Topic: CB750 K1 Steering Stops?

[ZTatZAU]

I'm wondering how common it is for worn, broken, or bent steering stops to allow the fork covers to contact the gas tank.

[Don R]

 I've had that, I added a dot of mig weld to the stop. I think it happens when a bike goes down.

[ZTatZAU]

^^^
Thanks Don!

BTW:  How are your refaced gauges coming along?
ZT

[HondaMan]

The 'wider' fork ears came with big rectangular indents in the back sides of them to avoid hitting the tanks in the late K1 and onward versions.
Lots of folks used to have a {don-style] bead of weld added to the stops. I have also installed Allen screws in them (and sometimes into the moving blade on the tree instead) when a bike went down and bent the stop(s) so the fork ears hit the tank anyway.

This Allen screw thing started out with the Vetter I fairings (the handlaid fiberglass ones, like mine) because if the handlebar mirrors were the Honda OEM versions with the 90-degree bend on the mirror's end, the stem of the mirror would hit the windshield on the fairing and could shear it off cleanly if hit fast enough - like when the bike went down. We installed Allen screws into drilled-in holes in the stops most of the time. In 1972 some accessory mirrors appeared with the mirrors riding on the mirror stalk via a clamp: with these we could put a 10-degree bend in the mirror stem, just inside the clamp site, to allow the mirror stalk to be adjusted toward the rider and still see off to the sides behind with the mirror.

[ZTatZAU]

^^^
Thanks for the historical info HondaMan!  What manufacturing date was the beginning of what you call "the late K1s"?

ZT

[Don R]

^^^
Thanks Don!

BTW:  How are your refaced gauges coming along?
ZT

I bought a parts bike with a set of brand new K1 gauges for $150 so I've been lax about refacing my old ones.  Now the problem is, the new ones are so valuable I almost hate to put them on a Hot Rod bike.

[ZTatZAU]

^^^
Thanks Don!

BTW:  How are your refaced gauges coming along?
ZT

I bought a parts bike with a set of brand new K1 gauges for $150 so I've been lax about refacing my old ones.  Now the problem is, the new ones are so valuable I almost hate to put them on a Hot Rod bike.

It's only money Don!  And you can't take it with you.

[HondaMan]

^^^
Thanks for the historical info HondaMan!  What manufacturing date was the beginning of what you call "the late K1s"?

ZT

Technically speaking, it was the "New Factory" K1 bikes that showed up with it first, around 2/71-sh or so: the 2nd plant was announced in 10/70, but struggled to get started. Then it spread to the "Old Factory" bikes before the K1 was over (about 10/71 builds is when it ended, and my K2 was 11/71, still with many K1 parts). This is one of the several ways to ID the difference quickly between the 2 factories after Honda opened the 2nd one, due to sales demand.

In the Peoria shop where I worked until 8/71 we had the 2 different types of K1 bikes on the floor (though never for long!). I still remember seeing the 'bumped-in' backsides of the new-style fork ears on the showroom bikes, next to those that didn't have them. That was when I discovered they had both widened the frame stop and indented the backs of the fork ears to prevent them hitting the tank. Unless you were looking for it, the only thing you noticed was how close the fork ears came to the early bikes' tank, and how there was over 1/2" additional space in the later ones: all the fork ears became the later one in the parts fiche (this was/is Honda's "delta parts" philosophy: new parts must fit all the previous ones). One of our sales guys commented something like, "That's gonna reduce how fast you can turn", after which I just shook my head and walked away...