In 1983, Freddie Spencer became the world’s youngest 500cc World Champion, and he did it on a Honda V3. Honda responded by releasing a 250cc production bike to commemorate the win, but it took them until 1985 to build something closer to the actual size of Freddie’s champion. That was the NS400R, and even though it gave up 100cc and plenty of power to the race bike, Honda called it a race replica.
The two-stroke V-3 displaced 387cc and it was good for 72 horsepower and 37 pound feet of torque, both at nearly 10,000 rpm. Oh – and the whole thing weighed less than 360 pounds. For more information on the NS400R, check out this article from Classic-Motorbikes.net. Depending on who you talked to, the NS400R wasn’t as fast or aggressive as the 500cc race reps from Yamaha and Suzuki – but the tradeoff was that this was a confident handling bike. A review rehosted on Motorcycle Specs says “the NS is exciting and pretty near faultless.”
This example (VIN: NC191001411) came out of the David Silver collection and is offered with a clean Pennsylvania title. The odometer shows 19,520 kilometers (12,200 miles) and it’s a runner, however we’d recommend a fluid flush and new spark plugs – plus it needs about $400 of paintwork to make the right side look new again. There’s also a fair amount of surface rust but this is no reserve so it’s going to find a new home and I’m curious to see what the market thinks it’s worth.
Find this NS400R for sale in Santa Monica, California with bidding up to $4,500 and the reserve not yet met here on Iconic Motorbike Auctions.
Disclosure: Bike-urious is a partner in Iconic Motorbike Auctions.