Topic: Colour of gauge faces 1975 CB750F (F0?) USA spec vs CB750 Ks

[Pedro26]

Hi,

Just had an interesting discussion with the guy who restores gauges in the Netherlands, he was telling me that the faces on mine look blue because they have faded, and they were originally dark green. Also the ‘danger’ zone on the tacho on mine is white, he was telling me it’s white because it has faded to white from red/orange!

Is that correct? The old gauges for K series CB750s still look green. Is that because those gauges originally were a different green that have aged differently. Their red zones still look red also.

I just wondered if there was a short run with rare different colour? Or is it just the effects of dye fading and/or the Californian sun, as suggested?

[bryanj]

He is correct, your gauges have probably been out in the sun more, the tacho area is always red and the original handbook said it was not advisable to run the engine above the red, so in the red must be ok!

[HondaMan]

Hi,

Just had an interesting discussion with the guy who restores gauges in the Netherlands, he was telling me that the faces on mine look blue because they have faded, and they were originally dark green. Also the ‘danger’ zone on the tacho on mine is white, he was telling me it’s white because it has faded to white from red/orange!

Is that correct? The old gauges for K series CB750s still look green. Is that because those gauges originally were a different green that have aged differently. Their red zones still look red also.

I just wondered if there was a short run with rare different colour? Or is it just the effects of dye fading and/or the Californian sun, as suggested?

He seems to be technically correct, although I suspect that some might argue with his descriptions of the colors(?) from time to time. The 'red zone' was always a red-trending-toward-orange so that it stood out well against the dark-green-sorta-blue (I thought of it as "pine forest green" myself) that became more blue in the later gauges. The red also changed a little on those later ones to make it stand out against the green. This supposedly became needed in the later bikes because of color-blind riders, who see red and green as the same color (like my father-in-law), but my sources of that comment are sketchy. There was mention made of this [rare] happenstance in one of the motorcycle magazines of the mid-1970s, which probably triggered Honda to change the faces in the F0 bikes, for the 750. Mostly the "F" type bikes (750F, 550F, 400F) came with the slightly bluer color faceplate and the almost "hot orange" redlines, although the later 750K7/8 also had them.

[PeWe]

Photos of NOS gauges for sale might help to find out.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/202609795629

1975 K in Europe might all have been K2 gauges as we had K2 72-75 in Sweden, same color as the F0 on eBay above.

We got the green on K6, F1.
Blueish on F2. K7 too I guess.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Hi,

Just had an interesting discussion with the guy who restores gauges in the Netherlands, he was telling me that the faces on mine look blue because they have faded, and they were originally dark green. Also the ‘danger’ zone on the tacho on mine is white, he was telling me it’s white because it has faded to white from red/orange!

Is that correct? The old gauges for K series CB750s still look green. Is that because those gauges originally were a different green that have aged differently. Their red zones still look red also.

I just wondered if there was a short run with rare different colour? Or is it just the effects of dye fading and/or the Californian sun, as suggested?

Yes, that is correct. Dark green for 75 and light green for 76. No other colors.

I bought my bike new and transferred the gauges to my second 75 F when I built it. I was fortunate enough to find a set of NOS  (separately) gauges that I used when I restored my bike. All dark green then and now. 

[Pedro26]

Great,

Many thanks for the replies, and confirmation!

[jlh3rd]

He is correct, your gauges have probably been out in the sun more, the tacho area is always red and the original handbook said it was not advisable to run the engine above the red, so in the red must be ok!

that's not what my 550 manual says....750's were different?

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

If you do WhatsApp I could easily send you a picture of NOS gauges on my bike and the original faded ones (which are not blue). Guess I can not text them since you are not in the States? Sorry, not a techie LOL

[jlh3rd]

For the '77 550F only , it seems, the face plates were blue......The 550 tach wouldn't have the correct red line ....
but they'd physically fit......like to see his.....things get switched around over the years....

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/202609795629?norover=1&mkevt=1&mkcid=4&mkrid=711-166599-462199-9&mpt=64645930b45a2e6738b517883be3ae4b&gdpr=&gdpr_consent=&siteid=0&ipn=admain2&placement=572155

Pricey, yes, but only a one year part. I think I gave $425 for my NOS matching speedo from JT Marks a few years back (NOS very rare) but I averaged it out with the tach at $85 from DSS. They had 5 or 6 of the tachs. Kicking myself for not taking all of them. The part number wasn't listed as it was not a European part. I just happened to inquire out of the blue.