Steel is cheaper, a LOT stronger, and easier to repair.

Yeah, it looks nice.  I'd ride it.  Prefer it to be a bit bigger engine, though.  But, $6000.  No wonder they have a hard time selling smaller bikes.

I think building a decent frame for handling road conditions & being expected to take years of riding just simply requires more weight than is gonna lend itself to peppy performance from a low tech, low displacement engine. I think they built a " I am not a scooter" , low tech,easy maintenance, daggum good MPG bike. I see a grocery gettin commuter bike there. The fun is there, because it leans into corners & a fella can "Walter Mitty" race against himself just fine. Youll know if you chose the wrong line by the exit speed. For me, the fun isnt JUST how fast I am coming out, its "Can I improve?" & "Can I come out of that corner at that speed every time?". Until I can match my best speed out of a corner 90+% of the time & I dont feel like the bike is capable of doing better w/o someone literally backing it in, then I am not yet finished learning to ride that bike.,Ive got some really sweet curves between home & town & after a few hundred passes thru I never tired of the challenges they offer & never got so consistent that I felt like I had learned what I needed to know to call myself "Good". I look at that 400 & see never ending fun. I believe it will handle better than the Savage, in that pegs wont be dragging so soon & the steering geometry looks better for cornering.
POwer covers a multitude of sins. Low power requires a rider to get it Right if hes gonna carry any speed thru a corner. The grins Ive gotten from watching my exit speeds slowly increase as I work thru those corners is something I wont forget. Nor will I forget the early on near disasters, I Have screwed up so badly as to wind up in the ditch. Didnt drop it, but I wasnt about to to try to aim it back toward the road till I stopped & got my , uhh, Act,, yea,, got my act together.
The Savage will lean in a turn hard enough to fold a peg up tight enough to hurt a foot pinched between engine & peg. Ive had to pull my foot out because my ankle was in a bind & the REd Wings simply werent enough to keep my foot from hurting in there. The Savage WILL handle in a turn, & Ill bet that little 400 will out do the Savage in a corner, in the handling department, BUT, theres that little matter of another 250 CC's & the Grunt the Savage has,, It just mite make for an interesting performance comparison,
6 G's? Dang,, KInda steep, but Ill bet its a well built, low maintenance machine & would give years of cheap riding. People will buy them, & "Graduate" to a Bigger,, "better" bike, theyll be out there for cheap in a few years. But I doubt they sell many at that price,.

When comparing weights of old bikes and new ones, don't forget that the old weights were "dry weights" and the new ones are "curb weight ready to ride." It is claimed the so-called dry weights included no fuel, no oil, no brake fluid, and often no battery.

Art Webb wrote on 03/06/14 at 23:11:52:


+1 on those comments! We "Old Guys" really miss the "standard" configuration we grew up with. If Honda re-introduced the venerable CB450 at the same quality as when they were discontinued, I'd buy one tomorrow. But alas, we are now stuck with Dirt Devils, Crotch Rockets, or HD Wannabees. I like this new Yam. It looks good, but I'm afraid it will go the same way as the Honda Ascot - died after 2 years due to low sales. :'(

Kick starting a 400cc bike shouldn't be that hard; but at that price I'll never know.

This bike beats the hell out of a scooter.......  Never figured out why some buy a scooter instead of a Rebel....or something like this.

but the price is a killer.....   I'm looking second "run around town" bike after I got rid of my S40, but this is over priced I think. Kinda like the idea of a kick start....