Honda CB750

Launch of Honda CB750 & Dick Mann at AMA Daytona 200-Mile Race

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by Todd Halterman from https://www.autoevolution.com On Twitter by Honda Powersports: Monday’s passing of Dick “Bugsy” Mann, American Honda sends its heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and fans. Mann’s 1970 Daytona 200 win aboard the CR750 (the racing version of the CB750 four-cylinder) was momentous in Honda’s history Thank you, Dick, and godspeed. The Honda CB750 Changed the Way Motorcycles Were Made, Raced and Sold Though now highly prized for their potential as re-imagined cafe racer machines, the venerable Honda CB750 was – back in its infancy – the bike that changed the game. So how did it happen that the Japanese took over the worldwide motorcycle manufacturing industry? To a large extent, it came down to the creation of a single model. With five consecutive championship titles under their belts, Honda decided to withdraw from the World GP circuit in 1967 with a plan to develop high-performance consumer motorcycles at the forefront of their vision. While Honda exported more than half of their output back in the mid-’60s, they didn’t make a large-displacement sport bike model which would appeal to the hardcore rider in the U.S. And it’s not like the honchos at Honda failed to notice that glaring deficiency. Sales of Honda motorcycles in America were flagging in 1966, and the company knew a brand-new worldview was in order. While the company had created the Dream CB450 in 1965, they were still being outgunned by big bikes from other makers. The CB450 sold well, but for the vast majority of American riders, it just didn’t have the requisite zing and bottom-end torque they craved. What really drove Yoshiro Harada, the head of Honda product development at the time, was hearing the news that Britain’s Triumph was deep in the development process of a high-performance, 3-cylinder 750 cc engine. […]

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Crushing the Record for the World’s Longest Motorcycle the American Way

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by Cristina Mircea from https://www.autoevolution.com The title for the longest motorcycle in the world belongs to an Indian who built one that measures 86 ft and 3 in (26.29m). Bharat Sinh Parmar holds the Guinness World Record since 2014. That didn’t sit well with the guys from Bikes and Beards, who decided to bring that record to the United States, using a vintage Japanese bike. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, Bikes and Beards is the YouTube channel of SRK Cycles, a bike dealer based in Pennsylvania. This isn’t their first unusual vlog, as the whole purpose of the channel is to redefine the way you use a motorcycle and push the boundaries of human creativity. In case you haven’t slept well at night wondering if you can run a motorcycle underwater for 10 minutes, do browse their channel and you’ll find out. The common approach for others who’ve tried to build a long motorcycle has been to place the engine and the drive train on the front, then add a long swingarm and then the wheel in the back. But there’s a simpler way to do things, which is to build two square tubes at both ends of the bike and have them welded on the motorcycle. The long frame would then get connected to those tubes. The guys’ bike, a 1980 Honda CB750 Custom motorcycle, ended up measuring 108 ft, which was a success, not to mention the fact that everything was accomplished within one week. In order to break the record, the motorcycle had to prove it can actually handle itself on the road, taking turns and everything. Bharat Sinh Parmar had to ride his for 308 ft (93.8 m) without putting his feet down, to break the previous record. But the Bikes and

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American racing champion Dick Mann passes away

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from https://www.roadracingworld.com Racing Legend Dick Mann passes away – from a press release issued By American Motorcyclist Association AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer and Racing Legend Dick Mann Passes Mann, a two-time AMA Grand National Champion, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998 PICKERINGTON, Ohio — Dick “Bugsy” Mann, one of the most versatile racers to ever throw a leg over a motorcycle, passed away on April 26 at the age of 86. Mr. Mann, born June 13, 1934 in Salt Lake City, Utah, was a two-time AMA Grand National Champion (1963 and 1971), and became best known for being the first person to achieve a motorcycle racing Grand Slam, which involved winning across all five types of circuits included in the Grand National Championship: road racing, TT, short track, half-mile and mile. When he retired from racing in 1974, Mann had 24 national victories, which — at the time — placed him second in all-time wins within the AMA Grand National Series. While Mann got his racing start in scrambles, he soon got hooked on turning left on dirt ovals, and after some time learning his trade, headed to the professional racing circuit in 1954, turning expert in 1955. He achieved his first national win at the Peoria TT in 1959, quickly establishing himself as an elite racer in the series. Mann also helped pioneer the sport of motocross in the U.S., competing in several of the early AMA professional motocross races in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Perhaps Mann’s most fulfilling national win was his victory in the 1970 Daytona 200 aboard the then-new Honda CB750. He’d been racing the Daytona 200 for 15 years and finished second three times, and in 1970 finally got to the top step of the podium, holding off rising

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