Bikes come and bikes go, but the Honda CB750, often referred to as the first superbike, was a landmark in motorcycle history.
First reports from Japan said the engine was “surprisingly quiet” below 4000 RPM but sounded more like a motorcycle from there up to 7000 RPM, after which it howled like a GP bike to its 8500 redline. 67 BHP was on tap from the SOHC engine, enough to push a crouched rider up to 120 mph.
Bringing the bike to a stop was helped by the new-fangled front disc brake. Cycle World magazine commented at the time that even Honda’s GP racers didn’t have disc brakes, so why bother putting them on a production bike, and put it down to marketing. Cycle magazine in the US called the CB750 “the most sophisticated production bike ever”.
The Japanese had arrived and British motorcycling would never be the same again.
