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Hey all,
I am ready to purchase a 1979 CB750K for my first project. Is this a good bike to start a cafe type project with? I am going for an early GP race look. The bike is sound and completely stock with wind jammer fairing. The price is a little steep but I have been looking for a few years and this one fell into my lap. Any advice here would be greatly appreciated.
The '79 isnt as popular as some of the other years of the CB. Depending on what you want to do to it, you might run into problems. cosmetic things like handlebars, seat tank, wheels, foot pegs shouldn't be too hard. Even shocks fall into this category. The more technical things like engine, clutch, and intake will be a bigger problem because there is a smaller market for that year. Be super careful when shopping for parts because some Cb750 parts aren't going to be compatible. Since its your first build I would suggest riding it and getting used to the handleing and geometry. If you put cafe racer handlebars on it the first day you have it, you won't have a good baseline of how the bike feels. So you may end up hating riding it because you decided on the handlebars before you had any idea on what it felt like to ride the bike.
TLR; be careful with the mods you make. Less popular year means less of a aftermarket.
Thanks again bjonesin and cklamer, this information will help out a lot. I might pass on this bike knowing what I know now about the difficulties with parts and customizing. Thanks again for the help.
Thanks again bjonesin and cklamer, this information will help out a lot. I might pass on this bike knowing what I know now about the difficulties with parts and customizing. Thanks again for the help.
Couple of more things. Since I don't have the bike in front of me you'll have to forgive me but this might be the first year that the cb's went to a dual overhead cams. This is probably why they arent as popular. This also might be the first year that the kick start was removed.
If it truly is a solid bike 1500 isnt a bad price but if you are going the cafe route your money might go further with a different bike. If you wanted a bike under 2 grand that you could go on a trip with I would tell you thats a great bike.
I am looking for a winter project and will do some trimming to the frame to get the look that I want and this bike is solid, and you are correct the fella that wants to sell has it set up for touring. I am thinking that I would be ruining a perfectly goo machine if I start removing metal for seat hoops and such. However I do have another option, this bike at the time I was asking about it is a 1973 CB350 that has been setting in a field, for 100 dollars. I tried the kicker and it seem to move a little but I could not move the shifter at all and the chain was rusted solid. If this is not seized it might work for what I want to do without wrecking a perfectly solid bike.
I've got a 80' 750F. I LOVE it. Yeah, there aren't as many aftermarket parts as earlier CB's, but I'd say there is more then enough for anything you could need. I haven't had any problems finding anything I need or want.
bjonesin the bike was a 350 and my thinking is that if it is seized up then my work is going to be twice as pricey. What are your thoughts on that. I believe that it is in the same place that i left it.
Reading is hard. Sorry for the mistake.
350's are a different animal than a 750. It's a smaller engine, a twin. It means you have two carbs and half as many cylinders. For 100 dollars you can wash it off and sell it for twice as much. But I digress.
You want me to steer you toward making a purchase, here it is: buy that bike. Hondatwin.net is a great resource for it. The engine is a little scary yes. You are essentially buying a paperweight and I can understand why you would be scared. If engine teardown scares you buy a second engine that you know works. Its going to be a hell of a lot of work. You'll need to check the frame for rust, the engine for rust, the tank for rust. If you look at it and decide its too much work then walk away. Its 100 dollars. Eat ramen for a month. That's how I feel about it
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I just talked to the fella who has the 350 and talked him down to 75.00 so much the better. I am still kicking the CB 750 as well since it is in good shape and from a few of the other bikes I have checked into on Do The Ton it looks like I can still get the look that I want and not chop anything off of it so that I can put it back to original and resell if something else comes up that will work better. Ramen noodles are the greatest. Thanks for all the good information and I will try and post some pic's as I am picking the 350 up this evening and quite possibly the 750 this weekend.
I picked up the CB350 yesterday evening have not gotten around to any picks yet. There is slight surface rust and some rust through on the seat pan, wheels are froze or breaks one or the other. forks work and are in good condition as well as the shocks all moving parts are stuck except the engine, it will move with the kicker just a hair before the rusted frozen chain stops everything, also has clean oil on the dipstick. Well at least there were no hornets. Will have to get the gas cap open before I can tell how good the tank is. I am not taking any bets on this.
Priority #1 is checking to see if the engine runs. Run a search for frozen motors on sohc4. I believe its a mixture of atf fluid and motor oil. Don't quote me on that mixture. After soaking it put new sparkplugs and a chain. Your best bet is to take the hose off the tank and use a gas can instead of the tank to hold gas until you clean the tank while you check the engine. You dont want the tank putting rust in the carbs. There's a pinesol method talked about on this site for cleaning carbs. I wouldn't take the carbs apart because it might overwhelm you with so much to clean/ fix. Buy a new battery and a float charger because youll probably run it down trying to diagnose the engine.
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R; be careful with the mods you make. Less popular year means less of a aftermarket.
