BY THE LATE 1960S, HONDA WAS ON A ROLL. IT withdrew from the international race scene as, after winning numerous world titles, it felt it had learned enough from racing – for now. Those lessons had already started to filter into the road bikes. And as we now know, Honda had a large project on the boil for release in 1969, the world’s first ‘Superbike’ – the CB750.
In today’s Americanisms, the CB750 would be described as a game changer. But it was more than that – no one had seen anything like it, at that price. Electric start (that worked), 12-volt electrics, five gears, oil tight, reliable and fast, to name just a few attributes. It made British bike obsolete overnight and put Kawasaki back years.
At the same time, understandably under the 750 radar, Honda’s smaller bikes continued to be released, updated and sold. One was the CB175 – a bike to fill the void between the 100-125 market and the 250s. The CB175 had actually been released in 1968, with its lineage deeply rooted in the CB160 from 1964 and even the C92 and CB92 Benly and Supersport. A twin-cylinder engine featuring its barrels canted forward meant no room for a front downtube
