Topic: What sparked the interest in classsic SOHC's?

[Prospect]

It's no secret that these sohc bikes were close to worthless in the late 80's and early 90's.  Sandcasts and K0 were still cheap.  Classic cars and harleys were scrapped and there was relatively little interest in them back then. So what is it that sparked the interest in everything old since about mid 90's till now?  Nostalgia for sure but what else?  Everything old is in demand?  What happened?

[KiefRichards]

I got my first old Honda in the Late 90s, because I couldn't afford a Bonneville.
That's what got me hooked.

FWIW, I think it's always been a "cult bike"

[Lostboy Steve]

The motto says the whole thing. "Dawn of the Sportbike Era". I always thought the success of the 750 was what more or less funded Honda’s Automotive Division.

[Stoli]

Discovery channel and others like it and shows like American Pickers, etc. have probably had the biggest influence. Not to mention all the classic car shows. I watched way too much of the Discovery Channel about 10 years ago and always wanted to build my own chopper but the money was cost prohibitive. Fast forward 5-10 years and you have web sites like this one where you realize that for a few hundred bucks you can pick up an old CB750 and for a couple thousand more you can turn it into a cool looking bike that you can say, "Hey, I did that... and here is a picture of what it looked like when I found it...".

[Duke McDukiedook]

Harleys, Triumphs and Nortons cost too damn much.
I am glad my first bike was an sohc 750 after all is said and done.

[Rookster]

There was a real push from Cycle World in the early 90s driven by David Edwards and Mitch Boehm.  There were 2 articles 'West by CB750' and the other was a 25th anniversary article where industry people wrote about the first CB750s.  There was also a movement within Western Culture that slanted towards nostalgia in the post punk 1980s.  Bands like the Stray Cats got heavy airplay and Neil Young came out with a rockabilly album coupled with movies like The Big Chill and Stand by Me.  All of this culture of looking back paved the way for a 90s nostalgia craze.  It hit CB750s rather late in the US.  Harleys and Indians were the first regular production bikes to really benefit, then British bikes and other European bikes became more expensive.  Finally at the end of the 90s Japanese bikes started to become classics.  This fit with the CB750, Z1, and H1 as the first real 'big' Japanese bikes.  Rare bikes have always been collectible but the everyday riders like the Duo Glide, Bonneville, and CB750 are really a part of this almost new ' Victorian Age' of sorts that has its roots in the 1970s and 1980s but really became mainstream in the 1990s.

Scott

[Old Scrambler]

Some of us never lost the interest............just moved from under a tree to the internet. Others got into it because their father, mother, uncle or a good friend had one. Restoring to original is one part of it and has investment value................custom building on a budget is another part of it, to the point it has spawned an industry of custom parts suppliers that may be larger today then it was in the 70s-80s.

Vintage racing of all forms has also brought a lot of attention to this era of 'go-fast' bikes. The Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club started in the mid-80s and has now grown to a national club with a vintage-only club magazine and several national events. The Antique Motorcycle Club of America has been a presence for more than 30 years. Have you been to Davenport, Iowa for the Chief Blackhawk event? When the AMA museum started promoting the Vintage Motorcycle Days in the mid-90s, it spawned several other events and helped to get the MOTORCYCLE CLASSICS magazine started. And then we cannot forget people like Buz Walneck and the growing number of private bike collectors that opened their doors as public museums...........Have you been to the George Barber property?

Some people ask me if this will end. Or will the public move on to newer years and leave the '60s and '70s behind?  I see the new bikes expanding the entire field. The AMA has now sanctioned a CLASSIC category of racing; 1956-1981 for land-speed records. Will this spread to other forms of racing at AMA events?  Will this add to what AHRMA and others are already doing? 

Answer; The vintage scene draws larger paying-crowds to racing events than the modern-era races.

Answer; Its much more self-effacing to go to any event on or in a respectable classic or vintage vehicle, whether stock or custom, than it is to have something less than a new vehicle.

