Icons: CB750
Soichiro’s old dream of winning at the Isle of Man TT was finally realised in 1961, when the team won the first five places in the 125- and 250-cc classes at the TT. This gave Honda the confidence they needed in order to better their technology and implement it in the roadgoing models. In 1966, the company quit the World Grand Prix racing after winning five championships in one year. However, the company did not go out of racing for nothing. They took all they had gained from racing and put it into developing high-performance motorcycles. Honda also saw that the demand for large capacity motorcycles was going up in the developed countries and since they had no model to cater to such specific demand, they decided it was time for a new motorcycle.
As a result of this, the CB750 was born. It was shown for the first time at the 1968 Tokyo Motor Show where it won every heart, mainly because it was different. It was also the first motorcycle to be offered with disc brakes, which were sort of a last-minute addition. It was a motorcycle that catered to Honda’s primary overseas market: America. A comfortable touring machine with 67 horsepower and a four-cylinder 750-cc engine, it looked marvellous and sounded even better. The refinement and the reliability of the CB750 changed the way people looked at motorcycles. It not only had excellent ergonomics but also featured superb handling and ride quality: a combination that was missing in many large capacity motorcycles of the time. The CB750 was a huge success and created waves across the developed world with its engineering and technology. Honda also made racers like the CR750, based on the CB750, which helped motorcycle racer Dick Mann win the iconic Daytona 200.