Bikes with exceptional performance have always existed.

In the Fifties they were called Road Burners, but as the Sixties came to an end and Honda introduced the CB750 Four a new name was coined – Superbike. There had never been anything like it before. Metallic paintwork sparkled in the sun and the biggest Honda flaunted four silencers stacked two on each side, just like Hailwood’s RC181.

The CB750 was an extremely sophisticated motorcycle with a single overhead cam, five speed gearbox, electric start and even indicators. It was superbly engineered, very smooth and delivered its 67bhp with no fuss.

Such a motorcycle needed excellent brakes and the Honda was fitted with a single disc up front. Sure discs were available on some motorcycles, but not a mass produced one and the CB750 out-stopped anything else on the road. The Japanese had built up a reputation for quality, reliability and cleanliness, and the competitively priced CB750 was a hot seller even before Dick Mann won the 1970 Daytona 200-miler on one in 1970.

True, it couldn’t be chucked around like a British twin, but the CB750 was the future and it changed biking for ever. The Seventies was the decade of the Superbike, with manufacturers from Europe and Japan racing to build the biggest, fastest, most outrageous Superbike. Some even handled reasonably well. So check out our slide show and see what all the fuss was about.

Check out our 1970s superbike gallery

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