1974 Honda CB750 Four K4
Mechanical Service with some Cosmetics
Owner & Writer: Randy Creel, Jr., Owner & Restorer of Randy's Cycle Service & Restoration
Revitalize the Spirit & Beauty of your Classic Bike
Located in beautiful Central Virginia since 2001
8175 Black Walnut Run Road, Rhoadesville, VA 22542 USA
Service by Appointment ~ Closed Sunday & Monday
Email: info@rcycle.com
The Mid-Atlantic Region Premier Restorer of Vintage Motorcycles
Website created and managed by Ursulina Creel. Comments? Send to info@rcycle.com
This page was last updated on: August 6, 2013
Website & video content is the property of Randy's Cycle Service & Restoration & may not be used for any reason without prior, written permission.
COMMENTS: This page is an ongoing write-up of Randy's mechanical & cosmetic service to the bike he'll personally be riding starting the spring/summer 2010. Write ups - some technical some personal - will be posted along with pictures & a video of the progress. Notifications of new entries will appear on Facebook, so please join us on Facebook by clicking on the icon above.
Blog Entry 14: Posted August 22, 2010
I must confess that motivation for this project wasn’t solely to build a bike
from bits or to just get back to riding. It was much more than that. It was
also to get back to meeting folks again outside of the realm of business and
just one-on-one.
Honda for so many years used “You meet the nicest people on a Honda” as
their ad campaign and whomever coined that phrase wasn’t kidding. I think
that their intent was that the nicest people ride a Honda. I find that I meet
the nicest people while riding my Honda. Case (or cases) in point:
One of the very first rides I took on this bike was to see a friend a couple
hours south. Along the way I stopped for the inevitable fill-up of fuel when a
fellow at the neighboring pump glanced over, and very quickly told me he’d
had a CB750 new in ’71. “I really miss that bike” he told me as he described it
in vivid detail and waxed poetically about his old machine. We ended up talking
until someone needed to use the pumps and nudged us along. On the way
back that very same trip, again at a fuel stop, another person who didn’t
know exactly what the bike was, still commented that it looked like a classic
and was very stylish. That lead to a long conversation on several subjects
both motorcycle and non-motorcycle related.
Another ride I decided to take was from home to Smithfield, Virginia. If you
know ham, you know Smithfield and not much else compares to true Smithfield
cured ham. Like I needed an excuse, I proclaimed I’d ride to Smithfield and
pick up some real Smithfield ham right at the source. Sure, I could have gone
and bought it at the local grocery store, but it probably would have been
cheaper, closer and just not have tasted the same to me, so off I went.
Smithfield is exactly a 340 mile round trip from here by the way. Part of the
route I use to get there requires a ferry ride across the James River via the
Jamestown-Scotland ferry. Its fleet is smallish with around a 50-60 car
capacity and it’s almost never full during the week. I was the next to the last
vehicle to board, and so once on the deck with the approximately 12 or so
other vehicles there wasn’t much to do for the 20 minute ride across so as I
removed my helmet and grabbed my camera, one of the deckhands came over.
He was enthralled with the Honda, and asked all sorts of questions, even
taking a couple of pictures with his cell-phone camera. Soon, he told me all
about his Kawasaki, his brother’s Suzuki, and his bike experiences. He truly
was very enthusiastic and loved his bikes. So much so, I am afraid he may
have even gotten admonished by the captain for talking to me so long and not
doing his duty on the vessel. Unfazed by this we continued to talk until I had
to disembark so the ferry could take on the next round of passengers. I
probably cost Virginia a few extra cents worth of diesel fuel idling that boat
that afternoon.
Every year Ursulina and I attend the Vintage Motorcycle Days at Mid-Ohio in
Lexington, Ohio. Being the largest event of its kind in the U.S., you tend to
see and meet so many folks it can almost be overwhelming. This year, for the
first time, we both decided to take our own bikes along to the event, leave
the van at the motel, and ride to the show enjoying the whole weekend
without it being part of work. In doing so, we had to load and unload at the
motel and in the course of getting the bikes loaded back up one evening, the
husband and wife in the room next door came out to get some luggage from
their bikes, and we struck up conversation over his very nice Suzuki cruiser
and her Vespa. Since we had already loaded our machines into the van, our
bikes weren’t readily visible, but the husband upon seeing our company van
began to express interest in a vintage motorcycle, particularly a Honda CB750
Four. As you can imagine, this conversation went well into the night under the
stars in that motel parking lot in a quiet Ohio town, and again while it started
over motorcycles, by the time we were all ready to turn in for the night we’d
covered so many subjects, including talking about our love for cats, and
discovered some very good and genuine folks.
