Want to buy a new 1972 Honda CB750?

[Elysium]

Yep that's right a new 1972 Honda CB750 Super Four fresh out of the crate and it's only done 1 mile.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Honda-CB_W0QQitem...item5638f8e9fe

[shrub]

I have covered many happy ks on those things - I owned 3 of them back in the day including one that put out 80 hp at the back wheel but still had that single disc thing on the front (wasn't a brake because it didn't slow the bike down). It was a hairy bike and could slaughter my brothers Z1000.

[Big Dave]

No. Modern motorcycles are much nicer.

[Motu]

I always wanted one....then I owned one.Never again.

[shrub]

I always wanted one....then I owned one.Never again.

Every now and again a get a rush of blood and think of buying one, but then I remember the hinged frame, the appalling brakes, 67 bhp pushing about 9000 kgs and I decide my Trumpy is much more fun.

[HenryDorsetCase]

I love them, and something like that (even though it isnt the holy grail K0 "sandcast") will hold its value I think. And if you own a honda dealership and wnat some decoration or something, then its fine. As for using it, as soon as you do, you've ripped the guts out of its value.

Sure its an old bike, a classic bike if you will, but ridden within its limits they're fun. I'd have another one. But a cheap-ish, modified one. (better brakes for starter). In fact in my experience that is the biggest practical difference between an old bike and a new one: brakes. Just about any bike can go fast enough to get me in trouble, either with Johnny Lor, or a punch in the kidneys from the passenger, or I run out of talent, but a modern bike has brakes that might allow you to get out of trouble.. old bikes, not so much.

[Motu]

Every now and again a get a rush of blood and think of buying one, but then I remember the hinged frame, the appalling brakes, 67 bhp pushing about 9000 kgs and I decide my Trumpy is much more fun.

Yes,I came to the CB750 after 15 years of British and European bikes....road bikes anyway.Sure it was very powerful and fast - but the weight and handling was WTF??!!! If I've got a bike that powerful and fast I like some back up thank you!

[popelli]

Yep that's right a new 1972 Honda CB750 Super Four fresh out of the crate and it's only done 1 mile.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Honda-CB_W0QQitem...item5638f8e9fe

put it back in the crate

remember riding one back around 1980 - was not impressed

when they were released as the worlds first super bike they were slower than a trident, slower than a commando, slower than a bonneville, slower than a lightning and slower than a sportster

great marketing success but put it back in the crate a great investment

[HenryDorsetCase]

the reason it was the "first superbike" was because yuo could ride it without having to have a degree in mechanical engineering in one hand, a hip pocket full of spanners, and a chase van. It had lights that worked, ALL the time, electrics that electrified, ALL the time, a motor that started (on the button) EVERY time, it held together. You could (and many did) push the button and go around the block or around the world. British bikes might have handled better, some of them certainly looked better but the turn-key nature of the CB750 (oooh, first production bike with a disc brake) was what killed those other brands stone dead.

[LBD]

Been there done that and once was enough ...unless I had the dosh to collect.

[Motu]

You could (and many did) push the button and go around the block or around the world..

Yes - it was the start of the ''I don't anything about bikes or how they work,but I love it anyway'' riders.It got a lot more bums on seats.

[satchriossi]

put it back in the crate

remember riding one back around 1980 - was not impressed

when they were released as the worlds first super bike they were slower than a trident, slower than a commando, slower than a bonneville, slower than a lightning and slower than a sportster

great marketing success but put it back in the crate a great investment

Uh oh! Its CORRECTION TIME!! Please leave your anti-Jap prejudice and rose tinted spectacles at the door and step inside;

Standing quarter mile acceleration; 1970 CB750 12.5sec (67hp, 235kg, 5 speed)
1970 T150 Trident 13.0sec (60hp, 228kg, 4 speed)
1970 XLH900 Sporster 13.4sec (58hp, 240kg, 4 speed)
1970 T120 Bonneville 13.4sec (52hp, 192kg, 4 speed)
The BSA A65L is a 650cc twin - it won't be faster than a Bonneville and i can't find specs for it anyway.

The Honda killed the above machines at the time and the British repsonse was to bore their twins out and increase compression ratio which simply led to EVEN WORSE reliability including common catastrophic con-rod and big end bearing failures.

Roadtests of the period aren't scathing of the CB750's brakes and handling either, infact the magazine journos were in raptures over the front disc's performance compared to rival drum braked bikes. That negativity has come about more recently and is mostly born out of bitterness from those who mourn the death of the British bike industry rather than actual fact and experience. My Dad has two CB750s - a K0 and a K2. Both start, run and perform as they did almost 40 years ago. The K0 gets ridden the most and its footpegs and center stand are ground away quite heavily from cornering. If you pull the lever hard enough it'll lock its front wheel too. The handling and brakes are in NO WAY inferior to anything else from the period. Alot of people like to think that the British stuff handled better (for some reason) and they can get away with that opinion because handling is largely a subjective thing and cannot be easily measured like engine performance can. You can't prove it, i can't disprove it. The nicer 'feel' if anything would've been down to lighter weight - which is fair comment. Though in the list above only the Bonneville and Lightning are significantly lighter, which shoots that idea in the foot.

More modern magazine 'tests' are largely responisble for the negative bias towards the Honda's handling and brakes. They write the stuff, you read it, absorb it and then quote it as your own opinion from then on, arguing it to the death as though it were gospel. Well here i am to offer you an opposite perspective; that the reason everyone stopped buying British bikes in the 1970's is because the Jap equivalents, not just Hondas, WERE INDEED better than their European rivals.

[kwaka_crasher]

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be!

[kwaka_crasher]

Yes - it was the start of the ''I don't anything about bikes or how they work,but I love it anyway'' riders.It got a lot more bums on seats.

I think you just summed up the KB Social Networking site perfectly.

[Motu]

[QUOTE=satchriossi;1129621912. Alot of people like to think that the British stuff handled better (for some reason).[/QUOTE]

After having both (I had a CB750,my wife had a T150 Trident,disc brake) as I said the Honda was certainly fast.But the Trident was by far the better bike to ride,it's handling was so superior that the power could be used more effectively....and so for riding on a road with corners and stuff,it was the faster bike.I didn't have any problems with the front brake,but the dirty looking cast iron rotor on the Trident was more consistant and worked in the rain too.

The death of the British motorcycle industry had many reasons we won't fight about....but in reality,it was just the right time to die.It was the end of a great run,they had no answer and faded away.I have no bitterness....but fond memories.I've owned and ridden a lot of bikes over the years - I won't put the CB750 on any pedastal,and not the Trident either....apart from the noise.The bikes I've liked won't be on anyone elses list...what we like is too personal....what we don't like is open to ridicule.