- Seller: Rick C
- Location: Walpole, Massachusetts
- Mileage: 23,000 Shown
- Chassis #: Ma13086
- Title Status: Clean
- Engine: 750cc
- Transmission: 5-Speed
UPDATE – The seller has added a cold start and a drive-by video of the bike on the street! Be sure to watch those below and make them an offer.
Taking the world by storm is an understatement when talking about the groundbreaking Honda CB750. Some could argue that Honda created a monster in the CB750, not just in performance. It was priced under most of the existing competition and was so much better in almost every way, at least as a road bike. It would soon dominate the market, thus creating more Honda sales, more motorcycles on the roads, fewer deserted stretches of highway on which to ride, etc. This 1971 Honda CB750 K1 is listed as a Barn Finds Classified!
This Candy Ruby Red CB750 appears to be a very nice bike. Don’t mind the composite photos; the seller included only vertical photos, so we made these composites to fit the format here. Please check out the photos in the gallery below, and you will see how nice they look. American Honda’s service manager is said to have visited the Honda HQ in Japan in 1967 and gently but firmly asked them to build bigger bikes than the biggest they had at the time, a 450-cc twin. American roads and buyers were begging for a proper-sized road bike for our vast expanses, and Honda came through two years later. The CB750 K1 was introduced in 1969 for the 1970 model year.
The story goes that the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) only allowed bikes up to 500 cc to compete in races if they had overhead valves. Still, Harley was allowed to run its side-valve 750-cc bikes, so they all dominated. Once the rules were changed in 1970, it was game-on for Honda and other Japanese motorcycle manufacturers. This example was reportedly in long-term storage in a barn and was subsequently donated to a donation center. The owner’s elderly wife is said to have donated several motorcycles. Why do I feel my wife will be doing the same thing? After buying this beauty, the seller put in new plugs, fuel lines, and a new battery, and it started and idled as it should.
This CB750 K1 appears in excellent condition and is powered by Honda’s 736-cc SOHC inline-four, which puts out 67 horsepower and 44 lb-ft of torque through a five-speed transmission to the rear wheel. It’s said to run and operate as it should, and the seller is asking $12,500 or the best offer – right between Hagerty’s #3 good and #2 excellent condition value, so that may be right on the money. Have any of you owned an early Honda CB750?
I’ve never owned a 750 but I did own its little brother, a CB350, copper in color. I drove it from AL to the Smokey Mountains of NC and wouldn’t recommend doing that as the 18-wheelers and the mountain range is not best traveled on that small of a bike. But, I was an incredibly awesome cycle otherwise, and quite reliable. To the new owner of this one; enjoy to the max!
Mountain rides – even hills – were not a lot of fun on my Honda. Instead of a beater to get to school, my parents bought me a bike ONE FOURTH the size of this one – and ONE HALF of yours – a ’73 CB175, orange metal flake…
Rode that bike from north of NYC to Ithaca up Rte 17 along the Delaware. In April. Had to stop to buy long johns, and again when it started snowing. Spent the night in Hancock and arranged for storing the bike until warmer weather.
When the morning came, the snow had gone, and 2 hours later the bike got me back to school.
The bike was small, but enough fun on flat ground with a pretty blonde with her arms around my waist – on sunnier days.
Never bothered to replace the bike with a larger motorcycle.
In the hope of not dating myself too much, I was a service manager for Honda in 1970 and saw my fair share of the 750’s when first introduced. Generally speaking, they were pretty reliable as long as recommended services were performed. A common problem with the K1’s however, was the fact that there was not enough clearance between the engine and the chain so, the quality and servicing of the chains for these became critical, as a broken chain could essentially “bunch up” between the chain and the engine cases and, as the engine was still powering the chain, would crack the cases in the critical upper and lower case juncture and put a sizable hole through the cases. Instant game over and Ca-ching! $$$. There are other problems as well, especially as these bikes haven’t been manufactured for a long time. A number of parts are absolutely NLA!…and, even if they were, will not interchange between the various different models of the 750 K .series. This bike is likely O.K….for now, but, like any other rare classic, it shouldn’t be hammered.
