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WORDS Jason Paul Michaels IMAGES Pete Maresco

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o how on Earth did Iron & Air end up with Dime City Cycle building a custom SOHC CB750 with no invoice attached to it? Pretty simple...they’re close friends and the project seemed like a hell of a lot of fun! Take a rusted old lump of a CB750 and turn it into a killer Cafe custom in three short months and then debut it at the

8th annual Barber Vintage Festival, pick one lucky registrant to hand the keys over to and send them packing down the race track on the parade lap. It doesn’t get any better than that, does it?

So, here’s the skinny on this fearsome four we’re cooking up!

We’re starting with a 1972 SOHC CB750 that we picked up in a bundle deal sometime in 2011. Neither of bikes ran and the fellow wanted $250 for the pair. Herm haggled his best, but the guy wouldn’t budge, not giving up and never agreeing to the asking price, Herm pressed on and in the end, we ended up taking them for a song! Between the two of them there was MAYBE enough, with some serious elbow grease, busted knuckles and a direct line to the heavens, to build one decent bike out of them.

We’re starting by stripping everything down to the bare essentials and will then go through the parts removed to determine what can be either refurbished, polished or powder-coated. Once we have our list of good parts vs. missing items, we’ll pull the missing items from our graveyard and then begin the mock-up assembly while building the engine simultaneously. Oh yeah, did we forget to tell you that this lucky girl is getting the full monthly with a cam, electronic ignition and a host of other goodies? Oh yeah, this isn’t some “slap some body work and a paint-job on it and use a stock engine” giveaway. This is an over-the-top, Gods of Speed endorsed, ‘holy crap I can’t believe they’re doing that to a giveaway.’ Hey, what can we say, that’s just how DCC rolls.

The entire process of stripping goes pretty quick, what will take you time is determining what you can re-use. On these old bikes there was lots of aluminum which can always be polished up and the steel frames look better than new with a fresh blasting and powder coating, our theory is to use as much of the original bike as possible to not only save cost, but help keep the original soul of the machine in tact.

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As for our 750, the look and feel is going to be that of a timeless Cafe Racer. Simple details and no fancy or wild color schemes. That’s our secret sauce. We’ll be using a fuel tank and seat from our good friends at Legendary Motorcycles to achieve the aesthetic we’re looking for along with some customized Progressive Suspension components to keep things nice and tight on the road. Then of course all the usual DCC stops will be pulled out, gloss black wheels with stainless steel spokes, custom upholstery on the seat section, a new set of our version of the Clubman handlebar along with our DCC Originals Rearsets.

Throw in powder-coating by Pro Fab Customs, polishing by Henry Canup and paint by Mo Colors and the finished product will be a full refurbished CB750 ready to rip up the local strip for one lucky winner. Stay tuned to Iron & Air and Dime City Cycles on Facebook for weekly updates to help keep the addiction shakes at bay while waiting on the following issues of Iron & Air.

“Ride Fast. Live Well - The DCC Crew” n

Visit the Iron & Air blog to follow the entire project leading up to it’s unveiling at this years Barber Vintage Festival!