IntroI am documenting a cafe rebuild of a 1974 Honda CB750 K4. Let’s call it a chopper rescue project. I have built many Hondas and British café bikes and frequent the forums often but have never posted a bike project from beginning to end until now, so here goes…
I will document the major portions of the build as reference for others doing the same, post problems encountered with my solutions and emphasize the non-stock custom work. Many areas of CB750 restorations are well documented on this forum need not be repeated (carb and tank cleaning, frozen brake caliper, etc).
HistoryTwo years ago I bought a K4 and a K3 CB750 from dude out in the countryside for cheap. I had other project bikes in progress but the price was too good to pass up, so I bought them and stored the until this week.. The K4 turned over and had compression while the K3 was frozen. I spent an afternoon cleaning the carbs, tank, petcock, installing new battery, flushing the old oil and put the 4-4 exhaust from the K4 and fired her up. Tweaked it a bit and it idled and rode well, but the front brake caliper was frozen so I only rode a few miles on empty back roads to assess its condition. Solid motor, clean functional carbs, transmission crisp and smooth, crap brakes and tires and ugly as hell. A perfect candidate for a café rebuild. For the Honda purists, I am not destroying anything special, it is a Honda K4, not a Vincent, and there are thousands of these rotting away in barns, garages and backyards.
Life happened, several other bikes completed and sold, fell in love with a Norton, so I am finally making to the time to tear into this project. I have bought a mountain of new Honda OEM and aftermarket parts waiting for this bike. New rims, tires, spokes, all new cables, Fast from the Past rearsets, battery, pod filters, larger main jets etc.
Personal I am a British bike junkie and build Honda cafes as my methadone and financial source to support my British habit. Like most everyone on this forum, I enjoy wrenching, building, restoring bikes and the pride and self-satisfaction of making something old beautiful again. It is my passion and hobby, but not my career. My day job is in the museum field and I am a trained archaeological conservator and work with high end art and priceless objects centuries and millenia old, so 30-50 year bikes are relatively easy and simple to work on. Free time is scarce for me and is spent either riding or restoring bikes to keep me sane and out of trouble. Cycle therapy.
Goals My goal for this bike is to build a cafe racer in the true sense and spirit of the term: stripped down and fast with good handling to mimic the British track racing bikes of the 1950’s and 60’s. Appearance, though important, is secondary to function. There is more to a café racer than a bad black paint job, rearsets and an ugly seat on an ill running bike. I do crank up rebuilds on all my motors, complete rebuilds on my wheels (new bearings, spokes, rims and tires), meticulous electrical and carb work and work methodically, without shortcuts. The 74 K4 will be based heavily on two of my previous CB400F café builds; Honda Milano red tank, Manx seat, plain black side covers, black cylinder, clubmans, rearsets, 4 into 1 exhaust, rebuilt wheels etc. A strong and powerful girl in a sexy red dress. The K3 will have a strong Norton Manx and Triton influence (black hubs, front drum brake, black fenders, Manx seat, rearsets, clip-ons 5 gallon Manx tank, Dunstall and John Tickle style goodies etc). One of these two will have a GT550 4LS shoe front brake drum just like my Triton.
CB400f cafe
recent CB400f cafe
CB750 K4 as purchased in all its 1970’s chopperesque glory. Ugly, but got her running within an hour. A solid bike, but since it has been sitting for years I am going to build it from the crank up with all new gaskets, seals and replace the bearings as needed. Repaint cases, polish covers and rebuild carbs, paint frame, rebuild wheels etc, here we go…..