I have one of these in my garage as I type, a 1973 with a YOM plate and a current inspection sticker. It was my housemate’s and I helped him restore it in 1989, including painting the frame and all sub-components as well as the tank and side covers. He gave it to me 20 years ago and it is now running again. Fun to take out for a gentle cruise. My BMW R1200R is a very different riding experience.
Doesn’t seem like to long ago you could get a cbx1000 for $12.5. Crazy how much they have gone up.
I ride the little brother a 2020 cb650r, it makes more power and it was cheaper brand new, even has sexy exhaust runners and a 4 cylinder but no chrome.i like it but I already have a garage full of bikes and just bought a 77 can-am 250 widow-maker last night
I have owned three of these over the years, riding them mostly on numerous, beautiful and twisty two-lane roads throughout New England. My first was a brand new 74 K model, followed by a 75 F model and finally this 76, which I kept until a few years ago when reluctantly I knew it was time to stop. Incredible bikes, easy to work on. Never let me down. The drag pipes you see on this one came from a small dealer in Vermont. $59.00. Those were the days.
Scotty, brilliant write up, but I feel for you. On the day of my wedding AFTER we got married, she said it’s the bike or me. So prior to going on our honeymoon, we went home, chained my Katana 750 (the first real super bike) up, she took the key.
Hindsight, I should have chosen the bike.(Divorced now, lol)
This Honda is beautiful, I wish I had room for another bike, sadly I don’t have a katana (yet).
Back in the day, motorcycle cop’s wouldn’t even attempted to chase you, if you had a katana, loved it.
Only a few posts while bring me 10-8, but the post is so important, it needs a bit more. Temptation is strong with this one, and the author knows it. With my fear of falling off a 2 wheeler is still very much in view, I’m pretty sure my 2 wheel days are over. It’s okay, had a heck of a run.
The Honda 750 was indeed ground breaking, FOUR EXHAUST PIPES, WOW!! I see the baffles have gone missing, a common repair for more power, but it did nothing but add noise. Out of the box, it would do the 1/4 mile in 13.5@ just over 100. A claimed top speed of 120, if you dared. At a cost of $1495, half the cost of a Harley, and would eat a Sporty for lunch.
Sadly, I never owned, or even ridden a 750, for that matter, they laid the ground work for practically every superbike that came along. I read, Honda sold a whopping 77,000 in 1971 alone, making it the most popular motorcycle of all time. Where are all those now? You ever see those piles of motorcycles some folks seem to amass? I bet in that pile are several 750 Hondas. Nobody ever thought of saving one. Due to the ravages of age,( and bank funds) I must decline. Remember when you could get one of these for free?
Funny, those 750s would get a half bike lead on my ’70 Sportster…until the big end, then I’d pull them.
Good for you. I’ll be proud to have a ’70 bone stock sportster. Funny huh?
I had a ’76, Copper, Bassani 4 into one, a blonde girlfriend, and 2 Bell helmets. Wish I still did.
That’s such a great bike, a true classic, and it’s only going to go up in value. Note, the real trick is finding one of these with stock mufflers. Yes, an RC exhaust was a great hop up, but for a collector, you want the stock exhaust.
stock pipes are still available for about 1900.00, as are most parts for these bikes. Knew a guy who bought one brand new, first thing he did when he got it home was to cut off all four mufflers. It had eleven miles.
In May 1972, I bought a brand new Honda 750 K2. It was a great running and riding bike. I never regretted buying it. My dad thought I was crazy to pay $1,600.00 for a motorcycycle. 2 yrs later I bought a chrome kit for it, and new hooker 4into2 headers. It was a British Racing Blue. Beautiful color. I sold it in 1980 after I married. The new owner totaled it 2 weeks after he bought it from me.
