We’ve all experienced a time when our best-laid plans fell in a heap. But if that plan was to fail 3 or 4 times, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could have the strength to try again.
When a beaten and battered customer shared his story of multiple failed attempts to get his beloved Honda CB750 completed, the crew at Sparta Garage knew it was up to them to see the project through to completion.
Spartak Malykevic and his team at the Belarus workshop of Sparta Garage are no strangers to challenging projects. In the case of this CB750 though, the only way to reach their customer’s goal was to start over.
After stripping away all the other workshops failures, Sparta began the rebuild with some chassis work. “We made the new rear subframe and integrated the brake lights into it,” recalls Spartak. “We then built a glass resin tail that repeated the shape of the custom rear hoop.”
The team then extended the bike’s swing arm to establish a more aggressive stance.
For a totally stripped-back aesthetic, the Honda’s side panels and air box have been dispensed with. Pod filters now hang from the re-tuned carbs leaving the rear half of the frame wide open. The stock CB750 fuel tank also didn’t suit the bike svelte cafe theme – so it too had to go. In its place is a more slender looking Honda GL unit that sits flat on the frame for a nicely balanced bone line.
“The customer told us he didn’t want the regular exhaust,” says Spartak but after showing him several aftermarket options, it was decided the only solution was a bespoke design. “We made a bunch of sketches, several variants were designed, and finally we settled on the one installed on the motorcycle now.”
Sparta’s unique 4-into-2 stainless system is anything but “regular”. The headers snake around the engine in pairs before merging into a scrupulously welded pie cut design. The pipes then pass under the seat and up towards the tail where they vent via custom made mufflers.
When it came to sorting the electrics Sparta Garage put together another bespoke solution. The new headlight is a repurposed Harley Davidson Sportster unit. The turn signals all hail from Motogadget with m.blaze bar end units up front and tiny mo.blaze items in the rear. Since the bike was undergoing a complete rewire Sparta also installed a Motogadget m-unit controller module and matching switchgear on the handlebars.
During the entire build, Sparta Garage made sure the owner of the bike was closely involved, which worked out to be a blessing. When the time came for the first test ride it was obvious the two (owner & bike) had geometry issues.
“A decision was made to change the suspension and to switch the stock 18-inch wheels to 17-inch rims with a modern tire profile,” Spartak explains. “We also purchased a set of Ducati Showa forks wearing clip ons and a pair of WP adjustable rear shocks.” This approach solved the height issues but introduced new ones involving the brakes.
To get around the brake issues the crew put together a custom setup that uses a BMW rear hub, aftermarket rims and spokes and a custom made front hub. These were combined with a custom rear sprocket and brake calliper mounts and a Brembo brake package to complete the new configuration.
As for the paint it was designed entirely by the customer and executed by Sparta Garage.
All up this CB750 took 2 years to put together due to the customer being based in another country and the pandemic. Luckily, seeing as this was his fifth attempt at getting his dream bike built, he wasn’t looking to rush any part of the process.
