Historic Comparison: 750's of the 70's

It's always fun to find comparisons of the latest motorcycles in magazines and websites. Stats and specs can only give you part of the picture, to get a really good understanding you need to line the product up with its top competitors. Now comparisons with new bikes are all well and good, but what about bikes from the past? Some of us are too young to remember the glory days of Triumph Bonnevilles and Indian Chiefs, all we can do is wonder... Wouldn't it be great if you could collect some of history's most famous machines, all brand new all stock and all ready to be ridden? Well imagine if you will something along those lines and there you'd have a historic comparison.

For whatever reason 750's exploded onto the scene in the late sixties and early seventies. Other than Harleys there were very few new motorcycles that were bigger than 650cc's. The only one that I know of was 750cc; the Norton Atlas. By the end of the sixties motorcycles were ready to get bigger and better and 750 was the next logical step.

1968 Norton Commando

1969 Triumph Trident

1969 Honda CB750

1969 Moto Guzzi V7

1971 Ducati 750 GT

1972 Kawasaki Mach IV

1973 Suzuki GT750

1971 Harley XR750*

*The Harley XR wasn't really part of this it was a race bike that had to be under 750cc's, but you get the picture.

It seems like all the big names in the industry, from around the world decided that it was time for 3/4 of a litter. How great would it be to get mint condition examples of these models to see just how they stack up? You've got British bikes, Japanese bikes, and Italian bikes. There's four strokes and two strokes, V-twins, Parallel twins, triples, quads, even a liquid cooled bike. All of these bikes have their own personality it must have been one exciting time in motorcycle history.