1976 Honda CB750F Super Sport
Claimed power: 58hp @ 8,000rpm
Top speed: 114mph (period test)
Engine: 736cc air-cooled SOHC transverse-mounted inline four
Weight (dry): 449lb (227kg)
Fuel capacity/MPG: 4.8gal / 35-55mpg
Price then: $2,152
Price now: $1,000 - $3,000

It could certainly be argued, that the progenitor of the 1970s superbikes was the four-cylinder Honda CB750, a machine first introduced in 1969 and the precursor to the 1976 Honda CB750F Super Sport featured here. 

Honda definitely wowed the motorcycling community with the CB750, but it didn’t hold the top spot for long. By the time Honda was marketing the CB750 K4 in 1974, plenty of luster had worn off the model. For one thing, competing manufacturers were producing faster motorcycles — like the aforementioned Z1. And thanks to the 1973 Arab oil embargo, fuel economy had become an important concern in the North American market.  

In response, Honda detuned the CB’s 736cc power plant — increasing efficiency, but decreasing horsepower. Where the 1969 CB750 produced around 67 horses, for 1974 there were only about 50 ponies at the rear wheel. By comparison, the 1974 Z1 produced a claimed 82 horsepower. The CB750, once the lightning rod for a new generation of Superbikes, had suddenly become the old man in the group. 

Much of the performance market Honda had created was lost to them, and in 1975 Honda wasn’t even going to offer a standard CB750. Instead, Honda planned to spice things up by replacing the four-pipe CB750 with the 1975 Honda CB750F Super Sport.  

The Super Sport was an improved machine, complete with a four-into-one header and muffler system, revised frame geometry featuring a lengthened rear swingarm, a rear disc brake and a longer gas tank with a new seat and rear cowl. 

There were yet more changes. Honda returned some of the lost horsepower to the 736cc engine through various internal improvements, including an increased compression ratio (from 9:1 to 9.2:1) and revised cam timing. In Honda’s world, the Super Sport, with 58 horsepower, would be the company road burner while the newly introduced liquid-cooled, horizontally-opposed four-cylinder Honda GL1000 Gold Wing would take over as Honda’s big touring bike. CB loyalists weren’t going to let the four-pipe CB750 disappear, however, and for 1975 Honda ended up offering all three big models.