or knowledge working on motorcycles and need some advice

1. I would like to put new cafe style bars on, but don't know which ones will work on my bike or if it's just as simple as removing the stuff on the current bars and swapping them out and remounting all the controls etc. on the new bars?

2. My tachometer made a lot of whining noise when I first got the bike. Lubing and replacing the cable didn't help. Recently it stopped making noise, but now it has also stopped working. The cable seems fine and is connected securely, so I think it might be the gauge itself? Is it hard and or expensive to replace the gauge cluster?

Down the road I think I need to readjust the balancer chain, but I don't have the time or space to do that at the moment. It also kind of scares me and I'd like to be able to take my time and be careful.

 

[Maritime]

Re: CB400T Honda Hawk, some probably basic questions

Bars are 7/8" pick ones you like, lower is good for handling but if you go clipons or clubmans you'll want rear sets. I put superbike bars on mine and was able to ride 8 hours without issue but it improve the handling and feel over the stock bars, had to route cables a bit differently but was able to keep stock ones. If you go clipons or clubmans again you'll likely need shorter cables. The tach can be changed alone and in like 10 mins with a wrench, any honda tach with the same redline from the same year range (78-86 likely) will swap in and can be had for liek 10-20 bucks on ebay, or cheaper from a boneyard. And the balance chain is not complicated at all. Follow the Manual, you have a manual right? You remove the plug with a big flathead, loosen a nut, the adjuster moves, you tighten the nut and put the plug back in. You can do that in a parking space, no space needed. Now they hardly need much adjusting, are you getting noise? or are you talking about the Cam Chain? that one is easy too but be very careful not to over loosen the nut or over torque it, they can strip and/or come too loose and then the cam chain will flop all over the cases and eat through the aluminum barrels. Manual explains it, follow it. Manual can be found using google and is a good thing to have.

Cheers.

 

[flammenwurfer]

Re: CB400T Honda Hawk, some probably basic questions

Thanks for the responses Maritime.

What are superbike bars? Clubmans are what I was thinking.

Good to know about the tach, I'll have a look on ebay.

The balance chain I have tried to adjust but when I loosened it, it didn't go anywhere. I am getting some moderate clacking noise and from reading forum threads and such have tried getting rid of it by adjusting the valves, cam chain, balancer chain and checking for exhaust leaks. Having done all those I'm not sure what to do next except for repositioning the balancer chain if it has bottomed out like it mentions in the manual. (I have a pdf version of the clymer manual and a honda shop manual).

I have also heard that some clacking is normal, but I have never owned a motorcycle before and have no idea if the amount of clacking I have is normal. I don't know what was done to the bike before I got it either, so I don't know whether the cam chain tensioner was over loosed or if I have because I don't know how loose is too loose.

 

[flammenwurfer]

Ok, so I took the dash apart last night to check out the tachometer and discovered that the cable is broken! So I guess I'll be replacing that and I bet the tach works. Hopefully it's not noisy anymore.

I'm looking at new bars and wondering what a good option would be for a lower more aggressive posture without doing clubmans. I don't really want to and don't know how to shorten cables and it sounds like I would have to with clubmans. Something lower than stock which doesn't require cable modifications would be good.

 

[Maritime]

I got my lower bars for 20 bucks out of a catalog at the local dealer. They were called superbike style and are sometimes called euro bike bars. I have the same ones on the GL too. The clickty clack on the motor is normal. If you tighten the vakves etc. To the point the motor is completely quite it will burn valves and shred your tentioner guide etc. Set to manual specs and it will be fine.

Sent from my MB525 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Scruffy]

Superbike, Euro, and tracker are pretty much the same bar with minor differences in the rise.

They look like this installed...

I believe you said you were moving to Gulfport MS in a different thread... go see the crew at Suzuki City in Biloxi, they usually had similar bars floating around. So did the Honda dealer the other side of the Biloxi bay bridge, can't remember if it was Pascagoula or another town. If the multi-brand dealership is still on Pass Road, you're golden, they handled parts and service for older bikes.

Push come to shove, I may have a spare set that I can paint and put on mine since I hate chrome and was going to scuff and spray the shiny ones anyway. And the current set is a touch too low for me, needs about 3-4 inches more rise...