To many of us classic motorcycle owners the name Rickman will conjure an image of a Honda CX500 with a white fairing the size of a huge barn door. But this 1973 Rickman Honda CR750 proves that Rickman had much more to offer.
Brothers Derek and Don Rickman started out making bespoke frames for trials and scramblers born from their passion for the smell of mud on exhaust pipe. But they also liked road bikes, starting out with a Triumph twin in a BSA frame, which became known as the Metisse (Loosely translated as ‘mongrel’ from French).
The rest is history!
When the tsunami of larger Japanese sportsbikes hit UK shores, the Rickman’s had something else to focus on. They took the good bits from bikes like the Kawasaki Z1/Z900, Z1000 and Suzuki GS1000, and created their own take on how a superbike should look and handle. They also created bikes like this from the Honda CB750, using disc brakes both front and rear.
This particular 1973 Rickman Honda CR750 was up for auction at Brooklands back in 2013.
Used examples in original trim don’t turn up for sale often, and chassis number 6756G was estimated to sell for between £7-£9,000. It eventually went to a new owner for £9,856, which is still a good price for something so lovely and unusual, and which should command a lot of respect amongst the 70’s cafe racer revivalists.
