Can I get some opinions on a bike?

Twinstar Joined: Jan 08, 2006 Posts: 76 Location: LA, CA

Hey guys,
As some of you know, I sold my CB1100F to Bulldauq a while back. I need another bike and am looking at a 1978 CB750F SS. Anyone have an opinion on this bike? The guy is asking $800 for it and it looks to be in pretty nice shape, but I won't actually be able to put my eyes on it until tomorrow. Suggestions? Opinions? Mockery?

Thanks,
Gray

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 1:12 am

timujin wrote:

Hey guys,
As some of you know, I sold my CB1100F to Bulldauq a while back. I need another bike and am looking at a 1978 CB750F SS. Anyone have an opinion on this bike? The guy is asking $800 for it and it looks to be in pretty nice shape, but I won't actually be able to put my eyes on it until tomorrow. Suggestions? Opinions? Mockery?

Thanks,
Gray

Its the last year of the SOHC 750 hondas in the states. I had one, great bike, but no 1100f. I sold it and now have two DOHC F's if that says anything. But they make great Cafe racers, if thats your thing.

Twinstar Joined: Jan 08, 2006 Posts: 76 Location: LA, CA

Actually, right now I'm just looking for something to ride to work and back.

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 1:50 am

My brother owns one and he likes it, how ever his is on the rat side of things.

I have never rode it, matter of fact I don't think I've ever seen it running.

go to the sohc4.net

sohc4

not being a dick or anything just they maybe able to give you the scoop on the bike

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 4:05 am

I owned a 78 750SS for a VERY short time. Strictly temporary transport. It never let me down. Started every morning and ran like a top. Runs VM's so you can go to pods and increase your power if you like.

Jose

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 11:41 am

A buddy of mine bought a '76 SS last year. Very nice bike, very comfortable. We've done some upkeep things before they turned into problems. Rebuilt the masters, the calipers, Hagon shocks, and a full service. He could ride that thing to New York tomorrow. Very dependable bike. I dare say that if you a nice one for 800. you will always get your money back and then some, down the road. They are just gettiing hard enough to find to be a "classic". I like them.

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 1:32 pm

I have a 76 SOHC F. Great bike. The 77s and 78s had the Comstar wheels, and dual front discs. Worthy improvements. As TomStrasser stated, check out sohc4.net. Extremely dependable.

A few things to do/check:
Fuse block - contacts tend to oxidize causing fuses to blow or overheat. The placement of the fuseblock behind the sidecover, puts it in the heat from the engine as well, compounding the problem. Make sure the contacts are clean (a little emery paper does a good job) and check the solder joints on the back of the fuse block.
Brakes - normal stuff for an older bike. At the very least, new fluid.
Steering Head Bearings - originals were ball bearings. They tend to create a notch near the center - HUGE cause of head shake/tank slappers. Tapered bearings are an easy replacement.
Swing Arm Pivot/Bushing - can loosen up a bit, also causing head shake/tank slappers. Usually as simple as tightening the bolt.

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 4:02 pm

I bought a '78 new and had it for a couple of years. I worked at a Honda dealership at the time and when I had around 27K miles on the bike it was smoking pretty bad from worn out guides. I had the motor apart and the exhaust guides (versus intakes) were worst for clearance with huge numbers. All the guides had all worn 'oval' front-back with the exhaust being about 0.020-0.027" clearance with the intakes about half that. This is WAY, WAY over limits... I complained to the regional Honda "mechanical warranty" guy (I can't remember his name or job title) about my bike who happened to be visiting our dealership at the time, and he authorized free replacement parts to rebuild my engine, including the rocker/cam boxes which he said were the cause of my problem. The story he related was that in a cheap route to get a little more valve lift in the '78 (and I think '77) motors Honda had changed to a small degree the pivot point location for the rocker arms by moving it closer to the cam to create greater lift (and more forward/back arc motion) at the valve causing high guide wear.

