Jamie Edwards of Greensboro, North Carolina, went to work creating Stepping Stone, this ultra-clean looking 1975 Honda CB750 in his home garage, proving that you don’t need a million dollar shop to build a bike. I should mention that Jamie and his dad are building a repair and fabrication shop they hope to have up and running in the real near future.

When the opportunity to buy this ’75 Honda dirt cheap presented itself, Jamie just couldn’t say no. “I pretty much did all the work on the bike myself,” he said. “I purchased it for a hundred bucks; it had been sitting underneath a pole shed outside a barn for many years. I brought it home and took everything off the bike except the engine.” Stripping a bike is a lot easier than building one, but Jamie had the experience. He’d grown up around bikes and was always piecing together parts to create his own. “I’d take several different parts to make one good bike and to ride the crap out of,” he said. “My father and I also completely restored a 1981 Wide Glide I purchased about ten years ago.”

The concept of for this build came from Jamie’s desire “to do something different than what’s been done before,” he said. “I did a lot of searching on the internet, and couldn’t find any CB750’s with hard bags, so it just seemed perfect. I hope this bike will be one of many steps on my way to becoming a custom bike builder.”

For Stepping Stone, Jamie used the wheels and front end from a later model CB750. “I wanted to have dual calipers and rotors, plus I like the looks of the mag wheels on this bike,” he said. “After the front end was on, I started making the headlight bucket from 16-gauge sheet metal and a metal soap container. Next I moved to the back of the bike and started work on the bags.” Jamie wanted the bags a little wider and lower to the ground, but he admits the bags were a little problematic. “I first had to make my own pattern of what shape I wanted, and then the fun began,” he said. “I don’t have enough money right now to be able to buy an English wheel or a lot of the other metal working tools I need, so I did what I call ‘caveman fabricating’. I cut out my pattern on 16 gauge sheet metal. To round the edges I clamped a barbell to a table and beat them over with a hammer. I also made a metal framework to hold the trailer LED tail lights that I picked up from Northern Tool. I cut out a spade shape for the lights to shine through. They turned out pretty good and the lights only cost me about thirty bucks — that’s a lot less than any other flush mount taillights you’ll find, I guarantee it. All in all the bags turned out like I wanted, and all the hard work was well worth it.”

As soon as the bags were done, he made all the brackets for them to mount up to. “The tank and fenders were purchased on closeout from Drag Specialties. I had to narrow the front fender about 1 ½ inches to get it to fit between the fork tubes,” he said. “The rear fender was shortened up a bit and I had to make new mounting locations on the frame and the fender to make it work on the bike. The filler panels between the rear fender and the bags were made from some pieces of metal shelving I found on the side of the road; no lie.”

Not too many modifications were done to the tank other than new mounting brackets and relocating the petcock. “I made the bars with a torch and wooden template I used to bend the pipe around,” Jamie explained. “The exhaust was modified with different tips, and the pegs were made from a couple of grenades I picked up at the local Army Navy Surplus Store. The seat was also made by me and covered by a local upholstery shop and then recovered by me to get it to look right.”

As for the 750cc engine, Jamie had help. “It was tore down and gone through under the watchful eye and experienced hands of my father right beside me,” he said. “I painted the bike flat black with some paint I scored from my uncle. The pinstripes were done by the steady hand of Wayne Jarrett. The build took just over six months and looking at the bike now it was time well spent.”

Jamie’s favorite aspect of Stepping Stone is the pegs. “My favorite part on the bike, and the one I get the most comments on would have to be the grenade pegs. I picked them up for under ten bucks, cut off the original pegs, and then welded them onto the mounting tabs.” As for riding, Jamie couldn’t be happier. “The bike runs and handles very well, the open pipes, combined with the velocity stacks and bigger main jets in the carbs give the bike a lot more get up and go than before,” he said. “The bars on the bike are about 24-inches tall but they’re not so tall that your arms go numb, and you can still control the bike very well.” The bike was finished as fall began, so Jamie’s been using it to make short runs and also to a few local bike nights. “I built the bike with traveling in mind, and with no major issues yet, but I’m sure that won’t be a problem. There really weren’t any issues on the build; the only major thing that was time consuming was rebuilding the engine since it was locked up. Once again my dad came through for me, without his help and 45-plus years of experience I wouldn’t have gotten it done.”

Jamie owns a few bikes besides the Honda. He’s got the ’81 Wide Glide he restored with his father, and an ’82 GL1100 Goldwing he picked up this past year. “I am currently working on an ’82 GL1100, which I plan to turn into a café racer style bike. I’m also looking for another CB750 to build a bobber out of,” he said.

So far, Stepping Stone has been in one bike show. “It was mainly a Harley event, but the bike placed in the top 20 out of about 250 bikes, so I feel like it did ok,” he said.

To contact Jamie, you can email him at ncchopperking@triad.rr.com.