1971 Honda CB 750 - ‘The Brat’
Wednesday, June 6, 2012 
Knobbly tires. They are fast becoming the defining custom bike trend of 2012. And with so many cool new bikes rolling on giant black rubber chunks out of workshops all over the place sporting them, it's hard to argue to the contrary. And can you blame them? God knows, I love a good set of Firestones as much as the next hipster, but for my eyes it had gotten to the point where they were almost a non-choice; even a set of Dunlop Roadsmarts were starting to seem off-the-hook next to them. Exhibit A in this new wave of rubber rollers? Meet Steel Bent Custom's CB 750 - a.k.a. “The Brat.”
Steel Bent Customs are a shop out of Flo-rider, USA. Their stock-in-trade is finding old bikes, refreshing them with a liberal dash of kick-ass-ness and then posting them for sale on eBay. How's that for a business model? Makes me want to chuck it all in and spend my days busting knuckles on stubborn bolts and making ill-advised old bike purchases off of Craigslist. Sigh.
The bike itself is bordering on perfection, at least in my eyes. It's balance of custom, classic, and minimalism pushes all the right buttons. Sure, there's some pipewrap in the mix, but what's a few pieces of silica filament yarn amongst friends, huh? And check out the oil tank - when it's stripped of paint and de-badged like that it really makes you wonder just why you'd take it off and leave an ugly old gap in the frame. Sure, it's good for holding a packed lunch, but who's going to choose peanut butter and bread over great looks?
If yr eyeballs are liking the kind of sweet, sweet photons that the Steel Bent creations are reflecting, then you can drink in even more with some of their videos-type creations featuring this very bike here and here. Or you can just visit their website, here.
Reader Comments (1)
While it certainly isn't my style, I understand what the intent of their builds are, and I can appreciate that. Rather than be a nitpicker and complain about things I don't like, here are two of the things that I love about this bike:
- clear coated the tank right over the bondo. I love that...I don't know why, but I do. Gives it a certain character....
- they left the oil tank! for some reason, I like the way the stock, big, bloated cb750 oil tank looks....most custom bikes remove it right away, kind of cool to see this one left in it's place.