Motorcycle News - The Misfit: When building a CB750 becomes therapy
https://ift.tt/2LNbyXY
Getting to this level of quality can take quite a toll on a builder though. And so Mike recently decided to cut himself a little slack with this Honda CB750. Not that we can tell …
About a month into that project, the direction changed. “Ryan began texting me photos of random distressed objects—anything that inspired him,” says Mike.
Cut to a few years later and now we know: ‘The Misfit’ is the CB750 that could have been.
“I ended up making two or three of everything: I made two fairings and oil tanks, and three seats, fender sets, and front ends. I even made two sets of wheels, which are some of the most expensive components in any build. I ended up going with discs on Ryan’s bike, leaving a beautiful Suzuki GT750 drum brake collecting dust.”
“I had forgotten why I loved building motorcycles in the first place. I needed to go back to the beginning, when building was just for fun and just for me.”
Mike had a 1974 CB750 in the shop—a basket case that he’d snapped up on Craigslist years before. He rebuilt the SOHC motor back to factory specs, but upgraded the breathing with a beautiful set of Keihin CR29 roundslide carbs, topped with K&N filters. These are worth a 10% gain on the stock horsepower.
Mike made only a few design alterations to the original concept, and one was the introduction of a rare ARD magneto. “Although an electronic ignition system would work just as well, the magneto just looked so damn good so I went with it!”
“I wanted to replicate that look, but it took me about a month—due to the lack of space in the small fairing. I could only squeeze three gauges in, and even three felt like too many. In the end the dash, was the most difficult portion of this relatively painless build.”
The wheels have been laced up and trued by Buchanan’s Spokes & Rims, and are shod with Avon Roadrunner F2 and R2 historic motorsport tires—molded from a race compound but with a vintage pattern to suit the style of the Honda.
“But if rebuilt properly, it’s light years better than Suzuki ever intended—and completely adequate for a bike of this size. Moral of the story: if you are going to run a drum and you would like to stop, have them professionally rebuilt!”
Although the CB750 is literally a ‘misfit,’ it’s also one of the most coherent and elegant CBs we’ve seen. And we’ve seen a lot over the years.
“I fulfilled two goals: one was to see what that Ryan’s bike could have looked like, but more importantly, ‘The Misfit’ was a bit of therapy for my OCD. It was an absolute blast to make!” We bet it’s an absolute blast to ride, too. Raccia Motorcycles Facebook | Instagram | Images by (and with thanks to) Paulo Rosas of Speed Machines Design. Shot at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California Motorcycles via Bike EXIF http://www.bikeexif.com July 29, 2019 at 12:08PM Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
November 2020
|
7/29/2019
0 Comments