Answer; When you die, your daily driver sedan will go to a needy relative, but your bike(s) will get bid-up!       

[Wobbly]

I never think of my CB750 as a classic bike. I bought it new back in 77 and grew old with it. Unfortunately, my Honda is holding up a lot better than I am. I still don't use it for "Sunday afternoon rides" but to cover distances. Another 450 mile trip coming up on Thursday--most likely in the rain--and that just to turn around and go back the next day. With my bike, it's like with my favorite music--suddenly, I only find it on the "Classic Countdown." What happened here? Anyway, my bike is priceless to me. Wives come and go, but my Honda...I probably treat the bike better. Of topic, but I thought, I throw it out there to illustrate that people own "classic bikes" for different reasons. Mine has been popular with me for 37 years now.

[ADW]

In my personal case, my 72 CB350F looks like what I "grew up wanting" in my youth. I was 12 years old in '72. So, the classic Honda styling is what caused me to want to keep the 350F. I had a CB175 twin and a CB450 twin in the middle to later 70's so that era of styling still looks really good to me. Here's a couple of bigger/hi-res pics of my "preservation" '72 350F (I fixed only what was needed...it's as an original 42-year-old bike as it can be. Nothing was painted or polished or replaced that didn't have to be). Still has the original paint.

[Retro Rocket]

Always liked them, used to see them go past my house on the weekends, lived on a little peninsula, one way in and one way out, bikes of all sorts all weekend, bought my first one in 1979...

[thelowmax]

In my opinion, the sudden craze for high quality vintage Japanese bikes is neither sudden or crazy. In the 80's and 90's, they were dirt cheap for several reasons. When they came out, they were relatively inexpensive and were marketed to a huge demographic. They also ran great. LOT'S of people bought them. Probably more than 2/3 were newbies who went on to sell them when the mystery faded. So, there were a lot of them out there. They were no longer "cutting edge", but with little effort, they ran great.  Jump to 2000's, somebody like myself, who hadn't ridden for 25 years and suddenly gets the bug again. I looked for a solid, reliable bikes that are dirt cheap. Once, I bought a bike with rotted pipes and rust that hadn't run in 20 years, that started after just a few kicks. I think the cb750's SuperBike cache and retro stylings get a lot of hipsters interested in them but, I also believe that, most are sold on the fact that, in addition to being superbad, these are solid high performance bikes that are easy to maintain and therefor still, run great.

[martin99]

For me it's about familiarity. I got my first SOHC in the late seventies. We used to change our bikes more regularly than our underwear in those days, and in quick succession I owned CB750s, CB550s, GS750/850s, Kawasaki triples, etc etc. All realising 'classic' status now. Could never afford a zed, still can't! (Got me a Norton though) 

The thing with these bikes is you can work on them. With a bit of know-how you can diagnose, and often fix (bodge!) problems at the roadside. I don't understand fuel injection. Bikes that are shrouded in plastic and need to be plugged in to a computer to troubleshoot leave me cold. I like naked bikes with carburetors. Generally that means sticking to older ones. One day you'll be flicking through a magazine and see your bike described as classic, often purely by virtue of age. But to me it's not just age that denotes a classic. It's a mixture of age, aesthetic, the ride, sound, and the relative ease at which you can understand what's going on inside that engine, and having the ability to fix it with the minimum of 'special' tools (and dealer charges). Tinkering is part of the appeal, and it gets me out of the way of the missus. I build and maintain my bikes myself and therefore know every nut and bolt, and all their foibles. Keep on top of it, and it's not that time consuming.  When you take it out and it sings, you think to yourself, 'yeah, I made it do that'.

