Question about production numbers.

About the Honda 400/4
In the late 80's and early 90's a group in Vancouver went about buying ever 400/4 they could find and exporting back to Japan. They sent dozens of containers full of restored bikes as a Honda parts manager these guys purchased tanks seats and pipes by the gross.
That is why there are so few left here

 

I didn't know that. I guess being on the other coast saved mine (and the one my uncle had, that ended up junked behind a shed, only to be retrieved by me, 35 years later to salvage what parts I could. I had read about David Silver grabbing a bunch of British ones, but the West coast caper is new to me.

I guess I can go to bed tonight knowing something I didn't this morning...

 

So... I nerded out a little on my bike tonight, after spotting this thread. I saw somebody mention that MicaPeak site, and went snooping. For my bike (XJ750J), I looked for the highest and lowest vin IDs, and subtracted. Based on those numbers, I came up with at least 11,456 being made. But, I bet there were quite a few more - remember the infamous tariff. Also, I remember reading somewhere that most vehicles disappear at about 5% per year. I upped the number of '82 Maxims made to a theoretical 20k, and conservatively subtracted 3% per year.

End result (with a little rounding for good clean numbers since we have no idea): with possible production of 11k - 20k , there are theoretically 3600 - 7000 1982 Maxim 750s left in the world.

And that's all my nerding out for the month. how 'bout them apples!?

(found an insurance table of survivor rates, and did math again... according to an insurance company, there would be ONLY 344 xj750j bikes left in 2017. EGADS!)

 

I read this thread with interest as it's always neat to find out how many of each model was produced. I also owned a CB400F Supersport and that was a "cult" bike even back in the 80's, barely 10 years after their discontinuation. Wouldn't have mattered if that group hadn't bought them up....they were already highly desired. We have several people who have been snapping up the Kaw triples and sending them off to the UK & Europe for 30 years and many have made a ton of money but to me, they were just cheaply made bikes that were a blast to ride so I bought a few and restored them to keep & ride.

I hadn't known the production numbers though....and 100K seems a bit higher than I would have guessed for only 3 production years but I'm not going to argue since you did your homework. I only sold my all original '76 a few months back. I liked the little bike but I mostly collect Kaw triples....and the little 400 just didn't have enough power....but it is an excellent handling little bike and a lot of fun to ride but it became "expendable" when I needed the space for a GT750.

I think that the lowest production XJ was the '83 XJturbo. There were supposedly 5,500 XJ650 Turbo's built in '82 and only 1,500 in '83. Over on the Turbo forum, we pretty much figured that there are far less than 1000 on the roads today, anywhere in the world. I thought of that yesterday when I took mine out for a nice early Sunday morning ride.

By production numbers as the metric, the turbo should be highly in demand but it's never caught on in the collecting world. I watched Paul Miller sell a pristine original with only 2,500 original miles and he barely got 2 grand for it! Yet I easily got very nearly TRIPLE that for my 400F when I listed it on fleabay.

Even a well cared for Original CB350, a bike that Honda built nearly 300,000 68-73, in good condition, sells for much higher than any XJ that I'm aware of.

I could be wrong but my GF was offered "400F type" money when she took her '73 CB350G that I had given her out to Vintage Days in Ohio a couple years back. Here is here Honda in front of my Kaw 250 ....very dirty from 3 days of dust but it's always a fun trip!



jeff

 

The one bike I truly regret selling was my MT-01. I bought as a bit of a speculation thinking it's low production numbers would translate to big resale money. In truth in took a while to sell. Everyone thinks it is cool but it takes a special individual to take the plunge. 1700cc's of locomotive chug in a sports bike chassis sounds like a good idea, in real world riding not so much. This thing really did have more grunt than a rhino with a stiffy.
I read there were only 2000 units world wide. I should delete my pics because they just piss me off.

 

One thing to keep in mind regarding production numbers; Yamaha was trying to outsell Honda wolrdwide. They made a lot of motorcycles during that period (but not always a lot of any one model).