From Canine To K6!

One man’s loving restoration of a dog to a classy Honda CB175 K6.

- Tom Garland

The decision to have a go at a bikerestoration in hindsight was a goodone. However, shortly after I got my hands on the bike I seriously began to doubt the sanity of the decision, but I kept telling myself I was only in it for the pleasure of tinkering with bits of oily metal!

Restos are good if you have the time, inclination, adequate workshop facilities, tooling, access to spares and a comprehensive list of speciality suppliers and, of course, money.

I didn’t have a lot of the above. Ok, I had some savings in the bank, and I consider myself a resourceful and a practical man with good manual skills, but this will only carry you so far. The biggest single factor I found which enables you to keep the momentum of a project going apart from finance, is the internet and the access to finding those elusive parts that otherwise would consign a restoration to a number of cardboard boxes in the garage. Parts prices meant I wanted to find a low-end, popular bike to restore.

I have a bit of an affection for Hondas, based on the fact that my first bike was a fifth-hand SS50 that I spent my teenage youth taking apart more than riding, and moved up to eventually riding a CBR1000F. The eventual resto case was in a sorry state and the bloke delivering it even said that he hoped I liked a challenge! To be fair, a quick look-over showed this machine was basically good as in looking straight and sound, but it was rusted from headstock to tail pipe! The alloy engine and wheel hubs were also furred up nicely.