Seriel CB customiser Bob Ranew of Redeemed Cycles has been at it again. His recipe is a relatively simple one; buy a dog of a donor nice and cheap, then quote a customer a super deal, get the gig and follow through with a properly finished yet affordable motorcycle. Bob has a grown-up day job and seems happy to immerse himself in his bike building passion for meagre monetary remuneration. Living the dream and paying the bills, sounds like he's got the balance just right. $750 dollars was exchanged for a this tired 1979 CB750 DOHC. Oil wouldn't stay in the cases nor compression in the barrels so it was sent to the local bike shop who does a lot of Bob's work. They gave it a good going over, made the necessary repairs and re-jetted a set of Keihin CR29 carbs to suit. Anyone who's tried to dial-in the stock carbs with pod filters on one of these recalcitrant Hondas will know how frustrating it is, better off to recycle them and upgrade to Keihins. A simple 4-into-1 muffler adds an aural performance hike whilst helping the stubby proportions of the rear end. Some of Bob's previous builds have left the workshop with clear-coated, raw steel fuel tanks but this project was to be less rustic and rust has a habit of finding it's way through lacquer, especially the modern water-based concoctions. He managed to barter a deal with the local painter friend; photography for spraying. This time a new technique of scratching-up a silver base coat to give the impression of raw metal prior to laying down a candy red section and clear-coating the whole lot, including side panels, was employed to great effect. Bob even pushed the boat out a bit "I decided for the first time to add my logo to the tank. Wow this hobby is starting to look more and more legit." Might as well, people love his work and we never struggle for little blue thumbs when we post a Redeemed Cycles bike. With the paintwork popping as they say Stateside and the motor back with a clean bill of health Bob set about finishing-off the project. He stuck in a new clutch just to be on the safe side and ran new control cables throughout, refurbed the brakes, fitted a new transmission kit, swapped-out the rear shocks and refreshed the forks before attacking the saddle. "For the seat, I like the small rise in DOHC CB frame, so I just chopped and added a loop. After shaping the foam took it to another friend who did the upholstery work". The wheels were solid and the chrome in excellent condition so a fresh pair of Shinko 705 dual-sport tyres complete the job. Nothing groundbreaking, nothing fancy just solid upgrades and a dash of panache revitalise a seventies clunker into something that most of our readers would gladly throw a leg over. On this occasion Bob steamrolled into the project without a customer in mind so it's now for sale, and judging by his passion for the process rather than a fistful of dollars the asking price will no doubt be way less than the build cost. If you're in the market for decent CB drop him a line. See more from Bob and Redeemed Cycles Bike Shed Archive | Facebook | Instagram