This lovely little thing started out as a $50 pile of junk dragged from a barn. The plan was to turn this 1977 CB750K into an affordable CR750 race replica. We also made it the only street legal CR we've ever seen.
The CR750 was Honda's entry into serious racing. The CB750 needed a marketing boost and winning the Daytona 200 in 1970 was the perfect chance to show off what this platform could do. After their victory Honda released a kit to modify a CB750, These kits were sold back in the early 1970's for a whopping $10,000 (that's about $60,000 in todays money). That was on top of buying the stock CB750, and you also had to build the bike yourself.
To build a faithful CR750 replica nowadays would cost in excess of $50,000. Just the rear hub will set you back about $5,000. We managed to build this tribute for about the cost of four of those coveted CR hubs. By making a few concessions to budget and some careful aesthetic and mechanical choices this machine embodies the spirit and fun of the original 4 cylinder crotch rocket.
The result is a pretty quick little bike. It handles well, stops when asked, and is over 100 lbs lighter than it started out. Visually there are two primary differences between this and it's considerably more costly inspiration. First, it does not have the full fairing. This is partly because it would make it as hot as balls to ride in Texas heat and partly to save the motor during low speed riding. Secondly, it has a headlight. There are obviously other differences to the real McCoy, but we wanted a rideable bike more than a hand grenade. For the most part... it's a pretty road-racer that's easy to ride and performs as well as it looks. There's also a video of the bike at the bottom of the page... it sounds like an angry metal bear.
Mods:
- Completely rebuilt motor with 836 big bore kit
- Keihin CR29 smoothbores
- 2 inch under fork tubes and Betor rear shocks
- Dyna ignition and custom simplified wiring
- 4/4 CR style megaphone exhaust
- Double full size front brake set up
- Mead Speed CR gas tank and oil tank with stainless custom oil lines
- Aluminum shouldered rims with stainless spokes
- CR replica front fender made from OEM CB750 fender
- Various drilled bits and lots of weight loss!