It's not surprising to see niche businesses of all sorts these days, with the reach of the Internet, you can find customers all over the globe, but World Motorcycles, owned by Vic World, specializes solely in the restoration of sandcast Honda CB750s, now niche is that?
Reading the new Motorcyclist Retro, I came across the story about Vic's shop and it struck me as a nice enjoyable business, but with a grand total of 7414 sandcast 750s ever produced and the majority of them probably long gone to junkyards, is this a sustainable business? Well, it seems to be. Vic got the sandcast 750 bug early on and began collecting NOS parts from everywhere, he bought up the remains of old bikes in whatever condition found, and built up a considerable stash before everyone else caught on that these bikes were special, which eventually happened.
Now, if you're interested, he'll do a complete nut and bolt restoration for you if you would like to ride a perfect example of one of these early sandcast Hondas or perhaps put one on display. The price is $29,500, which reflects the rarity of the bike to begin with, the amount of work involved in the restoration and the increasing demand for this milestone motorcycle. His restorations have earned quite a reputation, Honda has one on display in Japan and Honda has one here in the U.S., too, plus there's one in the Barber Museum. I'd say that's pretty high praise. Neat!
Link: World Motorcycles
Tim says
mmmmmmm. Nice. very nice indeed.
todd says
They’re worth that much because he went around buying them all up along with all the spare parts. He beat you to them now he’ll charge you an arm and a leg to buy them from him.
-todd
todd 2 says
Please excuse my ignorance, but what is a “sand cast” CB750? (I’ m familiar with sand-casting and CB750’s) I’ve heard the term before, but I don’t know what particular models/era the sand-cast CB’s were from.
Can anybody educate me?
kneeslider says
Sandcast 750s were the very first ones built before Honda began using die cast tooling to make the engine cases.
OTTO MANN says
FOR MYSELF, THANKS I WONDERING THE SAME THING.
Tim says
From memory, the first 7414 CB750’s were the “sandcast” ones, though I believe they were not in fact sand castings but gravity die cast. After that they moved to better tooling which eliminated the “rough-ish” look that the sandcast motors had.
There were a bunch of other detail differences between these and the later models as well. In fact the later (K2) was a much better bike, but of course the mania is for “Early” and “original”.
mark says
todd, I know a guy who has a wooden WWII Mosquito and also a Mustang P51, both unrestored and original in his shed. Fifty years ago people thought he was mad. Now they just think he had forethought. Get over it mate, why didn’t you go around the Honda dealers buying up sandcat parts? You know why, you never thought of it, so don’t knock Vic World.
Kurt Franz says
Old Hondas Rule!
I own a 1977 CB750k w/blacked out engine, low handle bars, 4 into 1 header and
I bobbed the turn signal stems.(looks & sounds great) sounds even better w/baffle
out of the pipe!
If anyone out there is in the market for a vintage m/x bike, I also own 1974 Bultaco 360 cc Pursang (the widow maker)
This bike’s engine has a fresh rebuild (hugh’s Bultaco) less than 25 hours on rebuild,
Cost to rebuild engine was about $`1200.00, the rest of the bike is all original.
“goes like hell” if interested send me an e-mail.
Marcel says
Hey can anyone tell me how to tell if the engine is sandcast?
Thanks, Marcel
vic world says
Paul, first, thanks very much for doing this write-up on my restorations…it is very much appreciated. As to the comment by “Todd” above, (and he admits himself as to not even knowing what “sandcast” means) it’s too bad that there is such ignorance out there that one would think that all I had to do was “go around buying up parts”, and somehow magically overnight I’m producing $30K motorcycles…Forget the fact that I spent the better part of twenty-five years of my life (researching metal finishes, plating, restoration techniques, scrounging for parts, etc.) just to get to this point! And what value does one apply to those 25 years?! I mean, we only have SO MANY chunks of “25 years” in our lives…don’t we. Thanks, Vic
Leslie Collins says
Vic,
For what you get, I think that 30k is fine. The fact that you spent that much time on one bike is exceptional. You however picked the right machine to do it with. The Honda CB750 was the ORIGINAL. All others were copies. I was too young to buy one then, but still want to kick myself for not buying one in 1975, when I bought a new H1. I’m sure I would still have the 750. If I ever can justify the money, I will give you a call. Do you think that you will ever restore newer model CB750’s? The demand will be there for pristine units and the sandcast parts will eventually go away.
Les
JOHNNY CATTELL MN. says
There, still is quite a bit of early cb750’s Hondas, and Sandcast parts out there to be had.
I’m living proof of that. I am constantly in search, of these parts and bikes. A whole lot of
research and hunting down for the real deal. Lately it been like a quest, to find all the parts for my restoration. I applaude Vic World. I’ve spoke with him a handful of times, and he helped shed some knowledge on the Sandcast parts. Which helped me out tremendously. Thanks Vic. Johnny in Minn.
Wayne says
I was just given the opportunity to buy a bike I used to ride when I was younger. It hasn’t been well stored but I believe all of the early “desireable” stuff is still on the bike. It bares engine number 1000748 so it is an “early” bike and wil have some unique parts as well. I can’t wait to go over it and see. I’m not sure if I’ll restore it or sell it. It deserves to be brought back to it’s former glory. I’m not sure I have the patience. We’ll see. Regardless, it will be good to see this piece of Honda history in better hands. It’s nice to see guys like Vic who are commited to keeping these great machines alive.
Steve Swan says
I would challenge ANYONE to attempt restoring a sandcast CB750 to the caliber of a Vic World restoration **AND** keep the price under $29,500. Be sure to include the cost of hundreds of new parts, new chrome plating, new zinc plating, new paint not to mention the many hours of time and labor in the careful and **complete dis-assembly** of the machine down tothe last nut, bolt and washer, including inspection of **every** part, repairing, restoring and re-assembling **every** part to a complete macine, ready to ride coast to coast and/or win a trophy in a prestigous show. Not many truly understand what is involved with a TOTAL restoration such as Vic’s and such is not a project many can or will do. When Vic was buying his inventory 20-30 years ago, he did not have the internet as a medium to order parts off the internet from his Lazy Boy. Finding parts and bikes took him hundreds, if not thousands of hours of telephone calls, letter writing and wild goose chases.