It’s difficult to overstate the importance of the Honda Motor Company on the evolution of motorcycles throughout the 20th Century, from the Cub, to the Monkey, to the Gold Wing, to the CB750 – Honda have created paradigm shifting motorcycles in almost every possible genre, or in the case of the CB750, actually created a new genre.
Of all the motorcycles in this particular Collection, the one that grabs attention immediately is the original 1969 CB750 prototype that’s currently in the midst of a bidding war with the current bid at over $120,000 USD. This motorcycle is one of just 4 built before the production line officially began ticking over, Honda engineers hand-machined the parts and often found themselves having to design elements of the drive-train on the fly.
This prototype was shipped to the USA with its 3 siblings and used to display the upcoming production bike’s features, Honda was bearish on the demand they anticipated for the model but allowing the dealers to have some hands on time with the all-new CB750 led to a groundswell of interest behind the bike. Of course, the rest is history. The Honda CB750 would go on to dominate the large capacity sports bike class for a over decade, it was so revolutionary they created a new term just to describe it – they called it the “super bike”.
Click here to see the prototype Honda CB750 and the other motorcycles in the new Iconic Honda Motorcycles – The eBay Collection.
via SILODROME
