Topic: Here is what is costs to make your 750 look good again

[GUTS]

I cleaned this K5 up for a friend of mine. I usually restore his bikes but he wanted me to just clean this one up for a rider. It took two weeks but it turned out okay for a non-restoration. I tried to keep the replacement parts to a minimum. Whatever wasn't replaced was either polished out or just cleaned except for the oil tank, chain guard, upper triple tree, brake caliper, and the engine. The frame paint is original I just rubbed it out with fine-cut rubbing compound. The chrome is all original just polished and of course I polished out the engine covers. Both wheels got disassembled and the hubs redone, the spokes and nipples were just shined up with 0000 steel wool. It is a lot of hand work but worth it in the end. I did nothing to the engine except replace gaskets. In the last pictures I was getting ready to load it and take it back and I didn't have the lower tank trim to put on.

Here is the price breakdown:

1975 CB750                                          $4500
Coils                                                         175
Grips                                                          40
Throttle cable B                                           34
Speedometer cable                                      25
Speedometer drive(used)                             20
Tires                                                         204
Oil                                                              20
Master cylinder kit($20 extra for overnight)   80
Paint                                                       1100
Hardware                                                    50
Gaskets                                                      30
Headlight bucket                                        175
Spark plugs                                                 20

Total                                                        $6463


















































If you look close enough you can still find a few tired pieces but it's a budget-clean, not a restoration. I did put the rear axle in the right way in the end. 

[PeWe]

The start must have been a bike in a very good condition. Not much replaced. The result is really beautiful!

[Bailgang]

I'm in the process of putting the finishing touches on a cb350 twin I put together for my wife as her first bike. I haven't bothered adding everything up because I know it will ad up to more than the bike is worth, I knew it was going to be a money pit the moment I started on it but as long as my wife actually rides it and gets some use out of it then it's all cool.

[ekpent]

 Did you charge for your labor,did not see that on the bill ? Hopefully repacked the steering bearings or put rollers in while apart. Looks nice,great work, how many miles are on her?  If the labor was free I am looking for a 'new best friend' 

[Bodi]

I was going to make the point about labor as well, but this looks to be a "labor of love", not looking for a profit, so labor can maybe be considered as free?
Even with free labor, restoring any motorcycle - except a short list of exceptionally collectible bikes - is a losing proposition. Costing out the many hours of work at any realistic price shrinks that list quite a bit.
It's a fun hobby though, and one gets a usable motorcycle when done (OK, maybe not done, there always seems to be more stuff to do).

[drumstyx]

The start must have been a bike in a very good condition. Not much replaced. The result is really beautiful!

Yeah I was gonna say, that sounds like a bargain to me.

[evinrude7]

beautiful job.  how much was labor?

[Stev-o]

Great job, Jeff!   Thinking that bike must have low miles, $4500 seems a little high for a K5?

Is that an S2 I see in one of those pics?  I just got the one from Dave in PA, thanks again for your help with that.

[schu3507]

Well done

[GUTS]

Some of you guys are missing the point completely. I just wanted to show what YOU could do to YOUR bike with YOUR OWN elbow grease and time(not hollering just emphasizing)and not much cash, nothing to do with labor costs or even parts costs because each bike is in different condition. It's not a restoration, it's a clean up. I wanted to show that your bike can look good without spending thousands of dollars. Deduct the paint job and there isn't a lot of money involved. To me a restoration is a 100% bike, done to as close as humanly possible to as new with no regard to how much money you have to shovel out the door. I have done a number of full restorations and believe me this was way easier. The bike has just over 9000 miles. It runs great. I set the valves and the timing but I didn't re-pack the steering head bearings because I didn't pull the lower tree. You would be surprised to see what you can do with pure elbow grease.

[flybox1]

Nice work GUTS. love the color. 

[evinrude7]

Some of you guys are missing the point completely. I just wanted to show what YOU could do to YOUR bike with YOUR OWN elbow grease and time(not hollering just emphasizing)and not much cash, nothing to do with labor costs or even parts costs because each bike is in different condition. It's not a restoration, it's a clean up. I wanted to show that your bike can look good without spending thousands of dollars. Deduct the paint job and there isn't a lot of money involved. To me a restoration is a 100% bike, done to as close as humanly possible to as new with no regard to how much money you have to shovel out the door. I have done a number of full restorations and believe me this was way easier. The bike has just over 9000 miles. It runs great. I set the valves and the timing but I didn't re-pack the steering head bearings because I didn't pull the lower tree. You would be surprised to see what you can do with pure elbow grease.

i got the point but i am curious what you charge for this? 