A trip to ride one of my favorite portions of the National Road through
Western Maryland also coaxed (as if he needed coaxing) my close friend Rich
to ride along on his Honda Gold Wing. The weather that day was a bit suspect
as it was constantly overcast and we’d run through a bit of rain for a few
miles, but overall it seemed it would be a great day, which it in fact turned
out to be. As the miles unwound behind us along the old turnpike, we stopped
here and there and in one small town along the route we stopped for fuel and
a short break. I had grabbed my phone and called home just to say hello and
let Ursulina know I was safe and riding well, while Rich began to talk to a
fellow who pulled up alongside us in his car just to say hello and check out the
bikes. After finishing my call, I introduced myself to the driver and before you know it, we were chatting away. Soon, we discovered we had a mutual friend in the form of a guy who organizes one of the larger motorcycle shows in Maryland. Then the conversation went on to routes to ride, sights to see, and so on. All in all, a very positive and memorable encounter.
On the “Loop” ride (video below) which covers 500 miles in a day, I had the chance to meet several very nice people. I didn’t stop many times or for very long at a time, this was surprising, yet refreshing. The first was not so much a meeting, but more of an exchange over the din of diesel trucks, passenger cars, the Honda, and the toll plaza at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge at Annapolis. As the truck driver and I played tag in the slow crawl to the toll booths, I learned that this North Carolina driver had bought a new CB750 back in 1970 and had ridden it all over until he had to go back to Uncle Sam’s service in Vietnam when he decided to part with it. Fortunately, he made it home fine and went on to own several other bikes before getting out of riding altogether once a family and kids came along. We actually managed to shake hands quickly before our lanes of traffic became too far out of synch. Later that afternoon further out onto Maryland’s Eastern Shore at a lunch stop, an older fellow approached me as I was gearing back up to hit another leg of my journey. He recognized the CB750 immediately, and then after the usual exchange of where are you from, and where are you headed, he told me all about his Kawasaki Z1 900 he’d bought new. He still had it! “Ill never let that bike go. They just don’t make them like that anymore.” He told me. I had to agree. Lastly, at the toll booth to get onto the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel at Cape Charles, Virginia, the attendant very broadly smiled and told me her husband had an old Honda too. A small thing, but common ground just the same.
Riding back onto the National Road again a couple weeks ago, I decided to take the segment around the back of Sideling Hill avoiding the Interstate altogether. It’s a fairly desolate stretch of highway now, and not many use it except the occasional bike or sightseer. I decided that would be a perfect photo opportunity so I pulled out my camera, tripod, etc. and started snapping away and making a short video. In the midst of my stop I also decided to return a phone call and was in the middle of it when two motorcyclists rounded the bend, slowed and checked up on me. I gave the thumbs up and they rode off. Later at Town Hill overlook, I found them resting and stopped to thank them. I truly did appreciate their taking a moment to see if a fellow biker was OK. I also enjoyed talking with them both and discovering they were travelling all the way from Indiana on the back roads. One of the riders’ son, probably about 10 years old, admired my flip-up front helmet. The youngster had a full-face model with the rubber spikes on top. We had fun comparing the two styles. So good to see folks out on the road and just enjoying it.
Last week I rode to Shenandoah Valley, West Virginia and back. (I'll post ride details next week.) Along the ride I stopped to check the map and pick an alternate route, but not really sure which way to go when I heard a voice off to the left say “You need help finding anything?” I answered I was just trying to find a way to go, but nothing was firm yet. “Anything is pretty around here.” I had to agree as the mountains surrounding Franklin, West Virginia are some of the best I’ve seen yet. Soon, this very friendly gentleman had me on a route that would take me in a direction that looked promising. His parting comment, “We ride this regularly. This is one of the prettiest valleys around.” That was an understatement. I can honestly say that truly was one of the prettiest rides I’ve ever taken. Oh, and he also had owned a new CB750, and prior to that a new BSA Spitfire MKIII.
All of these stories I’ve related have just been within the first 3,000 miles on the Honda and in the span of only 2 months. I can’t wait to see how many other great people I will meet though my travels.
Pics from ride to Smithfield, VA
On the Ferry
In Smithfield, VA
At a resturant near the
Mid-Ohio show
2 Hondas overlooking the valley west of Sideling Hill, MD