[thelowmax]

I never think of my CB750 as a classic bike. I bought it new back in 77 and grew old with it. Unfortunately, my Honda is holding up a lot better than I am. I still don't use it for "Sunday afternoon rides" but to cover distances. Another 450 mile trip coming up on Thursday--most likely in the rain--and that just to turn around and go back the next day. With my bike, it's like with my favorite music--suddenly, I only find it on the "Classic Countdown." What happened here? Anyway, my bike is priceless to me. Wives come and go, but my Honda...I probably treat the bike better. Of topic, but I thought, I throw it out there to illustrate that people own "classic bikes" for different reasons. Mine has been popular with me for 37 years now.

Too funny. But, at least, "classic" is at least better than "vintage".

[Rocky2010]

My first road bike in the day was the Honda CB750/4 which was an ex-cop bike, I thought it had so much power sometimes it scared me. Then it was the Kawasaki Z900 which I did enjoy, but like most bikes of the day they didn't handle very well so one had to be very careful at times.

But I guess in the day they were fast bikes but not today when I consider now my Kawasaki ZX12R which is a rocket ship.
So the time has passed and I still enjoy the old bikes it really doesn't matter what make it is, I have bikes from ranging from 1948 all the way up to 2010 so I have a nice variety to ride each weekend.

Its a must to have more than one bike 

[RobertCB500F]

I bought a used Z50 in 74, I wanted a CB500 but I was only 14... Now I can afford what I want,  thankfully I still wanted a CB500!

[guitarkev66]

I stumbled onto them by chance. I remember seeing one at a car show from time to time and admiring their candy paint and cool retro looks.  Then I found an add on craigslist for a 1973 cb350 twin with 500 original miles. It was like a time capsule with its beautiful candy orange paint.  I didn't even haggle on the $500 price, which is unusual for me I always haggle.  I brought it home cleaned the carbs, put a new battery, changed the fluids and she came to life...   From that point I started checking for them on craigslist every day like an addiction, being lucky to find one from time to time.  I always loved the look of vintage Triumphs but I feel they were always way over priced for what they are, your buying a look not a bike that was very well put together.  I've owned twelve of them in the past 6 years, loving them all.  78' cb750f, 77' cb550f,  2-71' cb750, 72' cb750, 72' cb500, 75'cb750f, 3-70' cb750, 73' cl350, and 73'cb350

[sammermpc]

It all happened backwards for me, of course, I wasn't born until well after the age of the superbike, so it couldn't have happened any other way. Still, I had no idea that the 70s Honda CBs were classic bikes until after I got one.

I'd wanted a motorcycle and more-or-less randomly purchased one on Craigslist. I was mostly going for something affordable. I checked it out, it looked good, and I went from there. The really surprising thing was when I took it out for a ride once I had it registered, and immediately started getting comments and questions. Then I found the forums, here, and realized there was a whole world of bike restoration and care (yeah, I should've known). At any rate, it's been a great learning experience and I'm presently looking for another CB to buy!

[Garage_guy_chris]

Ive always been into old cars 60's and 70's. about 10 years ago i worked for a guy who for a past career was a diesel technician who recognized my talents for small engines, building things and metal work and took me under his wing to restore is 67 mustang fast back. I learned so much in that 9 months it really changed my life. After finishing the car. i started wanting to do something of my own. problem was he had spent $30,000 on his mustang and i just didn't have that kinda money to spend or space to dedicate. I got into dirt bikes and dirt biking but still wanted to build something. Thats around the time american chopper was into there thing. I watched religiously getting more and more antsy to do something. After a bad breakup my 26th birthday was right around the corner and i decided it was time to build something, i first looked at harleys (to expensive), then british (to troublesome and expensive too), then came the japanese bikes and the whole cafe thing...   For my 26th birthday i found "something that looked interesting" and took the plunge



a year later and about $3500



Now who can stop at one?  now i want something bigger i can take the girl friend out on and maybe even do some trips / touring



not quite there but slowly coming along
Oh yeah how you like my solution to a little clean up sand blasting, Now she's in paint


 

[Ichiban 4]

I feel I've "evolved" with old Honda's..especially the SOHC 4's.  So it was never a matter of "sparking my interest"..but rather..just continuing with my involvement with a type and class of bikes that I grew-up with/into.

