50th Anniversary of the birth of the superbike

This Saturday (29 September 2018) 75 rare Honda CB750 motorcycles from the 1960s/70s will assemble at the David Silver Honda Collection museum in Leiston, Suffolk to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this iconic Honda model, first launched at the Tokyo Motor Show in October 1968.

For the 1960s, a four-cylinder, four-exhaust, four-carburettor, 125mph motorcycle was an astonishing achievement in production engineering and in 1968 the Honda CB750 took the motorcycling world by storm and started the new industry term… ’Superbike’. Many superbikes have followed, but the original Honda CB750 remains the king!

On Saturday a contest for eight different category awards will take place with 75 CB750 entries having been received from across England, Scotland, Norway, Netherlands Sweden and Germany.  

Entries include some very rare examples including a pre-production CB750 that sold at Auction earlier this year for £161,000; a 1969 example from Norway with over 385,000 miles registered; a 1972 model that featured on TV programes including Last of the Summer Wine and a CB750 that was ridden around the world in the mid 1970s by the owners for their honeymoon!    

Five Judges, with some 250 years of Honda CB750 knowledge between them, will scrutinise each of the 75 CB750s with a special glass trophy plus framed certificate to be presented to the winner in each class.

The judging panel comprises world renowned experts including Vic World (flying in from California for this special occasion); John Wyatt our own UK CB750 expert and Colin Seeley past racer, specials expert and builder of Honda UK’s CB750 limited edition models of the 1970s. Vic, John and Colin will be joined by David Silver, owner and proprietor of his Honda collection museum and Honda spares business, plus Roger Etcell the museum’s Curator and past Head of Honda UK Motorcycles.

The awards are sponsored by established industry businesses; Bonhams auctions; Hagerty Insurance; the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club; Dream Machine Superpaint; Motion Works Managment and David Silver Spares.

This special day is free to all enthusiasts (with or without a Honda motorcycle) and the acclaimed David Silver Honda Collection museum (that features almost 200 pre-1992 Honda motorcycles) will also be open free of charge to all.