Topic: 48 years on a '75 CB750F

[scottly]

I guess it's time for this again.

[scottly]

The original version..

[newday777]

Happy Anniversary Greg.

[ofreen]

Thanks Stu.

[kap384@telus.net]

So bloody incredible.  Keep on truckin'!  Congrats on 47! Still honoured to have met you in 2011 and hand-off Godzilla.

[ofreen]

Thanks Kris, that was a memorable day meeting you and seeing your beautiful 750F. That was a heck of a ride you did to get down there. The honor was all mine.  Can you believe it was almost 13 years ago?

[kap384@telus.net]

Thanks Kris, that was a memorable day meeting you and seeing your beautiful 750F. That was a heck of a ride you did to get down there. The honor was all mine.  Can you believe it was almost 13 years ago?

Right?  No kidding on 13 years.  Honour was all mine.

[ofreen]

February 2025 is the 50th birth month for the good old 750.



I wanted to get a ride done in February to commemorate the momentous occasion at least a little bit, but the weather has sucked around here since the new year.  But the weather has taken a favorable turn the last few days, so I was able to get a nice ride in today.  The tires were only down a couple of pounds, the oil was at the same level in tank as it was when I checked it 2 1/2 months ago, so gravity hadn't had its way with it as sometimes happens with a 750.  The bike hadn't been started since mid-December, but it fired right up.  No puff of blue smoke came out.  All the lights and horn responded to infusion of electrons.  The bike pulled strongly without a burble like usual, smoother than ever.  What a great bike.  Here are a few photos down in the awesome Owyhees -





I've griped about the short tread life of this Metzeler ME77 before.  It is down to the wear bars after a measly 5500 miles.  That's how they were 30 years ago, and are no better now.  I knew that when I bought it, but it was all I could find in stock at the time. 


Just a great ride on the faithful machine. Very satisfying.  That being said, it remains for sale, current selling price is $172,020.70.

[dave500]

thing is,Honda never meant for these bike to last forever,and they will with proper service,they were built tough to be abused,if they dont get abused thats when they last forever.

[PeWe]

ME77 was crap on my CB750 K2
Time to replace after 3831km !!! Grip not good, had some surprise rear sliding when braking I had not had before.

It had no run out, not bumpy, but mid groove almost disappeared on 1/3 of the tire, deeper the other half.
That verify a really wrong made tire.
Photo from June last year.

I had good experience with ME99 in the 80's.

Both my bikes have now Michelin Road Classic, rear and front. A much better lasting tire.

[BenelliSEI]

Greg…. Wow!  Am impressed. What a great story and best wishes for all the rides to come.

[Stev-o]

Congrats Greg, 50 years is a major milestone especially with 172K on the clock!!

As far as a "measly 5500 miles", it is obviously a soft compound tire, which typically has more grip but sacrifices durability.  Personally, I prefer that over a hard compound...

[PeWe]

Forgot to congratulate the long running and long owned bike!
Engine not restored either, wow!

It must be a special feeling with it, a family member.

[ofreen]

thing is,Honda never meant for these bike to last forever,and they will with proper service,they were built tough to be abused,if they dont get abused thats when they last forever.

They definitively forgot about the concept of planned obsolescence when they designed and built the CB750.  How can you sell more bikes if the ones you make don't wear out?  My airhead BMW is a great bike, but even it can't compare to the durability and reliability of this 750F. 

I had good experience with ME99 in the 80's.

The ME99 had better grip, but mileage was no better for me.  The last time I used one was on an '82 CB900F and it was gone in 4000 miles, and that was being run tubeless on Comstars.

Greg…. Wow!  Am impressed. What a great story and best wishes for all the rides to come.

Thanks! and back at you.

Congrats Greg, 50 years is a major milestone especially with 172K on the clock!!
As far as a "measly 5500 miles", it is obviously a soft compound tire, which typically has more grip but sacrifices durability.  Personally, I prefer that over a hard compound...