[drumstyx]

The aluminum polishing looks amazing.

[carnivorous chicken]

Titsy.

[GUTS]

I restore bikes for Leroy on a pretty steady basis so I didn't charge him anything. He pays me well for my restoration work so he deserved a favor. I overpolished the aluminum for Leroy because it is a rider, I won't overpolish the metal on a true restoration. He has one of the largest private collections in the world, over 500 restored bikes, about half Honda and the rest mostly Kawasaki, Yamaha, and Suzuki. He has one of every Honda Four in every year and every color including four Sandcasts. It's incredible. He also has a 450 Four and the only know complete set of Honda Dreams from 1953 to 1958. Leroy is a Honda Man. 

[flybox1]

Pictures... 

[carnivorous chicken]

I restore bikes for Leroy on a pretty steady basis so I didn't charge him anything. He pays me well for my restoration work so he deserved a favor. I overpolished the aluminum for Leroy because it is a rider, I won't overpolish the metal on a true restoration. He has one of the largest private collections in the world, over 500 restored bikes, about half Honda and the rest mostly Kawasaki, Yamaha, and Suzuki. He has one of every Honda Four in every year and every color including four Sandcasts. It's incredible. He also has a 450 Four and the only know complete set of Honda Dreams from 1953 to 1958. Leroy is a Honda Man. 

Second the pictures! Let's see 'em. And... 450-four?

[GUTS]

These are from two years ago, it has grown considerably since. He is sending me a few new pictures after a bit and I will ad them, including the 450 Four. There is no way I could take pictures of them all that day so this is it. This may hurt a bit.


This one hadn't made it up front yet.













I don't even know what this is besides being a CB750 underneath.






This bike is brand new, never serviced.












His collection is in Mandan ND so if any of you ever get out this way I will be happy to take you there. It's Disney Land for motorcycle freaks.

[Ridem32]

Looks great. Keep up the good work


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[Ridem32]

Wow that 79 model new cbx is great.


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[carnivorous chicken]

Stunning, love that row of 350Fs.

Is the 450 four a bored out 400F?

[markreimer]

WOW my eyes!!!!!! Great work! Was the paint done locally or are those yamiha tank and panels?


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[BomberMann650]

Excluding the initial purchase price of the bike, both our 750 projects are on about the same budget.  But we had different spending priorities.

[PeWe]

Really good to encourage people what can be done home if having access to a garage.  Restore and maybe upgrade the engine cost some, though.
The example is perfect too, taking the mighty old CB750 back to how it once looked.

When I had a small flat I brought the engine in, did the job on the kitchen table. Had the bike in a barn that 5 guys rented.
Very convenient to do some small job while waiting for the spaghetti to boil. it smelled old oil everywhere for a while. Yes, I lived alone. I had friends that brought the entire bike into the apartment (had elevator big enough for a bike). I could not due to the stairs.

Good paint jobs can be tricker as well as cutting seats for valves which need expensive cut tools. Bore cylinder and sleeves would be nice to get cheaper too.

EDIT: Really nice bunch of fantastic bikes! Keeping the history alive. They must be wort some.
Is it a museum?
Or a collectors harem of bikes?

[markreimer]

Really good to encourage people what can be done home if having access to a garage.  Restore and maybe upgrade the engine cost some, though.
The example is perfect too, taking the mighty old CB750 back to how it once looked.

When I had a small flat I brought the engine in, did the job on the kitchen table. Had the bike in a barn that 5 guys rented.
Very convenient to do some small job while waiting for the spaghetti to boil. it smelled old oil everywhere for a while. Yes, I lived alone. I had friends that brought the entire bike into the apartment (had elevator big enough for a bike). I could not due to the stairs.

Good paint jobs can be tricker as well as cutting seats for valves which need expensive cut tools. Bore cylinder and sleeves would be nice to get cheaper too.

EDIT: Really nice bunch of fantastic bikes! Keeping the history alive. They must be wort some.
Is it a museum?
Or a collectors harem of bikes?

Haha pewe, you're describing my current situation! Live in an apartment, top of a three story walk-up. The 750 is parked on the street and most of my work is done on the floor in my back room. Engine work in a garage I share with some guys across town occasionally. Including the purchase price, I'm at about $4500 on my k4 which includes a 2nd oversized top end rebuild, suspension and exhaust replacement, few other fun bits.

Just this morning I found my bike cover had bees slashed up for no reason. Thankfully the newly upholstered seat wasn't touched....



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