I'd like to hear from those that were there....when the 750 hit the dealerships....
Was there a waiting list where you were for them?
How hard was it to get one?
Did they seem that desireable at the time, or only real dyed in the wool bikers were excited about them?
PLEASE.....do tell!
It would make for fun reading with my morning coffee.
Everything at the dealer now is all plastic, with no clean lines....depressing.
~Joe
Oh, boy (just stumbled across this one...)...!
I was working as a wrench at Spring Honda in Elmhurst, IL when it changed from a magazine picture to the red one on our showroom floor. I put my "down money" on one the next day (never got it from that shop...) in late Spring of 1970. I also went to Mannheim Honda to sign up for one there, about a month later. In the Chicago area, like most corrupt Chicago things, you 'signed up' to get one with $200-$250 to 'get in line' for one, and they would call you when it came in: the $$ did NOT go toward the purchase price. When it came in, you had up to 2 days to come in with the money, usually $1750 with tax and license (this was $1625 for the bike, while Honda was advertising $1495). Honda was pulling dealerships if they got caught at it, but it continued unabated in that area until 1971, at least. At Spring, when 'mine' came in the first time, it was not a blue one (which I most wanted) and the shop owner sold it to his 'best customer' at the time. A blue one came in next, and as I walked into the shop with cash in my pocket, he sold it to his brother-in-law for less money as I stood there, watching. Mannheim called me that day to tell me they had one that someone had "defaulted" on, so I walked out of Spring, got on my SuperHawk and rode over to Mannheim, paid $500 down (cash) until I could come back the next day to ride it home. All this activity happened in September of 1970 (I already lived in another town by then, came back to get the bike), that's how hard it was to get one: the K1 had come out by then, so my first one was a gold K1.
All over the Chicago area, people were talking about this bike. Bankers, lawyers, even grocery store managers, were riding them to work. I saw many instances of people staring at the 4 cylinder, 4-pipe monster bikes when they were waiting at stoplights and the like: I saw people driving to Honda shops just to go look at them (these were not motorcycle rider folks, either). When I got my K1, it drew a crowd every time I parked it, so I had a logging chain of 2" hardened links and a 2 pound lock to tie it to something solid whenever I parked it: they were stolen more than Corvettes. I had to chase kids off of it almost every time I went to a store or shopping center (no "malls" in those days), and even a few adults. I was only 18 years old, myself! So, I centerstanded it every time I parked it, so it was less likely to be knocked over by these idiots....
It seemed like every V8-powered hotshot in town wanted to test these bikes, and they never won, even against me as I learned to harness the in-out box of a clutch and the wheel-lifting surge at 6500 RPM that the K0 and K1 were known for. I weighed all of 105 pounds at the time, certainly an asset. I would even take on Corvettes and Mustangs with my girl on the back of the Four, just to show off, hoping I wouldn't wheelie high enough to ditch her off the back...it never lost.
The only thing that could challenge the Four was another one: the Harleys made lots of noise trying. During the summer of 1970 I moved to Peoria at another Honda shop that was smaller: they were only allocated 6 of the bikes in the 1970 season. Honda had all their shops allocated by their overall sales volume, so small shops suffered a lot of lost sales in those days from the policy: Honda just could not even approach the sales demand. That's why I ended up back in Chicago to get my bike, but it made it all the more spectacular in Peoria. I could not ride down the street without people pointing at it, and when I rode to the shop, I even had some cars follow me to see where I was going. Then, of course, they found out they could not buy one, and were disappointed: I could have sold mine for twice what I paid for it!
By the end of 1970, though, it was obvious something was not right with the bike: it handled poorly compared to others I rode during servicing events. After discovering the frame to be mis-welded so the wheels did not align, Honda would not warranty it (90 day warranty only in those days, and expired by 2 months by then), but did allow as how if I traded for another one, they would give me the full [sic] credit of $1545 sale price against a new one, which cost (advertised) $1695 by then. Eager to solve the problem, I agreed, ending up with the brand-new K2 I still have in the Spring of 1971 (April, I think it was...). I didn't know until later just how much the bikes had been toned down by then, but this started my constant research into the design and metamorphosis of the bike that has now created my "hallmark" of note.
Wherever I went (as I did not have a car), the 750 drew attention, crowds, street fight challenges, admiration, and questions. This didn't end until about 1974 when they were so plentiful that we used to count them every time we drove somewhere, just to see how many would appear. The charisma was finally challenged by the Z1 when it appeared, although the legend was already born and the other Fours never then seemed to be any more than a "me-too" effort in the eyes of the general public. To this day, anyone who knows the bikes of the time always says something like, "Yeah, the Honda was the beginning of it all, and while the Kawi was a little faster stock, the Honda always seemed the more refined".
It still seems like comparing apples and oranges, to me.
