1988 Honda NS400R

Honda dominated in the 500 cc class motocross racing with two-stroke engines, but its four-stroke Grand Prix track bikes were lagging behind the competition, most notably Suzuki and Yamaha. Honda then continued what worked for them in motocross and pushed forward with two-stroke development in their bikes for the Grand Prix. The result was the NS500, a water-cooled machine that fused the power of three two-stroke motocross engines into a compact and lightweight V3 engine configuration, producing 120 hp (89 kW) at 11,000 rpm.

Honda’s most famous and successful rider of the NS500 was Freddie Spencer. Known as Fast Freddie to those in the motorcycle racing world, was one of Honda’s most talented young racers in the early 80s and today is regarded as one of the best from that time. In 1982 he gave Honda their first win in the 500cc class in 15 years. If that wasn’t enough, in 1983, riding a lighter and more powerful NS500, he became the youngest 500cc World Champion ever, a record he would hold for 20 years.

With Suzuki and Yamaha releasing street-legal replicas of their famous racing bikes, Honda decided it was time to do the same. Two years later, in 1985, as a belated celebration of Freddie’s victory, Honda released the NS400R, achieving the goal of a machine with the same grace as the NS500, just in a less powerful package legal for the streets. The result is a fast, small, light, two-stroke sports bike, beautifully finished with outstanding handling and road-holding.

The main feature of the NS400R is the liquid-cooled 2-stroke V-type 3-cylinder engine. Two cylinders are laid out horizontally at the front, and one cylinder is laid out at a 90-degree angle from there. The engine is equipped with the ATAC (Automatic Torque Amplification Control) system, which detects the engine speed and automatically changes the exhaust capacity to achieve an effective exhaust pulsation effect. In typical Honda fashion, the NS400R was beautifully detailed in Rothmans livery, identical to those on Fast Freddie’s NS500.

It may be 100cc smaller and considerably less powerful than the brutal NS500, but the bikes have enough in common to warrant the Grand Prix replica tag. The NS400R production ended in 1988, with Honda discontinuing the bike. The bike is a rare beast in this current day, due to the production by Honda being very limited