The 1982 superbike season was the pinnacle of naked superbikes. There’s no argument, that the Honda CB750-F superbike, was one of the best looking race bikes of that era. Ridden by names like Freddie Spencer, Mike Baldwin, Roberto Pietri, (MEON), Steve Wise, Ron Pierce, Mike Spencer, and Steven McLaughlin. It is certainly one of my all time favorites, and one of the main reasons I became so passionate about these bikes. These bikes continue to have a cult following, and even past riders, mechanics (such as Dennis Zickrick), and other key support personnel (like Brian Uchida) contribute to a Facebook page dedicated to these superbikes (CB750F AMA SUPERBIKE 1980/81/82 >>>>> https://www.facebook.com/groups/1379346182099802.

dB Customs was commissioned to build a race bike for their customer, to resemble the 1982 CB-F Superbike, purpose built for the track. Although it would be cost prohibitive to throw a bunch of rare unicorn dropping RSC parts at this build, we did our best to use parts that pay tribute to the original, but at a more cost effective approach, while maintaining that race pedigree. The bike started off as a 1982 CB900F frame, that was de-raked, changing the steering head angle to 26.5 degrees, and back 25mm (1inch). A Cr-Mo steering neck from Vince & Hyde Racing was used, and welded in place by CMR Racing Products Inc.. The rear subframe was removed, and we built a Cr-Mo 4130 unit similar to the original geometry of the superbike, adding replica shock mounts (via JES BUILT Motorcycles). To mimic the original AHM swingarm, we adopted a TL1000R unit. To fit, the swingarm was moved to the right at the pivot by 4mm (such that the large bearing pocket cleared the engine cases), fabricating wheel spacers to re-center the wheel.

Öhlins USA rear shocks were used on the rear, and VTR1000F forks were used upfront, modified by suspension guru John Sharrard of Accelerated Technologies Motorcycle Page. AHM replica triple clamps were used up front, at 197mm fork spacing and 50mm offset. The wheels are the newest addition to Dymag Performance Wheels, a modern billet aluminum take on the classic CH3 series. These wheels were the very first off of Dymag’s line, and are equipped with Metzeler Racetec RR tires. Superbike handlebars are from Flanders.

AP Racing calipers were used front and rear, with Brembo 310mm rotors up front, AP Racing classic front brake master, PTFE lined braided lines, and forged #Aeroquip fittings.

The engine is 1187cc with lightweight billet aluminum pistons from V&H Racing, CP-Carrillo rods, a CB1000C/900F crank (balanced and lightened to 18lbs), a CB1000C transmission (close ratio), and head work by Ray Mancini of Xtreme Motorsports. Ray also did the boring and crank work, and cc’ing of the combustion chambers to acheieve 12.5:1 CR. The head contains pulse plasma nitrided stainless valves from @G&S Valves (UK), with Kibblewhite Precision Machining, Inc. springs. Cams are Web Camshafts, grind #118, degree’d to 101.5/106.5 IN/EX. Morse racing cam and primary chains, as well as A-chain guide and A/B chain manual tensioners from V&H Racing. Carbs are Keihin 33mm CR-S round slides, as limited by class rules in NZ. The exhaust is a JayGui 4-2-1 piece that has been treated to glacier black air cure Cerakote. The AHM replica silencer was hand fabricated by our talented mate, Dirk Langkamp. Ignition is from Ignitech with Nology Profire coils and Champion plugs.

The paint work was applied by Sketchs Ink, with killer graphics from our mate Mark Olan over at AFE Graphics. Can’t wait to hear some sound clips of this bike on the track, and get some feedback on it’s performance. It is surely one of my favorite builds so far, I could easily spend the rest of my career building these, and only these. CB-F’s rule!

Well, here we are, the long awaited Suzuki XR69 TRIBUTE, Bike #1, which is headed off to New Zealand. This has certainly been a long process, with many complications, but we worked through them all and now this is the result. It’s not a traditional GS1000 8V engine XR69, but if you haven’t noticed, I’m not much of a traditionalist, and so this is my interpretation of this historic racer. The chassis is 4130 aircraft grade tubular Cr-Mo steel, designed and fabricated by Denis Curtis (RIP) and Byron Cox, of former @CMR Racing. The fuel tank and swingarm was also fabricated by CMR. All suspension components are by Öhlins USA, with the front forks (FGRT 202) designed initially for a BMW 1000RR, but with an increase of 10mm to the length and stroke. The brakes all around are by Brembo, with 320mm discs upfront, billet radial mount front calipers, RCS brake and clutch masters / levers, and plumbed with Spiegler Performance Parts braided lines. Wheels are super light weight carbon fiber CA5’s by Dymag Performance Wheels, along with Michelin Pilot Power CT2’s. Rear sets are from @Harris Performance.The engine is a freshened Bandit 1200 unit topped off with an early GSXR750 “DOT” head, that has more of a down draft design with smaller combustion chambers for added compression. Cams are from an oil cooled GSXR-1100 along with Kibblewhite springs. Ignition is a Dyna 2000 unit with 2.2Ohm grey coils, and the engine breathes though a set of Yoshimura TMR-MJN carbs. The exhaust is an incredibly light weight 4-1 titanium unit from Racefit. The bodywork is carbon fiber that is equipped with headlights from a Honda NC35 VFR400. The paint work is by our partners over at Sketchs Ink (all paint – no vinyl), who worked incredibly hard to make my ideas into reality.Bike #2 is almost completely assembled so watch out for this beast ….. and some sound clips. It will be 1216cc with a number of engine upgrades.