Honda CB750 Restomod by Wrench Kings

A couple of weeks ago I’ve visited our friends at Wrench Kings and owner Joost Dingemans told me everything about his journey with his workshop and his ambitious future plans. It was great to feel the awesome vibe of a proud guy standing with two feet on the ground (in his own workshop). Of course, we’ve talked A LOT about custom bikes and he shared me some of his latest builds he didn’t publish yet. Around two weeks ago I’ve published this cool BMW R100 Classic Racer, today it’s a beautiful Honda CB750K7 from 1979 that gets a spotlight view.

This CB750 was a commissioned build for Stijn Bauland and the Kings were asked to give this bike a complete overhaul. Stijn did some optical works on the bike himself, but he wanted to turn it into a more cleaner and tighter machine which he can use on a regular basis. They got one special assignment: the bike shouldn’t take his self too serious, or like Stijn says: “a cool, not to perfect looking CB750 with a rough edge”.

Of course, that was a cool challenge. But how do you build a clean, overhauled bike that can’t look brand new or fully restored? So the Kings started sketching and designing. After a couple of drafts, they decided to sandblast everything to get rid of the rust and grease and then give it a clear coating. With this approach, all dents and holes are kept “in tact”. After getting the “GO” of their client, they started working on the bike.

Like most of their builds, the bike was completely stripped down to the last piece. They started working on the frame. The rear of the frame was shortened but kept its original seat pan. So they’ve reused this and shortened the entire rear end of the frame for an original, but more compact look. In order to keep the original look of the CB750 in tact, they’ve spent a lot of time in refurbishing original parts.

The wheels were powder coated and got a set of new laces. The engine got a necessary overhaul and a couple of selected parts got a new coating. But with their plan in mind, they’ve also left some parts alone to get some more “oldness” back on the bike. The overall result of this approach led to a bike with a complete new coating, which makes it shine like a new one, but if you take a closer look, you can see clearly that this bike already has a history of almost 40 years.

The bike also got a complete new wiring loom with a few simplifications like a CDI regulator/rectifier in one and mBlaze LED indicators. They removed the control lights between the gauges, but kept the original gauges in place (a bit closer together if you take a good look). The ignition is relocated and they’ve reused the aftermarket heated grip system. The rather bulky original headlight was replaced by a black 7″ Rhino headlight. Just like the headlight, the taillight and rear indicators are replaced by a smaller, but original looking models. A little gimmick was the placement of a single fog light on the crash protectors.

Other modifications include steel brake lines, DNA pod filters, wide handlebar, 340 shocks, Dunlop Trailsmart tires, a TomTom adapter on the handlebar, and a set of retro rubbers on the front fork. The original exhaust pipes were used, but the bike got a big fat, modern looking Sebring muffler (there’s the “not-to-serious”-part!). Another cool gimmick is the laser-cut side-panel with the Japanese “Rising Sun”, a wink to the birthplace of the motorcycle. The beautiful leather seat is created by Silvermachine.

The result is a totally custom bike that still looks like it’s original. If you wouldn’t know better (and don’t see that big fat muffler), you would believe it came from the factory like this. Great machine, great job!

For those guys who are in the neighborhood or traveling trough Holland, feel free to visit the Wrench Kings shop in Utrecht. They have regular BBQ’s and they organize a bunch of cool things. And the shop is always open for likeminded people:

More info:

Website | Instagram | Facebook

Photo’s by Bas Duijs.