Cb750k0 - any interest?

My second bike was 74 750-4, burnt orange color. Great engine. It could really cruise. Unfortunately I got into a high speed wobble on it. I survived, but lost my nerve to ride it. Sold it and gave up riding for a while. In hindsight, I think a bit of maintenance on the suspension would have saved me from that crapping -your -pants scare. Look forward to seeing more posts.
 
My second bike was 74 750-4, burnt orange color. Great engine. It could really cruise. Unfortunately I got into a high speed wobble on it. I survived, but lost my nerve to ride it. Sold it and gave up riding for a while. In hindsight, I think a bit of maintenance on the suspension would have saved me from that crapping -your -pants scare. Look forward to seeing more posts.

What speed ? Did you get thrown off ?
 
No I didn't get thrown, but I could barely hang onto it. I had wound it up to over 145 km/h. As I throttled back and the bike was decelerating it started to wobble. Don't remember the speed, maybe around 110. If I accelerated the wobble disappeared. I was worried, because there was a controlled intersection up ahead and I had to stop sooner or later. In the end I just braked real hard as it started to wobble. I think the braking action on the front disk brake snapped it out of the wobble. I had to pull over and sit on the shoulder for a few minutes to calm my nerves. I never had the nerve to ride that bike again. In hindsight, I should have checked the spoke tightness, had proper tires, had the wheels balanced and done some fork maintenance... among other things. I still think there might be a bit of instability in the original CB750 design that was made worse by my lack of maintenance and foolish riding.
 
Thank you Sir
Apologize if off topic ..but I remember seeing a 4 cylinder Suzuki on television here straight line wobbling
That had a bit bad rep for that into early 80 ies even
And there was talk of accidents

The braking was the advice I remember it affects the weight distribution and geometry of the suspension

Not heard of that for Brit Bikes
It probably was tubular frames .and not being able to design frames as good as the British gentlemen
With the power climbing + 100 Hp

Taking this out of memory so Excuse me if I remember wrong Mike Hailwood was racing Hondas and could not use the Power because the handling was not up to standard

" What the H**** is this power for if i cant Use. it "
I believe he installed the Honda engine in a British frame not sure how much he raced it.

There has been evolution

1974 honda cb750 cb750k FRAME CHASSI​


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2000-2001 Honda CBR929 cbr 929 RR 929RR main Frame Chassis


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Some more slow progress on the CB, I’ve been mostly trying to slowly collect all the parts I need before tearing it all apart to paint the frame. Slowing picking up a part or two every week or so.

Cut up some mesh backing and got it installed on the side covers and I gotta say, these K0 covers gotta be some of the coolest from the time period. Definitely the best looking of all the CBs.

You can get the mesh inserts from Japan (about 50 bucks to the door) but this stuff is almost bang on perfect. Very very slightly not as thick. Couldn’t spot it unless side by side and looking hard. And 6 bucks…

Heat up the root of the tab and fold it over to hold ‘em in place. Once they get warm, they move right into place.


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having owned 4 CB750, my first multi was a 1973 K3 that bike has very fond memory's of myself and girlfriend spending times down by the river ummm picking flowers:whistle: sorry got nostalgic looking at your bike it's an extremely good score and very clean I will follow how this goes, part of the reason the early Ks went quicker than the later ones was the cam shaft, they made later ones milder possibly emission control, some one out there can put more light on that.
 
having owned 4 CB750, my first multi was a 1973 K3 that bike has very fond memory's of myself and girlfriend spending times down by the river ummm picking flowers:whistle: sorry got nostalgic looking at your bike it's an extremely good score and very clean I will follow how this goes, part of the reason the early Ks went quicker than the later ones was the cam shaft, they made later ones milder possibly emission control, some one out there can put more light on that.

That is what I’ve come to understand - I believe a 5deg difference. I’ve heard, if you’ve owned and early one (especially K0) and then ride a later, say 75, it leave a bit to be desired. If you e only ever owned a later bike, you’d be happy as a clam haha.
 
You’re right , those side covers are cool, I never noticed them before! And you carburetors came out great too!

I actually found some earlier, correct carb bodies and I’ll be swapping out with the current ones. No difference in them accept the stamp on em haha. But I got a real good deal and it makes it that much more correct
 
It’s the little things that count haha.

A very slow build.

Got a little time in today while the kid was taking his nap. (Was on daddy duty all day today - wife was gone).

My master cylinder was very faded with just remnants of the black anodize finish left, mainly where the sun was blocked.

I wanted it to blend with my original switches as the did at one point have the same finish. My switches show a little age but once I rebuilt em they function great and look good for 50 years old. I also didn’t really want it to look like new painted black reservoir next to original switches.