Have posted here several times before about how in my generation (early baby boomer)..we started with classic American iron (Harley's and Indians)..graduated to the British marques (better engineering and performance)..and were kinda blown-away when the Japanese improved upon those..in production bikes

Nowadays..a lot of my interest in the older Japanese bikes is due to nostalgia and an appreciation for how far things had come by the early 70's. I owned or rode most of the 4-cylinder bikes prior to that time(Henderson..Indian..Ariel..Mammoth) before Honda's in-line SOHC 4's..and felt that none were as technologically advanced nor reliable as what 'ol Soichiro developed/gave us.. 

I'm also married to a Japanese..for past 20 years..have been to Honda and related facilities in Japan..and feel some sense of camaraderie with the Japanese bike industry from that perspective.  The newer Japanese bikes..et al..seem significantly beyond what the SOHC 4's achieved in terms of engineering and performance..but it's enough for me nowadays to just get on my old SOHC 4 for an hour or two to re-live what it's like to ride them..and enjoy the scenery and experience that riding most bikes provide to us.

I'm always very appreciative that this website and our fellow SOHC 4 forum members have been here to support and share our related experiences.  It's one of the good things about living in these times..I feel.

Al/Ichi

[dhall57]

 I think it mainly comes down to several things, quality, ease of maintenance, eye appeal, and being able to go back in time a little bit. They were built so damn good and you don't have a PHD to work on them and to boot the styling, well you just don't get tired of looking at them. Most of us here grew up with these bikes in the 70's and now most of us are in the age group 55 to 65 so who doesn't like turning back the clock 40 years or so when we were alot younger and thought we would live forever. And that's where these SOHC4's take use every time we throw a leg over one and take off down the hwy

[flatlander]

i'm just not interested in modern bikes. too much plastic, electronics, computer controlled stuff, often too specialised... so that's just personal preference for something that, if push comes to shove, can be fixed on the roadside in the rain with a hammer and does everything reasonably well and reliably.
that's why i've ended up with bikes from the 70s or early 80s. never seriously considered anything more up-to-date and sophisticated. actually, i never even had 4 cylinders before and looked long enough at the schematics of these bikes before concluding that i could manage that, and went for it.

after i moved to amsterdam i didn't have a bike for a while. then i got and restored a honda ss50 moped for commuting - couldn't see myself riding one of those modern scooter plastic buckets. soon i became itchy for something bigger, though, and stayed with the honda theme - that's where the 550 came in which is basically a toy for me, not a necessity like the moped.

i have this vivid childhood memory, probably romantically tainted and distorted at this point, of sitting next to my father in the car, standing at a traffic light. in front of us was a bike with a distinct chrome fender and tail light. the light changed to green, the bike took off and was gone but never left my imagination. i was too young to ride or drive anything at the time but now i recognise that rear as belonging to an SOHC4 honda which somehow since then has become iconic to me. nothing rational, just a dream but hey, i have now the time and money to live it so why not?

there's also the social aspects. wherever you stop with these bikes there's people coming up to you telling you stories they had back in the day with their bikes or asking questions about it, getting into a friendly conversation... try to have that kind of interaction riding a crotch rocket.

why the hipster crowd is getting interested? i don't know and i don't care. i suppose once they realise they need to search for parts and can't just pop down to any dealer, and have to get their hands dirty and can't just take it to any shop, they'll drop them soon enough.

why the prices increase? well as time goes by these bikes will get more rare, especially in stock configuration. that naturally makes them more precious.

[greenjeans]

When bumpers on automobiles stopped being metal/chrome, the cool factor just went out the window.   Same for motorcycles - when the chrome turned into plastic, all the charm and look of the classics died.

The farther we get from 1975 or so, the harder it is to find affordable classics.

