Finally finished up the bike today, and all in all I think it came out really great!! This forum has been an absolute godsend, and I couldn’t have done it without some of the great advice and comments from all of you! Please enjoy some pictures of the ‘ol girl!
As some history, this 1974 Honda CB750 has been in my family since 1976 when my father bought it from its first owner. He bought it as a commuter and he did very little to it, in terms of mechanical work. He bought it with raised handle bars, a weird 70’s burgundy paint job and no Honda emblems to speak of, with a rusting out 4 into 2 chrome exhaust.
My Dad picked up my Mom for their first ever date together in 1981 and the rest was history! But alas, a few years after that fateful day, the bike was placed in the garage, and there it sat for 30 years under a heavy down blanket.
In 2020 I finally convinced my Dad to let me restore it, and so began a complete frame off restoration. What began as a simple “get it running campaign” turned into breaking the engine down and rebuilding it completely. The kickstarter had never worked, even before my father bought it, so under some prodding from my wife to do it right and do it once, I set about breaking down the engine to its crankcase, which is the only way to repair the kickstarter in these old CB750s.
The bike was kept red to keep it similar to when my father bought it, but I brought it back to its stock color scheme with the Honda tank stripe. My father always wanted a deep candy apple red, and I always wanted something with gold leaf. This bike represents a blend of both ideas. Both fenders were painted to modernize it, and the engine was powder coated black with polished engine fins.
A Yoshimura style 4 into 1 race exhaust completed the look and gave the bike a great sound, complete with free flowing air intake pods to give the bike a more streamlined look. Other than that, the engine and carbs are completely stock.
All in all I didn’t want a cafe racer, but rather a modernized version of a classic bike that was true to the original bike that my parents took their first date on. What you see is a culmination of that vision, and I hope everyone likes how it turned out!
