This Sleek 1979 Honda CB750k Is An Exercise In Gorgeous

From the workshop of Sir Sylvain Carignan, this Honda is a masterfully crafted cafe racer.

By: Earl Davidson

Jun 6, 2021 at 5:00pm ET

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Sylvain Carignan is at it again with another build. This motorcycle is yet another CB750 he's made. His other project was dubbed Smooth Sailing, and it featured largely the same theme as his latest project, Microdose.

Honda's CB line of bikes is no stranger in the scene. Even smaller displacement models are still widely loved by builders all around the world.

Sylvain said that he took inspiration from his previous motorcycles. "This bike is a continuation of the CB750 Smooth Sailing and my 2 CB900F cafe racers." He also stated that he "looked for the purest and simplest lines. This bike is called Microdose since each line and section of the bike is designed to get the right dose."

"The perfect dose to achieve perfection, in my point of view," Sylvain adds.

The bike was built over the course of an eighteen-month period. This places the start of the project around the time of the COVID-19 lockdowns. It took a while to achieve the level of work that Sylvain was able to put. He even states that he had two sides to the development of this project. Sylvain states: "On one side of my workshop, the engine was being reconditioned. On the other side the development of the rear cowl was down with Solidworks."

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He even posted a walkaround of the bike. Perhaps the most impressive thing would have to be that one-click start paired with that lovely exhaust note. Much work has been put into reconditioning the Honda's inline-four. Resurfaced heads, replaced valves, rings, seals, and gaskets were mentioned in his testimony on Return of the Cafe Racers. On top of that, everything was sandblasted and painted over. The bike also runs quad Keihin CR29 carburetors with a custom free-flowing 4-to-1 system.

Even more impressive is the work done to the electronics of the bike. The rear brake light is nicely hidden in the rear section of the cowl, and it tapers elegantly to a sharp point. Sylvain also stated that he used a 3D printer to get the shapes just right. On top of that, the instrumentation of the bike looks like it's nowhere to be found, but it's nicely embedded in the triple clamp and features a tachometer and speedometer. Now, this begs the question, why don't some manufacturers take this approach to designing their instrument clusters?

Anyway, it's impressive how much work has gone into this CB750k. It's one of the cleanest builds that we've seen, and it's definitely a head-turning piece of motorcycle craftsmanship.