After a couple of weeks of seeing a good few mega builds on Bike Shed a ratty CB750 is a sight for sore eyes. Not that I don’t love and appreciate the metal flake, CNC-fest that has been going on but its great to own a bike that you can just jump on and ride, whenever and wherever. Reminding us of the ‘Shed ethos of built, not bought. Cristobal Quintana from Santiago, Chile shared an equally raggedy XS650 Brat earlier in the year , since then 86 Motorcycles have had a busy summer; well it’s been winter down there but in the UK we’ve actually had a decent summer and we’ll try to keep the memory fresh by imagining summer everywhere.
The Honda CB750 K8 donor was found in La Ligua about 2 hours from Santiago, and was in good mechanical condition but urgently needed a facelift. The previous owner ran it with a thunderous car exhaust car and a high back seat that weighed about 20kg, and an indefinite number of accessories. Think late nineties Goldwing, on a budget.
The 750 tank is a fairly girth item so Cristobal’s local scrapyard was raided for a few parts, luckily he found a fairly decent 550 version without any holes in it. This was stripped and left to rust which not only saves a massive bill at the painters but nails the rat look. Bars are a more modern low rise, shallow sweep pair, powder coated black; with the surrounding dash removed leaving just a speedo. The wiring loom has been simplified and routed out of sight where possible.
Don’t be fooled, the scrapper look is only skin deep, the guys put plenty of effort into the hidden bits too. Forks are 5″ lower, cut down, not just dropped in the yokes. The motor is in good nick so received a service and a set of pod filters, and a pretty serious chop-job to the zorsts. From the pictures it doesn’t look like angry neighbours will be an issue. Black parts were all blasted and powder coated.
The cut’n’looped frame retains a small kick up to allow space for the mudguard and a sensible amount of ground clearance. The seat is his own handiwork, with a diamond stitched cover; below the custom battery box and oil tank are semi hidden by a side panel. Cristobal’s tyre of choice is the Firestone Deluxe Champion so an upgrade to an 18″ rear wheel was needed.
Where has the week gone? Zipped past quicker than the UK summer. It’s Sunday morning again, nice and early. I’d happily take this CB out for the errands I need to do; brightening up my day, and the grey city.
via The Bike Shed