I’ve owned 5 of those through the years, had a whole truckload of parts too, sold everything in the early 90s when I moved. I also had a pristine Yamaha RD350 and a couple of Suzuki GT750 “Water Buffaloes”. At that time all those bikes were still a dime a dozen, now if you can find one in decent shape they are incredibly spendy. It’s the same way with VW Bugs that I used to own…if I’d only known..
These bikes often got 4 into one pipes which made them sound really nice. This bike’s stock mufflers are missing the inner silencer piece. But the rest of the bike is very nice. If there ever was a two-wheeled Chevrolet, Honda’s SOHC 750 was it. You could ride those things everywhere on the street and if you dumped it you could still pick it up! They were also stupid-easy to repair because while you had to remove the engine to do many of the repairs, it was so easy. These were so popular, it put Honda on the map here in the US, enough so they started importing cars. One last thing, if you find one, the 1969 early “sandcast” 750s are the most valuable. A pristine one can fetch six figures.
I don’t know about six figures unless Steve McQueen owned it. 50k yes
As a French-Canadian I met while bicycling across Canada said about the 750, “mort machine”.
A few things don’t line up. The 1971 model had color matched headlight ears, not chrome as seen here. The exhaust pipes should be HM300, not the later model HM341. 1971 was the last year for Candy Ruby Red. The headlight ears and pipes suggest a 1972, with 1971 tank and side covers, or a 71 with some later year parts
This 1971 has the instrumentation in the Tac and Speedometer bezels. The 1972 model moved it to a cluster below the Tac an Speedo. Maybe changes to headlight ears ect. were just personal preference back in the day.
Lots of fun memories ,in 1968 was on my RR in Hawaii with my wife. We bought a new Honda 450 Scrambler and shipped it to the states. On my return in 1969 we rode it everywhere, until I realized I got thru the past year. Why was I trying to cheat death again with my wife. I sold the bike and we were able to buy a house. Smartest thing I ever did. We wouldn’t have what we do know if not for selling that Motorcycle, and get a start for the future with a small little house. We are now in retirement in a nice home, because of that decision.
At the Art of the Motorcycle (Guggenheim) in Las Vegas many years ago, the Honda 750 was instantly identified and recognized by the crowd. As a motorcycle icon, it was one of the most talked about outside of the exhibit whether in the elevator, the restaurant, or the hallways.
We are fortunate that Peter Egan did NOT write his first nationally recognized story featuring one of these instead of the Norton he rode cross country-what a loss to us all that would’ve been.
This one is beautiful, and will sell well.
This one puts a bad taste in my mouth. Not because I’m not a fan but one just like this wrecked a friendship.
I had this friend from high school who tended to be fanatical about certain things: Honda invented the motorcycle and Ford invented the truck. If you didn’t believe that go ask him.
Well, I had a Norton Ranger and my friend traded his Honda 450 in for the identical twin to this bike. Ever since he got the 750 he was after me for a race. I finally gave in and we set up a course on a near perfect 1/4 mile strip on the main highway leading north of town. We lined up and had one of the girls from school wave the flashlight.
We took off. My friend took me off the line, mostly because that Ranger had a very tall first gear; I could do almost 50 with it. I was shifting into 2nd when the Honda was hitting 3rd. That didn’t matter because when I hit 2nd I pulled ahead and stayed there. I beat him by at least three car-lengths.
He didn’t turn around; he rode home and as soon as he could, he rode to the Honda shop and after berating the owner for some time, got the bike tuned up. He came back and demanded a rematch.
He did better; I got him by 2 1/2 car-lengths this time. He turned around, raced back to the Honda shop and proceeded to raise the roof because the tuneup didn’t achieve what he expected. The owner of the shop was finally able to talk and asked him who he was racing. He snorted that it was some guy with a Norton Ranger.
“If that’s the bike I think it is, you won’t hold a candle to it,” the dealer said. “The only thing that will give the Norton a challenge is a Kawasaki Mach III.”
Bad thing to tell him. He was crushed. He rode his bike home and never spoke to me again.
That was over 50 years ago. I still feel bad about that because up until we had that race we were good friends. Unfortunately losing that race tripped something in his ego and he was never the same.
