Honda CB750A Hondamatic

The part of riding a motorcycle that newcomers typically find most difficult is balancing clutch and throttle control when taking off from a standstill. So a motorcycle without a clutch should be a no-brainer — shouldn’t it?

That’s presumably what Honda thought when they brought the Honda CB750A Hondamatic to market in 1976. Superficially, the A model can be thought of as a Honda CB750F with a torque converter and two-speed transmission instead of the regular bike’s five-speed cog box. In practice, though, the 736cc inline four got pretty much a complete makeover.

Revisions to the combustion chambers lowered compression, which, with smaller carbs, camshaft changes and a four-into-one exhaust revised the power curve for more low-down thrust to suit the characteristics of the torque converter. An accelerator pump fitted to the number two carburetor (but feeding all four) helped to alleviate a known flat spot off idle in the standard power delivery of the Honda CB750F. A new Hy-Vo chain drove a jackshaft behind the crank, and powered the torque converter’s oil pump, with gear drive to the two-speed tranny. To provide an oil bath for the transmission and torque converter, the engine’s lubrication was switched from dry to wet sump.

Just two speeds? With the torque converter doing the hard work, that’s all Honda’s suits decided it needed. But while the torque converter replaced the clutch, shifting between the two gears was done manually with a conventional foot pedal. The reason? Honda figured an unexpected shift mid-turn might alarm an inexperienced rider — arguably their target demographic. In any case, the Honda CB750A would comfortably pull away from a standstill in high gear (“drive”): it just did it more quickly in “low.”

For the engine to turn when the starter was pressed, the transmission had to be in neutral. And if you forgot to shift into neutral before parking the Honda CB750A, deploying the side stand would do it for you. Both of these features were obviously intended to prevent unintended launches. Similarly, a push-button parking brake acting on the rear wheel prevented the bike from rolling away if parked on a slope, there being no direct gear linkage between engine and wheels. Even after the brake button was released, the brake remained on and the bike wouldn’t roll until the rider dabbed the brake pedal.

The CB750A Hondamatic 750 was sold in 1975 in Canada -- one year before it was offered in the USA. It was available in one of two colors: Muscat Green Metallic or Candy Antares Red. The exhaust system was a 4-into-1. The bike had wire spoke wheels with aluminum rims. The transmission was a 2-speed with a fluid torque converter. The engine was a 736cc SOHC 2-valve air-cooled inline 4 cylinder with a chain drive. The serial number began CB750A-6000001.