1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

[JoeyG]

Re: 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

I love the nakid bikes and cafe racers. Keep the pics coming

[jays67]

Re: 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

dude thats cool
i am building on for me more bobber then cafe racer and i built one fo rmy buddy
his is a cb 500 punched out to 605 by fast by gast
mine is a stock 75 cb750 way cool

i have a tube bender for our car stuff but on the bikes i bent the frame stuff like you did was faster
keep up the good work

[JustinSuhas]

Re: 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

Today was a total bust. We worked on the bike and it went so terribly i didnt even bother taking pictures. Our gas tank is (was) a total mess. It was dented pretty badly in two places, one i tried to fix with a patch. Yeasterday i jinxed myself with the whole "i love my cheap welder" bit. Today i burned like three holes in the gas tank. We finally decided the tank wasnt worth salvaging and banished it to a shelf. It was pretty bad, even before the burn holes. When i cut the damaged section out i peered inside and saw more rust than im comfortable with. i shook the tank upside down and it was like pouring out corn flakes


So, After some beers and pondering, we decided that this was an opportunity in disguise. We had been talking about getting a CB750-F tank instead. Our current tank is a CB750-K. They are pretty similar in shape but the F model has the filler hole hidden behind a door thingy.

Here is what the ex-tank would look like


Here is the F model



Honestly, ive been looking at other tanks too. The CB550 has a pretty kick ass tank. I love the offset filler, plus, i would like to keep the gas cap in sight. Imho, the chrome gas cap looks more the Cafe Racer part rather than hidden behind a door. Heres what im talking about


The 550t has a good looking tank too. I like the subtle knee dents from the factory


Would either of these fit our 750?

Carpy is fairly cool.... But to me his bikes are a little to ... hmmm how do I say this... they just seem to be a bit "in your face"

Keith

I totally know what you mean. Sometimes when people do throwback styles, the finished product tends to end up looking like a caricature of what the style used to be. You definitly wont find any checkered stripes, british flags, or any other rockabily/rocker stuff on this bike. Unfortunatly for Carpy, i think a lot of what we see (and call violation on!) are actually customer requests. His personal bikes are a little more toned down and accurate (if such a thing exists in cafe's).

Ed- So fast it split your face shield? Wicked.
I cant believe some dude ran over your bike. I hope you beat his ass. Or at least got the rest of the day off.

tonycpe- Im going to take your (and Keith's) advice and leave the motor alone. I keep hearing over and over how dependable these engines are. Somebody once told me to look at the cam, apparently if the bike ever runs without oil, it shows up first in the cam. If the cam is fine, the rest should be too. You sound like you know what your talking about, stay close by!

Two lane Blacktop-Yea, he was pretty amazing. I miss Larry, his biker build offs were my favorite episodes. I commonly use a word i got from him "Gizmoiness". He used the word to describe how he likes to see all the fasteners, clamps, etc on his bike as apposed to hiding them like other builders such as Arlen Ness or whoever. If im not mistaken, he was referring to his crazy ass V-twin that had a shovel head on one side and a pan head on the other. Its been awhile since ive seen that episode so i hope i got that right. He was one of the very very few bike builders who's style i dug.

Just in case this post wasn't long enough, i thought i'd share this with you guys. While out in the driveway welding on the tank, a neighbor of Matts stopped by on his scooter to check out what was going on. I was going to make a "no Mod's allowed" joke but i knew it would just sail past him. I fixed his broken cheap chinese rearview mirror in exchange for the chance to ride his scooter around the block. Then Matt almost killed himself when it wouldn't turn quick enough out of the way of oncoming traffic. Scary to think this guy is gonna be on a Cafe Racer soon.

Thanks for all the input guys!

[KeithTurk]

Re: 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer



Looks a bit like that tank?

My deal is I wanted mine to look like I would have done it if My Dad had let me play with his.... so it's not overly fancy... just clean neat and fresh... nice seat... lower bars and a 49 dollar E-bay fairing... set of 2 into 1 pipes...( cause that's what I could find ).... and it totally rocks...

Keith

[JustinSuhas]

Re: 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

Looks a bit like that tank?

Keith

No,

mine has dents, holes, booger welds, and no paint, but otherwise, exactly. Thats a clean motorbike you got there. We briefly talked about a similar seat (for the ladies...) but eventually form overtook function.

Ive seen all these great tanks on other bikes (cb450, 500, 550 etc), do you think similar years will fit across the models? they look practically identical, possibly smaller in size? I know DF has that 450, maybe he can shed some light.

this is a great bike.
so... complete. and unmolested. perfect patina and the barn find look thats all the rage ;D
And knowing David Freibargain, he prolly paid like 200 bucks for it. i hate him.



Its great so many people here have personal experience in these. i never see any cb750s around my neighborhood and ive been missing some good bike banter

[JOES66FURY]

Re: 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

I think the 550T tank has the look your after...Dont know if it will fit....

[KeithTurk]

Re: 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

You know, i'd be shocked if it didn't fit.... They all seem to have that round dual rubber shock mounted thing on the center bar don't they? and worst case you gotta adjust where those actually fit on the bike but that oughta be real do-able...

