Spiros (@fiveten)
Years ago I owned one of these, back in 1994 through 1995. Mine was a 1974 vintage, wearing a copper color, trimmed in black with a black and a white stripe separating the two colors. It ran flawlessly even though it was getting old and had quite a few miles on it. Now I wish I had never sold it.
My Dad also purchased a brand new Honda CB750F "Super Sport" in 1975. His was a bright blue metallic color. I just recently found a few pictures of it that we took of it shortly after Dad had just bought the motorcycle. Boy was it FAST !
I could break the 55 MPH speed limit in first gear, and it had 4 more gears left. The fastest I drove his bike was 135 MPH, then I chickened out... it could have still gone a lot faster, but I was the limiting factor, not the bike. I think I was 13 or possibly 14 at the time...
One day I "borrowed", "liberated" or whatever you want to call it... (taking it without his permission) his new motorcycle while he was at work. That same day I got caught by him too when he came home, but that's another story.
My friend helped me take it off the center stand and I drove it around putting about 15 miles on it that day. I couldn't reach the ground because my legs were too short, and I didn't weigh enough to compress the suspension any to shorten the height. There were three things that got me busted when Dad came home. I had accidentally dropped the bike in one corner of our yard when I was bringing it back home after my 15 mile joy ride. I thought I got all of the grass clippings out of the foot pegs, but I missed some, and there was a little bit of dirt there too.
The second thing was that I forgot to reset the trip mileage odometer. He always set it on Zero when he parked his bikes. It had 15 miles on it when he came home that day.
The last thing was the engine was still warm. As he was walking by the motorcycle, the engine made a "clicking" noise as it was cooling off. Dad placed the back side of his hand next to the cylinders and exhaust... and he felt the heat coming off the engine.
He knew it had been running, so he immediately looked at the trip odometer. This is where he saw it had been ridden for 15 miles...
This made him take a much closer look at his new motorcycle. That's when he discovered the grass I had missed that was in the foot pegs. He knew that I had taken his brand new Honda out for a short joy ride, and I knew I was in a bunch of trouble.
So I prepared myself for what was to come next. Dad asked me if I had taken his motorcycle out for a ride. I was honest with him. I stood at attention. looked him in the eye and firmly told him "Yes Sir I did !". Then he said that he was very impressed with how I was able to put it back in the exact same position as he had parked it the day before.
Then he scolded me for doing what I did. I fully expected to get my back side beat with a belt, and grounded for about a year. Instead, he told me that if I wanted to ride his bike anymore, that he wanted me to wait until he got home, so that he could make sure I did it in a somewhat safe manner.
He then told me that he respected me for "Manning up" and telling the truth, fully knowing what to expect as the consequences for my actions. He told me he was not going to punish me for what I did, and he asked me if I had learned my lesson. He always told us to tell the truth, and do what was right, even if it was hard to do.
It's a motto that I live by to this very day. I learned a very valuable lesson that day. I never did it again either.
True story.
This Honda was my Dad first "Import" or Japanese motorcycle. Prior to this, all he ever owned was Harley Davidson or Indian motorcycles.
I'll see if I can post these pictures up if you don't mind.
I will definitely be watching this one for updates. Keep it going buddy.
