THE 73 HONDA

Some motorcycles you buy. Others seem to find their way to you.

This one started its story long before it became the 73 Honda.

Steve O’Brien of Liquid Illusions found the 1973 Honda CB750 at Barber Vintage Festival roughly fifteen years ago. Calling it a motorcycle at that point might have been generous. It was a basket case, so far gone that Steve had to cut the chain just to get it rolling and onto his truck.

Then he did what builders do.

He took it apart and started over.

Front to back, nearly everything was rebuilt, modified or reconsidered. But underneath it all remained something important: a 1973 CB750 frame wrapped around a 1973 Honda motor.

BUILT TO BE RIDDEN

Steve wasn't trying to create a museum piece.

He built a motorcycle that could be ridden hard.

Up front, he adapted an early Honda Gold Wing front end, giving the CB larger dual-disc brakes. Gold Wing aluminum wheels went on front and rear, while pieces from Joker Machine helped finish the controls and details.

The original 750 engine went considerably further.

Cycle X Performance components took displacement to 836cc, with new internals from the connecting rods up, including cams and beehive valve springs. Velocity stacks feed the motor, while a four-into-one exhaust gives the Honda the sound that immediately became part of its personality.

And that sound matters.

There are faster motorcycles. There are newer motorcycles. There are certainly more comfortable motorcycles.

But twist the throttle on this thing and none of that seems particularly important.

It feels alive.

THEN IT SHOWED UP AT 73 MOTO

Steve eventually brought the Honda to one of our 73 Moto meetups.

He let me take it for a short ride.

That was probably his first mistake.

I came back completely in love with the bike.

There was another detail that made it almost impossible for me to ignore: it was a ’73.

I told Steve immediately that if he ever decided to sell it, I wanted the first phone call.

He wasn't ready.

So I waited.

About a year later, the message finally came:

Steve was ready.

So was I.

THE NEXT CHAPTER

That's one of the things I love most about motorcycles like this.

Steve spent hundreds of hours creating this machine. He didn't build it because it made financial sense. He built it because he loved doing it.

Eventually, the motorcycle became part of my story too.

That's how this culture works.

Motorcycles introduce you to people you probably never would have met otherwise. A bike shows up at a meetup. Somebody lets somebody else take a ride. A conversation starts. A friendship develops.

And somewhere along the way, ownership becomes almost secondary.

You're just the person responsible for the next chapter.

Steve built this motorcycle with passion.

Now I get to ride it with the same.

That's the 73 Honda.