What is the jerk who said or wrote that the CB750 are wriggling like sausages ?
Thanks you Steve for sharing
Gerard, great to hear from you. one of the things i noticed on the bike in the foreground, the rear shocks to not appear stock, so it makes me wonder if they are aftermarket. in my own humble experience, i remember my K2 wallowing through a turn and i remember 4779 not ever wallowing. i'm pretty sure i never had either 4779 or the K2 leaned over as far as these guys have these bikes leaned into the turn. When i experienced wallowing with my K2 i do not remember going through the turn at any excessively high speed, was just normal driving. i honestly don't know if the DeCarbon shocks fitted to sandcast bikes were any much better than the Showa's on later bikes, i may (please) stand corrected, the thing that distinguished the DeCarbon's, they were charged with nitrogen gas to help keep the oil in the shock from over heating.....? Although the shocks on K1's appeared same as or at least similar to the DeCarbon's, the K1's did not have 7 springs exposed and did not have a DeCarbon sticker on them. Back to my experience owning a K2, between the wallowing, the mufflers showing rot, and significantly slower than 4779, i became disillusioned with the K2 and traded it in on a brand new black 1974 Norton Commando Roadster i rode trouble free for 20,000 miles and never had one regret. Other than the technology of an sohc transverse 4 on a production motorcycle and not having to routinely make ignition points adjustments and check timing on the Honda 750, in my humble experience, for sheer riding pleasure, the Commando was the superior motorcycle. in terms of riding performance, what the Commando lacked in horsepower, it made up in being around roughly 75 pounds lighter and the Commando's handling is nimble, quick, and light in contrast to the Honda 750. For those of you have been on the forum since the beginning, you will perhaps remember my story of beating Norm Mathis' red K1. Norm and i "ran off" his K1 and my Commando; i could beat Norm fairly consistently. Once in a while he could pull past me and and stay ahead, but more often than not the lesser weight of the Commando usually gave me the advantage.
fwiw, specifications of the Commando and CB750, respectively: dry weight 422 vs. 480 pounds; wet with full tank of fuel, 450 vs. 513 pounds. Horsepower; 59 vs. 68. What the CB750 had in higher engine rpm's, the Commando made up in torque; 56 ft.lbs at 6,000 rpm vs. 44 ft.lbs at 7,000 rpm. max rpm's 7,200 vs. 8,500.
it was during the summer of 1975, i attended road races in Aspen, Colorado; transverse 4's and 2-stroke triples were in force on the tracks. there were only a few British twins racing. i distinctly remember the 4's and triple's far outdistancing the British bikes in the straights, only for a few of the British bikes to close the distance to the Japanese bikes in the turns and then be out-accelerated time and again. i also remember seeing some of the 4's and triple's doing some really heavy wallowing through the turns and feeling glad i had traded the K2 for the Commando.