Thanks, Stev-o.  I am with you on that, but as PeWe pointed out, the ME77 has neither.  The ME99 had what you are talking about. It was priced like a premium tire, but didn't last many miles.  I have been crying like a baby since Metzeler discontinued the ME88 Marathon back in 2012.  I always got at least 15,000 miles out of them on the 750 (at least one went 17,000), running tubes of course.  Traction was excellent wet or dry, hot or cold.  Traction was good enough that I ended up wearing a hole in the original alternator case, and gouged the exhaust collector to hell on the right side.  The peg feelers are long gone.  So it is possible to have both, which the ME88 had.  It is understandable from a bean counter standpoint, why sell a tire that lasts 3 times as long and doesn't cost much more when you can sell more tires by offering crap?

Forgot to congratulate the long running and long owned bike!
Engine not restored either, wow!
It must be a special feeling with it, a family member.

Thanks as always, PeWe.  I've said it lots of times.  When I go for a ride like yesterday and think about how long I have been riding it, I feel a little amazed.  Like Dave said, the engineers wrought better than they knew, I think.

[bryanj]

Not as bad as the old Dunlop TT 100, lucky to get 2500 miles out of arear

[PeWe]

I can see that bike's next life on a museum. The long lasting good bike from the 70's.
And commercial for correct use and services with oil changes that reduce the maintenance costs.

Honda could use it in their commercial too. You do not only buy a Honda, a marriage is what it is

EDIT:
About ME 99. There was a sport version that lasted shorter here.
My rear lasted 8000km, 836cc and more so some throttling....

A biker friend complained about the sport version that lasted only 5000 km.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Wow Greg! Made me realize in 1 month I will have owned my F for 50 years from new!!! It is not worth anywhere near your $175,000 mile F. Just a little over $30,000.

[HondaMan]

Congrats, Greg! What a fine ride.
You've done a stellar job with keeping it, too.

Yeah, the tires...I've been all smiles since Avon moved their plant to France so they could make long-lasting tires again: I guess there was some carbon compound that UK declared a 'pollutant' and wouldn't let them use, so all their tires self-destructed, even if not ridden. I was unlucky enough to get one of those and put one on a customer's bike, who came back and asked me "WTF?" just 16 months later - all cracked up the sidewalls. Couldn't blame him, especially when the Avons cost so much more: I just paid $190+ to have one put on a CB550K1, too - ouch!

[ofreen]

Honda could use it in their commercial too.

It looks like Honda doesn't care about motorcycles much anymore.  Hard to blame them based on low motorcycle sales these days, at least in the USA.

Wow Greg! Made me realize in 1 month I will have owned my F for 50 years from new!!! It is not worth anywhere near your $175,000 mile F. Just a little over $30,000.

I can't see you selling yours.  You are not as mercenary as I am.

Congrats, Greg! What a fine ride.
You've done a stellar job with keeping it, too.

Yeah, the tires...

Thanks Mark.  I need to decide on a tire soon.  The one on there is thin, and I have a hard time staying off gravel and dirt roads.  I had two rock punctures in the pickup out in the desert last year, both not repairable.  There;s a lot of sharp lava rock around here.  Like running over shark teeth.

[PeWe]

No puncture with mousse tubes
https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/tires-and-wheels/michelin-bib-mousse-foam-tube-p

[kap384@telus.net]

Congrats Greg.  Always great to see your updates.

[MauiK3]

Very cool, great to see that long lasting relationship.

[Old Scrambler]

Congrats, Greg, and to the bike

So who is going to plan the 50-year ownershp convention??? Your F0, Jerry's F0, my K3...........anybody else

[ofreen]

Congrats Greg.  Always great to see your updates.

Thanks Kris.

Very cool, great to see that long lasting relationship.

It's crazy how fast time flies by.

Congrats, Greg, and to the bike
So who is going to plan the 50-year ownershp convention??? Your F0, Jerry's F0, my K3...........anybody else

Great idea, Dennis.  I'd go. It's been almost 8 years since the last time a lot of us got together.  It is getting harder to put something like that together.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

I may be around?