Got out the colors and made a black/chrome dark grey fade. Has some very micro sparkle to give that chrome/anodized effect and a good color shift from sun to shade like the switches.

- hot soak in the ultrasonic cleaner, light scuff, adhesion promoter, 2k clear, color layers, and some more clear.

Sprayed the colors in the wet clear to get em to have a better “cured” durability. Probably not spec but I’ve done it before and it gives a tough finish.

Wanted a finish that would hold up to brake fluid.

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Then I rebuilt the master once cured.

Also got my fork flasher cleaned up and mounted. Again, the little victories.

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It’s the little things that count haha.

A very slow build.

Got a little time in today while the kid was taking his nap. (Was on daddy duty all day today - wife was gone).

My master cylinder was very faded with just remnants of the black anodize finish left, mainly where the sun was blocked.

I wanted it to blend with my original switches as the did at one point have the same finish. My switches show a little age but once I rebuilt em they function great and look good for 50 years old. I also didn’t really want it to look like new painted black reservoir next to original switches.

Got out the colors and made a black/chrome dark grey fade. Has some very micro sparkle to give that chrome/anodized effect and a good color shift from sun to shade like the switches.

- hot soak in the ultrasonic cleaner, light scuff, adhesion promoter, 2k clear, color layers, and some more clear.

Sprayed the colors in the wet clear to get em to have a better “cured” durability. Probably not spec but I’ve done it before and it gives a tough finish.

Wanted a finish that would hold up to brake fluid.

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Then I rebuilt the master once cured.

Also got my fork flasher cleaned up and mounted. Again, the little victories.

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Nice work; all looking good.
 
Again, the little victories.

Its all the little details that your eyes pick up on, that make the overall appearance look killer! Great job on the repainted switchgear and master cylinder. Just a little tip, I don’t know what your plastics look like on your tail light and turn signals, but I found that a headlight restoration kit can polish those parts up to look like new!
 
Its all the little details that your eyes pick up on, that make the overall appearance look killer! Great job on the repainted switchgear and master cylinder. Just a little tip, I don’t know what your plastics look like on your tail light and turn signals, but I found that a headlight restoration kit can polish those parts up to look like new!


For some reason I believe I remember seeing that in one of your posts.

I know mine need a bit of tuning up.

I will circle back to this once I get there. Or maybe make that my next little project so I don’t forget.
 
Started pulling my gauges apart. There is a lot of support for these machines and pretty much every part short of the internal mechanisms is available from cb750faces.com - not necessarily cheap, but available.

My internals work and really just need a good cleaning and some grease.

Faces will be replaced as well as the faded jewels, the disintegrated light cups (those white things), the rubber for the lights and the pvc wrap.

Unfortunately, it seems the easiest way of replacing the rubber for the lights means clipping all the wires, sliding on the new ones and then soldering them back together. The other option is Undoing the crimps and solder at the light housing which seems like a real pain. We’ll see…

They do make new harnesses but another few hundred bucks and we’ll mine are fine except for the rubber and wrap.

Got all my internals cleaned and chrome polished up nicely.

As suggested by mailman. A cheap headlight kit did wonders for my gauge “glass”. - trying to clamp my buckets down and hit em with a drill seemed like asking for trouble. - mounted it in my drill press and just held the bucked. Worked like a charm. Sanded em wet, 500,800,3000 and a polish.

There are still a few very very small imperfections but it beat spending a few hundred bucks on new housings.

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Started pulling my gauges apart. There is a lot of support for these machines and pretty much every part short of the internal mechanisms is available from cb750faces.com - not necessarily cheap, but available.

My internals work and really just need a good cleaning and some grease.

Faces will be replaced as well as the faded jewels, the disintegrated light cups (those white things), the rubber for the lights and the pvc wrap.

Unfortunately, it seems the easiest way of replacing the rubber for the lights means clipping all the wires, sliding on the new ones and then soldering them back together. The other option is Undoing the crimps and solder at the light housing which seems like a real pain. We’ll see…

They do make new harnesses but another few hundred bucks and we’ll mine are fine except for the rubber and wrap.

Got all my internals cleaned and chrome polished up nicely.

As suggested by mailman. A cheap headlight kit did wonders for my gauge “glass”. - trying to clamp my buckets down and hit em with a drill seemed like asking for trouble. - mounted it in my drill press and just held the bucked. Worked like a charm. Sanded em wet, 500,800,3000 and a polish.

There are still a few very very small imperfections but it beat spending a few hundred bucks on new housings.

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Nice job WA,

A full write up on the disassembly ?? Nice tip on the glass as well, didn't think to use headlight polisher on glass, thought it would be to hard for it
 
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