needs a fork brace, a front fender, and some real tires. other than that not bad.

I don’t have “hard data” because hard data doesn’t really exist for it. I don’t think anybody has done a study relating those tires to accidents. I have however bought a set a long time ago and found them to be less than round (seriously they were deformed). I thought it was a freak occurence but I have had other friends who have purchased them and found them either difficult to balance up or just completely out of round. I have in two instances personally seen tread deformation (one was almost a seperation) when the tire was used in “spirited” riding. I have ridden bikes with those firestones and found their ride squirrely at times, but who knows if that is a product of the pavement and tread or a manufacturing defect, or someone just not balancing them properly.

But forget all that – ever notice how hard it is to find a tire spec sheet on them? other brands will tell you the weight rating, the speed rating, right off the bat – not on those firestones. If you email coker about them they tell you replica/vintage tires don’t have load ratings or speed ratings <—- that is some pretty dodgy CYA shit from a company otherwise known for good products. They aren't DOT rated but who knows if that is just coker's way of getting around the expensive rating process or if there really is an issue they are covering their ass about. For years they were marked "for display purpose only" and I don't think much has changed in the manufacture of them.

From what I am hearing on the street 3000 miles is all you get on a sub 500lb bike on one of those tires. word around the campfire is that they are only "safe" to 80-90 mph, and even that is unverifiable. Coker originally built them so owners of 40s and 50s' motorcycles could have an accurate looking tire at shows, I don't think they were ever intended to be used in the way they are being used right now.

Honestly, most people who use those tires buy them for the look and aren't aware a spec sheet doesn't exist for them. The thing that disappoints me is that avon still makes the speedmaster, a real deal vintage tire, with the same tread since the 1950s that is load rated, speed rated (112 mph), and DOT approved. They also make a DOT approved tire called the safety mileage that looks like the firestone tread and is also speed and load rated. Both of these tires are cheaper than the firestones.

cb750s are espically sensitive to how air gets in the carb. it is more work than other bikes to dial them in "properly" and even that is going to be sub par. I have only see people lose hp on a dyno with pod filters on a cb750 – never stays the same or makes HP. The question I always ask people when they talk about cb750s and pod filters is: "do you think you are smarter than a 1960's honda engineer?". There is a specific science to velocity stacks and how they tune airflow. The carb rubbers in a cb750 are velocity stacks shaped precisely to feed the cb750 engine – removing them means the carbs are just sucking in roiled air and often in an inconsistent volume. How well do those stacks work? HRC and RSC ran endurance racers with just those actual carb insulators or v-stacks with the same shape with much success. Never trust anyone who tells you getting rid of the stock airbox on a cb750 "derestricts" it. It doesn't. The cb750 engine has valves and ports in the head that are too small – there is the restriction. The cb750 airbox is an excellent example of the science behind plenum air chambers something that all modern cars and bikes take advantage of today.