With no prior knowledge of custom motorcycle building or even motorcycle riding Marco turned to a cousin for advice who sent him out in search of a Honda CB or CX to use as a base. With his heart set on a 1977 production model which to him represented the year that punk movie reached its peak. After losing out on a deal to buy a CB550 Marc found a 1977 Honda CB750F2…a mere 5 hours away.
After the epic journey getting the Honda home Marc proceeded to learn everything he could about the bike using Google and motorcycle forums. With the internet at his side Marco started by installing new parts where needed and tuning the bike. A new chain, sprockets, and fork seals where installed and the carbs received an overhaul all while he also completed a rider training course so he could start testing the CB out on the street. Now that everything was performing how it should thecustom work began.
During his time researching Honda CB750s Marco stumbled across builders like Brat style and Gravel Crew in Japan and the European Wrenchmonkees. Inspired by their builds he fitted clip on bars and cut excess tabs off the frame and started on getting the stance of the bike right. He fit shorter 11-inch shocks on the rear, cut the rear look to accommodate the tyre and added CB550 fork with the cut down CB750 springs. As if that wasn’t a big enough task to undertake for a first time builder he also extended the rear swingarm by 4.5 inches with a friend and built a whole new wiring harness after a quick lesson on wiring from another mate.
After all of the technical mods were done all that was left was getting the bike looking right (punk). Hockey tape was wrapped around the grips and around the top of the forks to match the graphite exhaust wrap encasing each of the four header pipes. A 60s Honda Superhawk tank with a widened tunnel replaced the original CB750 unit and a new seat pan cut from 18 gauge steel, was covered in foam and upholstered using an old pair of black Levis by his Mum.
Finally came the wheels. Marco had to find a way to cover up the ugly rims with bent spokes. Funds weren’t available to replace them and they already had the Firestones fitted so he came up with a solution that had his friends saying he was crazy, Pizza pans. That’s a first for us, kudos to you Marco, we’re impressed.
In the custom motorcycle scene it’s not uncommon to see crossovers from skaters to bike builders but how about from Punk rocker? Through his teenage years Marco Luk enjoyed skating and rocking out to his favorite punk groups. Bands like the Clash, The Exploding Hearts and Minor Threat were all favorites of the Canadian born fabricator who at 22yrs of age decided it was time to upgrade from his skateboard to a motorcycle.
