1970 Honda CB750KO saved from the junk pile: This bike was found covered and tucked into a dark garage in Oshkosh, WI. It was bought new in Milwaukee and was sold to the owner's cousin in 1980. He drove it for 10 years, lost interest and it sat lonesome in this garage for 17 years. I found it in July 2007 with 17,130 miles and it was waiting for the open road again.

When the cover was removed I was pleased to note it was in restorable condition with most of the OEM parts in place and only a little rust. Afraid the owner would change his mind, I paid him and immediately pushed it 65 minutes to my house. The only thing he requested was that after I restore it, I bring it back to show him the original glory of this early 750.

Before I put a lot into it I had to be sure the motor was free and it would run. The tank needed cleaning and a liner, but the carbs were dry and better than I would have expected. I installed a new battery and found the entire electrical system intact with minimal corrosion and in working order. It took 3 weeks to clean, rebuild and sync the carbs, install new points, condensors, oil, filter, etc. I wanted to be sure that when I turned the key this bike had every opportunity to come to life again. Finally, the day came to awaken this beast from a 17 year slumber. I turned the key and a few twists of the throttle she fired right up and was growling to hit the road.

I rode it for 1,000 miles until fall when my lovely wife Paula accepted the idea of pushing it into the heated sunroom which would be my vintage shop through the winter. She has been wonderful in letting me do this for 2 other Honda restorations and is very supportive of my hobby.

The bike was dismantled and reworked over the winter. I enjoy trying to bring these bikes back to the way they looked on the showroom floor. I fitted it with OEM exhaust, duckbill seat from Japan, original candy ruby red paint and complete new chrome. I could have installed some new chrome parts from Honda, but I wanted to keep the original parts on this bike so I decided to chrome all the original items.

The project was finished in May 2008 when my son Chris and I pushed the bike through the kitchen, living room and hallway back out into the sun. This 750KO turned out better than expected and I attribute that to my friends at Custom Plating Specialists and In-Line-Auto-Body in WI. Both paid particular attention to detail which makes all the difference between a good restoration and a great restoration.

Best of luck to all you restoration buffs out there and keep bringing those bikes back to life!!!

John Hathaway