Long story short, I liked the bike a lot with my only gripe being the very hard and slow throttle and engine smoking. You can fix the engine IF it smokes fairly easily, but if I had one that I had to do that on I'd find another set of cam boxes to put in it from a '76 or earlier motor (should be easy to find) if I had to put new guides in it. I rode it hard all the time, and sold it only because I couldn't afford to keep it after getting my CBX.

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 4:10 pm

I forgot to mention - the bike I bought new was the SuperSport in '78, not a K model. I don't think the problem with the cam boxes was on the K models for '77 & 78; again reaching back almost 30 years I think the power ratings were different by a couple of horsepower between the the model.

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 4:24 pm

Opinion......1978 CB750F SS..... If it is a clean bike, VERY high cool factor.
I just like old stuff that is kept in good condition.

Twinstar Joined: Jan 08, 2006 Posts: 76 Location: LA, CA

Thanks for all the advice, guys, I'll check out the SOHC site and poke around. I won't be able to look at the bike until next weekend, but from what you've said it should be a decent ride.

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:34 am

The problem Dennis mentioned was a very real problem on the 77 and 78 F engines only. They were the hottest old SOHC engine Honda ever built but the offset rocker arm would wipe out the guides in short order. Bad guides were common with less than 10K on the motor. I restored one a few years ago.

The old comstars had to use tubes. I used 900F wheels so I could go tubeless. No where near the bike a DOHC is!

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 1:52 am

Martin that thing is a beauty with those 900 wheels!!! Do you still own it?

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:21 am

Ben, No I sold it to a collector down in San Jose, CA. a couple of years ago. My brother bought the bike when he was in the navy over 25 years ago. I thought he had sold it but I was visiting him several years ago and I spotted it in his garage. It was just sitting in the corner under an old carpet. It only had 6K miles but initially looked really bad, and had not been started in over 20 years. Upon further examination, I determined that he had done a very good job storing it.

He mixed oil in the gas and ran the engine until it was smoking good. This was done to coat the inside of the exhaust with oil. He drained all the fluids. He filled the gas tank and carbs with stove fuel. He removed a valve adjustment cap and filled the engine all the way up with oil. He moved the spark plugs and filled the cylinders with oil. He drained the brake fluid and filled the system with oil. He sprayed furniture wax all over the bike and coated as much of the bike as possible with paste wax. Then he parked it in the corner of the garage and threw a carpet over it. About once a year he would loosen the spark plugs and rotate the motor. He also sprayed a can of WD40 all over the bike once a year or so.

I drug it home, cleaned it up, replaced all the fluids, and had it running in about 8 hours. Bike was like new...

It was fun to ride but power and handling is no where near what a DOHC F provides.

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:19 pm

I have a similar story to Martin's. My bike had 4500miles and was stored for about 15years. I sold it last fall for $1200US. The bike was nice but seemed slow compared to the 1100f. The story that the SOHC were scary fast is a tall tale in my opinion.

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:21 pm

stoutblock wrote:

Ben, No I sold it to a collector down in San Jose, CA. a couple of years ago. My brother bought the bike when he was in the navy over 25 years ago. I thought he had sold it but I was visiting him several years ago and I spotted it in his garage. It was just sitting in the corner under an old carpet. It only had 6K miles but initially looked really bad, and had not been started in over 20 years. Upon further examination, I determined that he had done a very good job storing it.

He mixed oil in the gas and ran the engine until it was smoking good. This was done to coat the inside of the exhaust with oil. He drained all the fluids. He filled the gas tank and carbs with stove fuel. He removed a valve adjustment cap and filled the engine all the way up with oil. He moved the spark plugs and filled the cylinders with oil. He drained the brake fluid and filled the system with oil. He sprayed furniture wax all over the bike and coated as much of the bike as possible with paste wax. Then he parked it in the corner of the garage and threw a carpet over it. About once a year he would loosen the spark plugs and rotate the motor. He also sprayed a can of WD40 all over the bike once a year or so.

I drug it home, cleaned it up, replaced all the fluids, and had it running in about 8 hours. Bike was like new...

It was fun to ride but power and handling is no where near what a DOHC F provides.

I have never heard of anyone doing such things to a stored bike. I guess it payed off.