I went to high school in the mid 80's.   Even Ferrari made ugly cars in the 80's.   NOTHING in that decade or the one following was really well designed, thought out, or made with anything in mind other than profit.    Hence, the kids of the 80's and 90's don't have anything cool to buy when they get into the workforce for a while and can finally start to afford the things they wanted when they were younger.    That kinda leaves us with the 70's as the era with the most affordable stuff.   Certainly, the onslaught of car shows, cycle shows and picking shows fueled some, but I really think it's just that these CBs were very well made, very well designed and were plentiful in numbers.   They have stood the test of time - just like a 67 Corvette, the Porsche 911, or a Vincent Black Shadow.   They were all the pinacle of their era.

[Ravie]

I have always liked good looking bikes, but never really cared to own one. Too many people get hurt on them and it just wasn't practical for me as a daddy. I got my permit at 18 and rode a Kawa I shared with a friend of mine, and after that summer was over I just never really thought about it again. Most of my teenage years were either out offroading in cars, trucks, 4 and 3 wheelers...

Harleys bore me for the most part. Everyone has one and they're all customized and as far as I'm concerned none of them are special. All that chrome and the ape hangers and crap...yuck. No thanks. Not for me.

In the past year or so, I' had been thinking about bikes more, and how it'd be nice if I had one I could ride when I was going to work or something so I could not be driving my 14mpg Jeep when it wasn't necessary. Around that time one of my FB friends started posting all of these pictures from one of the Cafe Racer pages, and it was like....a spark. Suddenly I saw a bike that actually appealed to me. Something I hadn't really seen before (because I live in the midwest where everyone rides a friggin harley or similar bike) and it just looked COOL. That coupled with one of my favorite movies of all time (The World's Fastest Indian) and I was hooked.

We had some conversations about what the most popular bikes for cafe style conversions were, and I had an extra car sitting here not being driven...I threw an ad on CL and a guy traded me his 75 CB750's.

I actually don't really like the look of the stock CB series bikes. I wouldn't say they're ugly, but they don't do much for me. MORE than Harleys do, certainly...

It's really a racer thing for me. I like the look of the Cafe style because they're all unique and they look fast and they're NOT crotch rockets.

That was all clear as mud.

[Oldtech]

The elemental motorcycle would be a frame carrying a swingarm and a set of front forks, both with brakes of some kind, two wheels and an engine. All of the rest is just added weight. This is the look that builders today seem to be going for and Japanese bikes from the 60's and 70's lend themselves well to this sort of customizing. So do older Brit bikes but they're in a price bracket all their own.

Why the SOHC's? Lots of em. They're affordable. They look right, and because of Hondas policy of maintaining a parts supply for older models up until the late 70's there are still many parts available. This kept a lot of older Honda's on the road which in turn kept up the demand for parts. Try restoring a 70's Yamaha, Suzuki or Kawasaki and you'll see what I mean.

When I was 7 years old I got a ride on the back of a Harley decker. That did it for me. I was going to have a bike. When I was 13 I saw a Honda 305 Superhawk and fell in love. Got my first one at 16 and 49 years later I'm still riding Hondas.

[BobbyR]

Back the original point. Why are these Bikes now gaining general popularity?

I met my friend who has a beatuiful shadow a a local spot people meet up do go on rides. It is Big Twin Country.  I roll up with my K8 and people come up and start talking to me. This did not happen as little as 5 years ago.

One fellow with a really fine Road King was telling me that, no matter how much he tries to indivualize his bike, it essentially looks like all the other bikes around him.

He pointed to mine and said, this looks unique, it draws attention. Another fellow asked how much I paid for it, I told him $100 15 yeras ago.  I added that my $100 bike has cost me about $2,500 to date.

I do notice people are admiring the classic bikes rather than ignore them as they did not too long ago. The Cafe craze is also part of it. The down side is, the bike or indvidual parts become a theft target.