I should have said Carpy's stuff is to commercial... but to me commercial and in your face are sorta the same... it's just a feeling I have,... it's like someone selling Von Dutch stuff... somehow that's just wrong... I don't fault Carpy at all... it's his business... Like Boyd's business... ( well okay not that bad.. but you get the picture )

Shame we can't find a BIG bunch of 70's motorcycle magazines... then we could copy the US style of Cafe bike in it's hay day here in the states... or at least the way we're building them.

My Dad really had a CB 500 back in the day... I even have the new paperwork for it... and yep it happened to be Brown... funny how this bike turned up right when I wanted one... It may end up out in California for a while... ( if it does I'm bringing a 450 home... LOL Hmmm bet it looks just like that green one too.... ( it will still be David's but it will be right next time I go out there... )

Best part of the 550 is that I consider it DONE.... no kidding... it's exactly what I want... a Non Perfect... very reliable and cool scooter...

fun stuff all...

[min301]

Re: 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

I think Kieth is right.

As I recall the tanks are physically different and hold varying volumes, but will interchange.

[DanStokes]

Re: 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

Keith got the 550 from me. My oldest brother and I traded it back and forth for years. I attribute it's condition to the fact that it was originally a Michigan bike and sat for many winters. The last time I owned it, I didn't ride it much, so I turned Keith's payment and some $$ into my current race car.

I think it REALLY looks great now. Keith got it way cleaner than I ever did, and fixed the seat, which was rough and ugly. The modified king&queen is really nice on that bike (I had nothing to do with the K&Q seat that was on there!). The tank is just a bit green and I've offered to paint it, but he really likes it just like it is, and I can't say he's wrong. It's a VERY cool old bike.

On the motor - those suckers run forever. I'm no bike guy, but I'd have to agree - the odds are in your favor that it's just fine. Check the valve lash, give 'er a good tune-up, and have fun. Keith's bike has - like - 25K miles (or so) and all seems well, as most of 'em are.

Have Fun
Dan

[tonycpe]

Re: 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

The 450's and 550's have a hole set of different quirks. don't ever leave the pet cock on on the 450,they have a tendency to run the gas past the float needle and seat and into the crankcase, which in turn wipes out those double overhead cams and I can garantee you that will be to expensive to repair. thanks, tony

[ls7gto]

Re: 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

i had a 750f back in the day,and my best friend had a k model, we used to bar hop and then ride like we were fast freddie spencer. cant believe we never got killed. just thinking of how sweet that bike sounded with the kerker pipe at 3am at 7000 rpm still gives me goose bumps.
old timer at work has a big collection of early jap bikes including 2 750s. maybe ill try to buy one. he rides a old honda 350 to work,wont sell it,or the kz 900 or z1 kawasakis.

[KeithTurk]

Re: 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

You should and get another Kerker too....

Honestly... the scooters have been a great time... a bit of adrenilin now and again with the idiots... but I'm a VERY cautions rider... Fairly stupid when others are around... but when I'm out by myself I'm a little girl about other vehicles on the road with me...

Anyway don't want to steal Shaun's thread here...

Keith

[JustinSuhas]

Re: 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

Big News for the bike today!!

After the bad day on the bike, Matt and I decided to let some money bring us good fortune. I searched and searched online and finally (after i almost gave up) I found a deal too good to pass up.

Here is the 1978 CB750f that we have purchased. (certified money order is in the mail). This bike will serve as a parts bike and has almost everything we need. What is funny about this bike is that all the missing/worn out pieces, we have already bought with very few exceptions.

Here she is in all her glory.


the best part? $350. a fair price i believe. We were looking at spending about 50 bucks (at least) for the tank alone. Bonus- it has the 4 into 1 exhaust we had been looking for. Our dual trumpets were looking less and less appealing. This bike doesnt have a title but we aren't too concerned considering we will be using our current frame, which has a title. He hasnt started the bike, but we dont care. we will be looking at the two engines and deciding which one is best. Most likely the one we have now. The front forks are trashed- we already got some in great condition. The rear shocks are more worn out than a middle age porn star. That's ok, we want to run aftermarket external resivoir shocks anyways. The list goes on and on BUT...

there is one problem,
the bike is in phoenix and we are in Dallas.

We have looked up shipping companies but so far the quotes have been staggering. As a last resort, we will drive there ourselves and pick it up but i was wondering if anyone knows of a cheaper way to ship this thing. Im hoping the CarJunkie community can shed some light on the situation. Im going to open a new topic so hopefully more people can read it. Please respond! any input is much appreciated!

Here is the thread i started

http://www.carjunkieforums.com/index.php?topic=1235.0

Feel free to respond in either, i will check both.

[Freiburger]

Re: 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

Ask Chad when he might be making the next trip home from LA to Dallas...he can go through Phoenix and pick it up.

[JustinSuhas]

Re: 1977 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer

Ask Chad when he might be making the next trip home from LA to Dallas...he can go through Phoenix and pick it up.

I sent him a pm