Taking on someone’s unfinished project, especially one that’s somewhat outside your comfort zone, can be a bit of a daunting prospect, as Keith, the owner of this ‘ere ‘Onda chop, can readily testify.
He was, and had been for a few years, a fan of going fast on motorcycles and was smoking about on a Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K1. He was starting to get a little disillusioned with it, though, as it was a little too ‘electronic’ for him, which meant he couldn’t really tinker with it, and also, as he’d got more and more used it, he was finding that, every time he went out on it, everything swiftly became a race and, because Gixer Thous’re more than a little rapid, he was in serious danger of losing his licence or, worse, his life. He decided that he needed to slow things down a little (well, quite a lot actually), and he’d quite like something he could fix with a basic toolkit and, having always had a hankering for something with a rigid frame, started to look about for a chop. Soon after, he spotted a quite in-yer-face red and blue 750/4 Honda chop in need of work on Facebook not too far away, arranged to pop down and see it and, not long after arriving, did a deal for the Honda for his Suzuki (with cash his way, of course – he’s not stupid).
The bike came with a wad of paperwork, including a list of previous owners, but he hasn’t been able to track any of them down to find out any more about it (the guy he bought it off was fairly clueless, sadly) – if you recognise it and know anything about it, get in touch with us here and we’ll pass the info’ on.
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The rebuild of the poor, unloved, laid-up chop began in earnest when he got it home, and that’s when, he says, the fun began. What he thought was, basically, one model turned out to be a hybrid of at least two, with parts from others as well, and it took a wee while to get everything such that the old single overhead cam’d fire up and, when it did, it smoked worse than a 60-a-day beagle. The rings, it turned out, were shot (“presumably that was why it was laid up in the first place”, he says), but that wasn’t too much of a problem cos not too far in the grand scheme of things is the legendary Dave Silver’s – David Silver Spares, specialists in all manner of old ‘Ondas who, pretty much, have everything you’ll ever need to rebuild almost any of Soichiro-san’s two-wheeled children… thankfully. He was able to buy rings, gaskets, seals, and all the other arcane items one needs to rebuild an fifty-odd year bike from them and, with a little help from his good friend Donn (yes, with two ‘n’s, I haven’t missed the ‘a’ off a lady’s name) Turner, was able to get the motor back together, oil-tight and smoke-free, not too long after.
The frame it sits is of unknown parentage, but was obviously made by someone who knew what they were doing, as is evident when you look at the rigid rear end with its horizontal and vertical bracing that has a very definite ‘80s hardtail streetfighter air about it, something that’s added to by the use of rear-sets rather than mid-mounts or forwards.
Whoever did it carried on that care and attention, moulding in the side-panels, and drilling the one-off engine mounts to match the mudguard struts and the rear sprocket, making a set of slab yokes to hold the forks, and giving the bike a new set of wheels based around later twin disc hubs and a disc rear brake in place of the original drum hub. The front did give Keith a bit of trouble; getting the left caliper hanger to line up correctly with the disc was a faff, but it was sorted by simply shaving the brake pads that side so as they sat nicely against the disc – the joys of chop-building, eh?
The bike’s exhaust is worth a mention too; again, whoever made it knew all about back pressure n’ balance pipes n’ stuff, and that means that, although it looks like two separate two-into-one systems, both pipes’re linked by a horseshoe-shaped collector under the motor that allows the exhaust gases to escape in a balanced way through the tulips/chopper pots/whatever you want to call them that follow the lower edge of the frame perfectly. A similar amount of thought’s gone into the oil tank – it’s a custom hexagonal one that’s been mounted front-to-back in the frame, rather than across it left-to-right as is more normal, and the battery box’s been custom made to sit on the side of it very neatly. Electrics? They sit on a stainless plate under the (re-covered) seat (by A&R Pound across the border in Baldock in Herts) that holds the most basic electrical components he could get away with.
Donn, a man who doesn’t look like he should be wearing a tall hat and a mu’umu’u with sigils on it, was asked very nicely to rewire the chop for him, and he did it in two shakes of a lamb’s tail… however quickly that is. There were just some last fettling bits to be done and then Keith, and Donn, stood back and contemplated their handiwork… although not for too long as Keith wanted to ride it. He went off down the road, and returned shortly after with a huge grin on his face – it all worked as it should. That grin has, ever since, barely been off his face (well, below his bandanna/snood thing), and he uses the old ‘Onda on a regular basis, as can be seen on the reality-defying Insta’ 360 videos on his Facebook page.
“Lots of people” he says “asked why I didn’t totally repaint the bike, and replace the forks and wheels and brakes with newer bits an’ bobs, and there’re two reasons; firstly I wanted to keep it as it was when I got it, paint chips an’ scratches an’ all, so that it didn’t lose its identity and, secondly, I just wanted to get it on the road and ride it.” Good enough reasons for me…
Spec:
1976 Honda CB750 engine (re-jetted carbs, open velocity stacks, Dyna coils, one-off exhaust, aftermarket engine covers, modified sprocket cover)/frame (modified)/forks, one-off drilled engine mounts, Raask rear-sets, Continental ContiGo tyres (100/90/18 front, 150/70/18 rear), 18-inch Akront alloy rims, stainless spokes, later Honda twin disc front hub/disc rear hub/rear master-cylinder, Honda CB550F calipers, unknown alloy slab yokes, HEL braided lines (front/rear), unknown handlebars, aftermarket front brake master-cylinder, Biltwell grips, aftermarket front mudguard (modified), one-off alloy mudguard mount, Micron fork brace, Sportster tank (modified) with aftermarket cap, one-off seat, moulded side-panels, aftermarket hexagonal oil tank, aftermarket flat rear mudguard (modified), one-off drilled alloy mudguard struts, one-off battery box, one-off electrics plate, later Honda CB900 Bol d’Or rear caliper, DID X-ring 530 chain, JT Sprockets front sprocket, unknown drilled rear sprocket, one-off loom, aftermarket alloy/brass headlight, small aftermarket LED rear light
Finish:
Original red & blue paint by original builder, powder-coating by original builder, polishing by original builder
Engineering:
Bike rebuilt by owner, seat re-covered by A&R Pound, electrics by Donn Turner
Thanks To:
“Donn Turner for help all round; Pete at Bikehead (01440 268110 or www.bikehead.co.uk); & Selwyn Stickler for extra advice…”
