California

[Frankly]

Greetings all.  I've owned my 750 since about 1972, bought used.  I've had much enjoyment riding all over Southern California.  But life intervenes and it's been parked in my garage since about 1982.  Now the time has come (finally) to do something with it.  I discover now that what I have is an early sandcast engine. 
Frame CB750E-1001080
Engine CB750E-1001246

This creates a bit of a dilemma.  I don't want to do anything involving short term quickie fixes that might jeopardize a future restoration.  I'm also a little leery about turning it over to some bike guy to get it going for me.  I don't have the time really to do a full blown restoration, but I would like to get it running again and cruise a few canyons. 

So I'll need to do some research about how to proceed, where to find rubber parts, how to clean the gas tank, and the like.

[kp]

Talk to Sam. he's da man
KP
PS Nice low numbered machine You'll have to load some photos

[Sam]

That's high praise coming from KP. He might know more than anyone else I have met!

Frankly, you have a special bike there! I'll email you and we can chat.

[Frankly]

A few pictures.  Aired up the tires, rolled it out of the garage, and gave it a quickie wash. The memories are starting to come back.  For some reason the seat is harder than I remember.

[Sam]

Gotta love these kind of photos....what a wonderful find! Well, not a find....a rediscovery.

The good news is that your bike is in decent shape and has a lot of the super rare stuff (double cut front fender, recessed ignition and so on). You even have the correct 1969 CA license plate. I have the same on my candy-blue green daily driver sandcast. Super cool.

The paint appears to be in excellent condition. This is rare for red paint which usually fades. Is it a wrinkle tank?

Your exhaust (at least 1 and 4) are toast which is common. You can find excellent reproductions or hunt down originals if you have the time.

Probably time for new tires too

Other than the black steel bar on the back of the bike, I dont see anything incorrect. KP will set us straight...he's great at examining photos like this!

[Sam]

Looks like your mirrors are from a K1.

[Frankly]

Thank you for your kind comments.
There are a few problems, some of which the pictures reveal. 
The pipes have seen better days.  Apparently condensation tends to collect at the low spot between pipe and muffler and the rust starts there; hasn't quite broken through yet. There are several pinhole leaks along one of the seams.  At one time years ago  I contemplated replacing all of it with a 4 into 1 Kerker.

The black sissy bar I fabricated years ago because the girls  were afraid they would fall off the back.   Sometime before 1972 the seat lost the strap; one screw holding it is missing. Presumably the original owner removed the strap rather than replacing the lost screw.

Not sure about the mirrors; I get different bikes mixed up.  I may have replaced them because they were vibrating too much and thus not serving the intended function.  I may have swapped them from a CT90. 

The paint on the tank is good.  No dents, no scratches, not much fading. The side covers have faded considerably, particularly along the top.  Same with the headlight.  The right cover is now broken and I doubt it could even be pieced together.

The tank does have a big problem with corrosion and deposits inside.  I did not drain the gas and over the years it has evaporated and left a mess inside.  I hope I can clean it up without messing up the paint.

[Sam]

Yes, you can save the tank most likely. Clean out the tank as best you can. Protect tha paint while you do it! Your petcock will need to be rebuilt of course. To get the rust out of the tank, use metal rescue. Wonderful stuff. Non toxic. Buy a fiv gallon bucket of it.

Your petcock is an early short one from what I can see. Get new internals for it.

[42barab]

Congrats on your excellent find!

[kp]

Whatever else you do. DO NOT toss any parts out or replace just because the replacement part looks new, Your bike will have lots or very early parts fitted such as the petcock, tank, brake pedal, master cylinder, top triple clamp, exhaust (regardless of condition) brake splitter and so on. The value of these low number bikes is in their originality and early parts are super hard to find.
Release the brake calliper fixing bolts to free up the front wheel else you will mark the front disc and only grinding will successfully fix.
Get looking machine. I love the switches having their original color. Yep that's a real nice machine you have there. Sam will be a good source of info as he has a few of these early bikes
Great to see you have got the bike bug again.

[Wayne]

First off, welcome to the group. That is one beautiful machine. I echo what Sam and KP have already stated. You have a LOT of early and very sought after parts on your bike. Don’t toss anything. I know sometimes a new shiny part seems like the better option but at the end of the day it’s not, especially for an early machine such as yours. I only wish it were tucked in my garage. If you use FB you can follow us there as well. For some it seems to be the preferred platform.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/604753300689518/?ref=share

[hondasan]

Wonderful original bike. Minimum "interference" needed here to preserve this as reference bike.
Appears to have short choke lever carbs making me wonder if my #1120 should have the same as opposed to the longer choke lever (though my engine is E1106). 1120 was not quite as original when acquired in 1991 but did still wear its origonal California black / yellow license plate.
Mainstand on 1080 appears to be the later type with strut on LH leg - #1120 came with an earlier mainstand with a piece of all-thread welded in  place on the LH leg - wonder which is correct?

Again, great to see another survivor surface, if only to enable debate regarding when early features changed.

Chris R.

[Prospect]

Wow!  What a great and original bike!  This is a high value machine. It's always surprising to me that people keep something so long and  don't sell it.  I guess if you have the space what's the point of selling it.  Do you have any pictures of it from back in the day?

[Sam]

Must have been made and perhaps even sold (here is CA) on the same day as yours.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1969-Honda-CB750-/133894312639?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0