I’ve never done this before, but the listing of this bike is good enough that I just want to step away and let you read the seller’s words as he/she put it.
Here we go:
“Here we have a genuine 80’s period piece. Reset the clock to 1979. There were 2 young Seattle area brothers well known in the local bike racing culture. One day the November Cycle World issue arrived at the house. On the cover was Kazuo Yoshima of Ontario Moto Tech ripping a wheelie on his fire breathing custom modded CB750F.
One of the brothers, Rocky, was smitten. Love at first sight. He saved his pennies and on 4/4/80 bought a new 1980 Honda CB750F. Over the course of the next decade, he built the best, most highly detailed and complete street legal HRC Superbike replica he could regardless of cost or effort required.
Of course, that decade was the FREAKING 80’s. How much fun this build must have been. Can you imagine the epic “project” thread had the interwebz been around? VIRAL it would have gone.
So that was 10 years of nearly every waking hour being devoted in some way shape or form to this machine. One day in 1990, the Honda spit plug #4 right out of the head. Rocky pulled over on hwy 167 and looked the bike over before calling the tow truck. He never rode it again.
He still loved and cherished it though. The bike sat on the centerstand in his garage and received the usual monthly wipe downs and polish jobs over the next 2 decades of inactivity. Suddenly it was 2009. Rocky was done. My phone rang. I got in my van. etc.
I took the bike immediately to see Walter Myers and George Dean. Lets wake this thing up I said! At first it was thought the head would have to come off. However, they were able to repair the plug threads without doing that. The entire bike was gone though and made operable. A lot of time was spent on the carbs as Rocky had told me he was never able to get it to carburate as perfectly as he liked.
A $2000 service bill later, I had a mint 80’s toy that pulled 93.8 rwhp on a modern dyno. Bliss.
5 years go by of the bike being eye candy in my shop. Earlier this year (2014) I dropped another $1500 on a “wake-up”… tires, fluids, forks seals, a battery, etc.
This old girl has to be the most sorted 80’s hotrod Honda existant. It has been brought back to life and preserved in its original form to the best of my ability. It is a running, riding throwback to another time that looks the part.
The paint and cosmetics are in an unreal state of being. It looks like it was painted yesterday which is a testament to the quality of the job that was done over 30 year ago. Aki’s in Ballard is still around as is the actual painter from then.
To summarize, the engine was sent to Ontario and turned into a 900cc. It has Keihin 31mm smoothbores. A Kerker pipe. A Cal-Fab swingarm. EPM Italian racing wheels. Hondaline rearset footpeg kit. Drilled and pinned swingarm bushings. Cool shocks. Cool everything. And moar.
A 1980 ‘750F came with an 85mph speedo as did every 1980 vehicle sold in the USA that year. Rocky sourced another speedo back from a later year that reads to 150mph. The indicated mileage is 30k, however the true miles are less than 4000.
This machine is an absolute hoot to ride. It looks/presents/sounds exactly like it did in the 80’s. It is show and tell everywhere you go. Includes an insane amount of spares, service manual, valve shim chest of drawers, both factory keys, build sheets/notes, dyno sheet, etc.”
The VIN is RC042109977. Apparently, I have nothing to add to the seller’s story, so find this interesting Honda for sale in Ballard, Washington for $11,000 here on Craigslist.
This bike-uriousity brought to you by Justin Wright!