And, geomechs, let me guess; you didn’t get the head start like Seinfeld did against his old high school classmate. At least you have the story to tell. And Norton never got the wide acclaim like a Honda or a Harley. Neither did the Triumph.
Where I come from, British bikes were quite popular. Even in our small town there were a lot of bikes from across the Atlantic. But I think that people tended to dispell them just the same because they didn’t seem to make their presence known. Japanese bikes were flashy and monotonously reliable.
People chided me over my Norton and my BSA, telling me about all the things that would go wrong. Well, my Norton did experience a major engine failure after the oil return hose pushed itself off the fitting and I seized a conrod. That happened at 20K miles. I fixed it and it ran another 19K miles before my brains fell out and I sold it.
The one guy who always ran British bikes down suffered a freak failure on his Honda Superhawk at less than 5K miles. The left cylinder sleeve flange broke off just under the flange. The top ring caught the crack and ripped the crown off the piston. I rebuilt it with new sleeves, pistons and a new conrod which required sending the crankshaft away to have it installed and the whole menagerie aligned. He never ran ANYTHING down after that…
I had a gold 1971 750, loved the bike until the 900 Kawasaki came out and I had to have one, sold my Honda and bought a new 900 Kawa in 1974. That bike was bulletproof, all I did was buy tires and chains but I ran the crap out of it. I had a bunch of Kawasakis over the years a big believer in them. I was shopping for a new riding mower and stopped at the local John Deere and looked at one in particular. When the saleman told me it had a Kawasaki engine I knew I had to have it. That was in 1990 and is still running like new..
Never owned one but I have ridden several of them. One friend saw me jumping my 350 Kawasaki Bighorn. He asked me if I would jump his 750 Honda. He wanted to take a picture of it in the air. I did it. Got it about 3 feet in the air and he got a good shot of it.
My brother had one like this one. I loved. He messed up by having what I called bicycle handlebars put on it . I got it up past 110 one night and the wind was taking my hands off those bars. I never did that again.
Wow-this takes me back ! A friend worked for Honda publicity here in the UK and I met him in Berlin as we both happened to be there. Crossing Checkpoint Charlie took even longer than normal..the 750 wasn’t quite released yet-and the guards were all over it. We got stopped twice in the East and coming back through Charlie 3 guards had stayed on to have another good look. A couple of days later he drove Berlin to London in one day on it (pre channel tunnel of course and a speed limit in the east corridor. Thanks the reminder !
Had a 77. last year of SOHC. Following a 1976 550k. which was like riding a sewing machine.
In 77 I got off a merchant ship in Baytown Texas. I worked at sea for a long time when I was young. Gota ride into Houston.
Bought the 750 at AJ Foyt in Houston and road it north to Boston for a break in. had a wiring harness get loose and limped into Texarkana Honda on 2 cylinders. Then I had it on the side stand on new asphalt. STUPID. Broke the front brake lever, scratched up the battery cover which was previously a very pretty chocolate brown, gold pinstripes. right rear turn signal, twisted. 2 day old bike laying on it’s side. What an idiot!!.
Enjoyed the ride north when I heard a clanking. the chain guard weld had broken off
near the rear wheel.
a week later I was in Newburgh just short of the HUDSON , new york still going north when she just died. done. Had to put her on a flatbed. I had her towed to a motorcycle shop and they found my battery was toasted by a malfunctioning voltage regulator. They fixed it and I got all the way home. But while I stayed in Newberg I watched Muhammed Ali fight on the TV in the Motel. I was about a mile from the house in Boston when a cop pulled me over for my temporary texas tag. “Thank you sir” I said and rolled on home. 5 minutes from the end of the journey.
I rode that bike all over the country for a while. It did great. I guess I shook everything that was loose till failure.
Best part of the bike. Smooth as a baby’s butt.
twist the throttle and off she went powerful, no complaints, no vibration. I enjoyed it.
Oh, I paid 2,100 dollars for it , in cash, out the door.
some years later a fellow ran a stop sign in front of me doing about 80 MPH. Missed him by
an inch. I rode it home. put it up for sale and my short motorcycle period in my life was OVER.
