Just finished taking the gearbox out of an NC30.
I have to say that compared to the NC35 engine I'm building,the build quality of the NC30 is amazing.
So well finished inside the cases,no rough casting marks,the bearing retainers.
Imagine if this quality and attention to detail had been carried through to the 35.
Happy to say that the gearbox I removed is in perfect condition.
As is the crank and bearings,so a nice engine to put back together when I get a gearbox.

Yeah its a real shame they let the quality slip on the RVF engine cos when it comes down to it the RVF's engine is the better of the 2 when it come down to power. In fact the overall build quality of RVF is poor compared to the VFR.

Rvfs are shite.

i have always said the quality on the 30 is much higher than the 35 by a long way

I think it's a bit unfair to say the RVF engine is shite becuase of the casting marks.

I'd say the RVF was normal to good, it's just a reflection on the amount of effort that went into making the NC30.

They were really well / over-engineered.

I'm only messing about, the rvf is nice but not superior to the nc30 like most people would have you think

Ah, haha.

To me it's just a cosmetic evolution with a few things softened down..

The USD's do look nice but in reality the particular set fitted onto the bike do not perform any better than the NC30 forks.

I believe the frame geometry is liked by quite a few people though.

I think Kawasaki did a similar thing to Honda

The NC24 was quite rough and agressive with it's power-delivery, much like the early ZX400

As time goes on they just get more refined.. no power change (excpet the RVF!) but the 'race-pedigree' that inspired the bikes seems to go away to make it a more friendly road bike... weirdly long gearing.. mid-range smoothness etc etc.

I like all the 80's/90's race derived 400's.. they represent a good time for the Japanese bike manufacturing industry.

My favourite two would be the NC30 from Honda as the build quality is through the roof, the motor is brilliant and everything is so well designed, the way the upper-side panels clip in for example, most other mfg's use screws and apart from the suspension getting tired on older bikes they are still very useable today as a bike.

The other being the ZXR400 L

Probably the most angry, screaming 400 i've ever ridden, nowhere near the build quality of the NC30 (still pretty good compared to others though) but by god do they go, and what a noise they make at high rpm!

Kind of digressing a lot here so i'll stop but yep.. to sum up the NC30 was a fantastically engineered bit of kit from Honda.

I don't think we'll see such another example produced on such a mass scale again, which is a real shame.

New bikes are built good but part of the that is due to quality control, equipement continuosly getting better. The NC30 to me went a step above what is expected.

Bubble period was a good time :-)

I'm impressed too!

Just done a full service/lube up of the '30 the quality & attention to detail is sublime everywhere you look, sure a bit fiddly to work on in places but for a 22 year old bike everything is superb
All 4 exhaust valves on the front head had the same sized shims & closed to the same clearance except 1 that was within 0.02mm. Same with the inlets.
That's precision for you!!!

Next up a final dyno run

Phil