Hello all. My name is Steve, and I am a long time lurker, but have only recently started posting. I think I first registered here when I picked up a rusty old sandcast back in 05. My feet are hurting and I am sitting at the computer, so I think I will just ramble on and on for a little while about the sandcast bike I just purchased, and the plans I'm considering for it. I have been building SOHC CB750s for about 19 years and have had about as many. I worked in a few bike shops when I was younger, and have seen and owned a few bikes over the years since then. The SOHC Cb750s and old cafe racers have more or less been been my passion for a long time now. I also like the old 2-strokes from the late 60's and 70's, and have built a few of those too.
Right now I have a few CB750s in the workshop: a CR project, two nice 900cc builds, a couple mostly stock bits, a Tracy body, etc, and just yesterday I added a second sandcast, # x4858, to the fleet. That is why I am writing now. The bike is mostly complete, with a rust-seized motor. The seller was an extremely interesting older gentleman who has about 20+ vintage Alfa Romeos. He bought the bike in 1971 from the original owner who might have purchased it in 1970. I suspect this because it is incorrectly titled as a 1970 model, even though it is clearly a '69. I have his 38 year old title, a glorious, faded, yellowing linen document.
Speaking with the seller, he claims to have driven the wheels off of the bike for about 10 years before some lady in a cage bumped into him one fateful day in a parking lot. He got a little banged up and very scared, drove the bike home, parked it under a big tree, threw the key out into a field, and vowed never again to be seen on two wheels. He was just zany enough of a character for me to believe this is more or less a true account. The bike sat there mostly untouched amongst the good company of his Alfa Romeos and large oak trees ever since, until just recently when he decided to sell the old thing.
As to its originality, I immediately noticed the unstamped sandcast engine cases, and when I asked about them he said that he never replaced anything on the bike, except to put a 'better looking' 1942 Harley tail light (which I let him keep), a 4' sissy bar (which he let me keep), plus all the normal maintenance stuff. He was already a skilled, factory/dealer trained Alfa tech at the time, and he was taking good care of his stuff. (He has one of the finest home workshops I have ever seen...) When I asked, he said that he definitely did not replace the motor, nor anything else. He did mention that his boys did mess with the bike a bit over the years as they grew up, and they probably salvaged some stuff off of it as it sat there rotting.... The air box and left side cover are missing. It does have the long, single cut (in the rear) front fender, and a non-plug keyed ignition. I guess this is about right for these mid-to-late VIN sandcasts? At the same time, it looks like it alos has later model blue-green headlight ears with a black, metal headlight shell. As far as I can tell the rest looks correct.
At this time I am not sure what I am going to do with the bike. That is much of the reason I am writing so much right now; I'm just trying to think things through a little, and thought I would invite some discussion from the experts. The bike just sort of fell in my lap so fast that it left my head spinning. Like I said, I stumbled across it as a poorly written, four-day-old CraigsList ad.
The amazing CL ad read:
Quote:
(title)1969 HONDA 750 PRE K 4CYL, 4 CARB - $500 (SPICEWOOD)
TOURED THE USA FOR 5 YEARS, FASTEST, BIKE IN AUSTIN FOR 5 YEARS, BACK AND FORTH TO WORK FOR 10 YEARS, SITTING 20 YEARS POOR CONDITION NOW. CAN DELIVER
CALL BJ xxx-xxx-xxxx
I raced out to get it, and that was that. My head is still spinning.
At the same time I have been collecting CR race kit bits for about 10 years now, and only last week spent a good bit on some fancy parts that popped up locally, so my amazing wife was a bit distraught when I told her I was already dashing off again for some more non-planned expenditures.... As for the CR stuff, I have more or less a pretty good collection of parts I've been preparing to build it around a nicely assembled 900cc "mutt" motor which has the best of the various SOHC year's parts, plus all the best vintage and modern race stuff too. So it mightbe more accurete to say I was planning on building a CR replica... But now I am seriously thinking about Building the 'CR kit' around this sandcast. I am not sure. It has always been my dream/ goal of mine to build a 1969 sandcast CR racer, but I also have always assumed this dream is somewhat beyond my pay grade! Nevertheless, since I have so many bits accumilated, and many of them would replace parts that are missing from this CB, I think it might be less expensive (and more rewarding) for me to take a shot at it. Having said all that, I have always wanted to drive my CR hard both on and off the track (mostly on the road), and I have concerns that the Sandcast just might not be a good power plant selection for that. It would be simply gut wrenching to crash or blow up a motor like that!
I have another variation of this idea. Instead of restoring the sandcast motor, I could try to update it. I would like to split the cases and see if I can put a new motor together with later model and modern internals, similar to one of my 900cc 'mutt motors'. Heavy cylinder and bearing studs (instead of the bolts), improved internal chains, and all that stuff. It probably would be enough to keep it all together satisfactorily, if the cases can handle the stress. Maybe. Either way, I have never done that kind of build before in sandcast cases, nor am I familiar with anyone who has, so I don't really know whether or not it is even possible. IF it is, then it might be nice to put in modern primary and cam chains, tensioners, balanced race prepped rotating assemblies and top it off by buttoning on one of my 900cc, ported out top ends. I think I already have most of that stuff just sitting around my workshop right now. But like I said, I am a bit terrified about the consequences of failure -- things are already stretching my ability to pay for them!
So that is a little bit about me, my thoughts and the bikes. I love CB750s. I may not be much of an expert, but I seem to be unable to stop collecting and building them anyway.
So here are some pics of the bike I just hauled home. You can click on any pictures to open a 3x larger view in a new window.
At this time I know it is a 1969 sandcast, but I am unsure of the month of manufacture. You've gotta love that 4-foot sissy bar. Do you think the previous owner was compensating for something? That is one of my little boys. I got home with the bike at his bed time, and he is in his favorite spider man pajamas.
It looks worse from this side. The tank is all dinged up, the seat is trashed, the pipes are completely rotten, and the side covers are gone. At least I did get one nice emblem out of the deal. I taped it on... just because.
Everything that can rust has a little surface rust on it, except for the pipes and seat, which are completely gone. You can count the nine bolts on the clutch cover. The motor has been sitting with the #4 spark plug missing for an unknown length of time - quite possibly for 20 years.
The wrinkles of a wrinkle tank.
The clocks.
I took some more pics today:
The VIN
The slightly unusual unstamped sandcast cases.
The motor basically looks pretty good for sitting around for the last 20 years.
Here is a shot of the left fork. Every other SOHC CB750 I've noticed has similar brakes, but I am not familiar with this flange cast into the trailing edge of the fork. It is new to me. Is this a sandcast-only bit, or something else?
My amazing wife seems to really like that sissy bar.... It has already been removed and donated to a friend's museum-quality "raunchy accessory" collection. You can see what appears to be green-blue headlight ears and my black headlight.
So when it all boils down to it, everyone I know says I need to just sell this thing. Yet deep down inside I really want to keep it. We all have a few guess what it might fetch on eBay, but I feel like was given a unique opportunity to assemble and restore a very special machine. The mere idea that I actually might be able to assemble a sandcast CR750 really gets my pulse going.
Thanks for taking the time to read all this and peek at my pictures. I intend to post updates when they come.
peace and grease,
-fang