I miss it terribly. But at 71 I can barely drive a car anymore.
Bought a new gold CB750 in 1970 for $1275.00 + tax, quickest thing on the street then. Got a ticket for 120 mph in a 55, judge said I was nuts, and everyone in the courtroom just laughed. He was right, but still here to tell the tale.
As has been mentioned by Hank, chain breakage on the early ones was a problem that was addressed by dealerships installing a guard behind and in front of the countershaft sprocket. It would benefit this seller to mention that the bike has one if it does. And yes, the muffler baffles are missing.
I owned numerous Honda fours over the years. I found a how-to article on the CB750 that had instructions for installing a second front disc brake. With one minor exception, it used all Honda parts and the conversion took me about an hour on my K4 as the 1074s already had the bosses on the fork legs as the ones sold in Asia had dual front discs. I installed an oil cooler on it, too – it was simply an adapter that went between the engine and the oil filter from which hoses ran to the cooler that was fastened to the upper downtubes.
I bought a lot of special tools from the Honda dealership that closed in Hershey, Pennsylvania (good location, nice facility but too many owners, two of which lived near Pittsburgh). I had a pair of the piston ring compressors, the spark plug wrench without which you weren’t getting the plugs out without either cracking a plug or scarring the downtube finish and a lot more tools like a carburetor balancing gauge set. I bought several CB750s that were mildly wrecked and rebuilt them. I had side covers, emblems, seats, fuel tanks and I can’t recall what else to use to finish those bikes off.
I fell in love with the Kawasaki Z1 and traded the K4 on a new 1975. It was gorgeous by Japanese motorcycle standards back then but it would randomly go into a tank-slapper that scared the bejesus out of me. The dealership techs wouldn’t test-ride it and the factory rep wanted no parts of it so when I retrieved it a month later, I found a small Kawasaki dealership that had just opened in Carlisle, Pennsylvania that needed inventory. The 1976 models were called KZ900s and were $400 cheaper than my 1975 Z1 listed for. The dealer was in such dire straits for bikes that he didn’t care about its problem and paid me new 1976 price for it.
I then bought a CB750 Custom, a CB900 Custom, a CB900F and finally a 1982 Gold Wing Interstate. I haven’t as much as looked at a Kawasaki since that 1975 Z1. I’d still like to find a nice used one though… I even have a factory DVD illustrating the designing and testing of the first ones.
this is what they call the JDM or standard. I have a duplicate but 2 cyl (KZ750B) which is B4 the japanese went standardized. They had nother
standard when the bikes got krazy (seemed around HP or ‘top speed
allowed to manufacture”) decades later (3? 4?)
J apnese D omestic M odel: All 4 cyl, 4 stroke, 4 carb, unitized (no
separate transmis), chain drive, 4 shocks, bench seat, etc…
The KZ750 is known as ‘the least maintenance’ bike.
I have been buying as many of these thru the years I can afford. My earliest is one of the last sand cast made and in a turquoise blue/green. I got it from a bike salvager who was going to jail for his constant sale/use of illegal substances. He had been ‘given’ the bike and he was about to part it out. Day after I picked it up, he was picked up himself and his business went down. Someone else came in and swept the place clean, moved the bikes, and opened their own salvage business. I never went there….. too many ugly rumors.
Anyway besides that early model, I have found and purchased 2 burgundy and red Limited Edition 750s with very low miles, and a few more mid 70 models with a/m fairings and luggage racks both in black. All are low mileage bikes with around 10,000 on the odo. To find them today, for bikes which have had proper storage and are complete, is a near impossibility. Usually when a person goes to answer an ad they are worn and rusty and have sat outside with many winter blizzards and rainstorms in their past. Tanks are rusy and the dials are broken or missing. This red beauty is a true collectors piece with not too many things to put right to make it original again. The 12,500 ask should keep the hackers and riff-raff away to insure it will have a bright future.
BEST wishes on a good sale ~