Cobra Project - Five Honda RS750 Concept Bikes

John Hensley hit the nail on the head in his review of the 2010 Honda Shadow RS when he recognized the customizing potential of the bare-bones cruiser.

“There was a time when you could buy a stock-and-standard motorcycle and take it in whatever direction, stylistically, that suited your taste. You want a flat-tracker, do this. You want a café racer, do that. You want a scrambler…well, you get the idea,” Hensley said.

Cobra USA indeed gets the idea. The company’s Special Projects Division has drawn up five concept bikes based on the Honda RS750 – a Scrambler, Café Racer, Street Fighter, Dirt Tracker and Bobber. A couple of them will make it past the drawing board and into the world of custom motorcycles as Cobra will actually build two of the concepts.

“Once again, Cobra Engineering will undertake a multi-bike custom project. Back in 1996 Cobra did a similar project with American Honda around the 750 Ace, building what would come to be known as the Four Aces. Now with the new RS750, Cobra will build two customs based around two of the five concepts presented here,” said Ken Boyko, VP of the Cobra Special Projects Division.

Cobra realized early on the potential aftermarket parts for metric cruisers represented. Three years before the Four Aces project, Cobra convinced Honda to provide them with a VT1100 Shadow and a V45 Magna so they could customize the bikes for a potential magazine feature. In return, Honda would get exposure at industry shows like the Cincinnati Dealer Expo as Cobra demonstrated to what lengths a metric cruiser could be customized. On the flip side, Cobra would simultaneously garner publicity for its line of aftermarket exhausts for metric bikes. This helped expand the company’s marketability as it plunged head-first into the metric cruiser aftermarket.

The Four Aces project would follow in 1996 when after a late night brain storming session, the company came up with the idea to build four customized versions of Honda’s latest cruiser at the time, the American Classic Edition (ACE). Again, Cobra wanted to demonstrate to the motorcycling community that there are several ways to customize a production bike. Playing off the motorcycle’s name, Cobra called the project “Four Aces.” The results were wild and varied, from the classically styled Ace Oldie with its studded leather seat and ultra-wide beach bars to the trick Ace Chopper, complete with ape hangers, five extra degrees of rake up front and upswept Cobra Fish Tail pipes.

Sketches from the new Cobra Custom Honda RS750 project draw upon a wide range of motorcycle history. Influences include everything from the popular Honda Scrambler to a Ricky Graham-style dirt tracker to a racy-looking Street Fighter. Cobra is mum on which two it will actually build, but it does intend on debuting the bikes at the Long Beach International Motorcycle Show on December 17.

"If we had enough time, we'd build all five of these bikes. Each is so cool and every one would be a blast to ride,” Boyko concluded.

Here’s the description Cobra provided about each of the five concept models:

The Scrambler: This version will be a re-creation of the famous Honda CL72 (250) and CL77 (305) Scramblers, down to the red frame, and rubber tank side pads. High pipes with distinctive heat shields are key visual cues for this bike.

The Cafe Racer: This style of motorcycle has made a remarkable comeback, especially in urban areas. Single seats, lowered bars, raised pegs and chopped rear fenders are key markers, as are short megaphone mufflers and head pipes with no head shields.

The Street Fighter: Stripped to essentials with a small headlight, nasty exhaust and powerful brakes makes this style of bike perfect for the times. An engine that screams performance and paint that offends like Green Day on a good night.

The Dirt Tracker: Ricky Graham and Bubba Shobert in the mid-eighties taking it to the venerable H-D Factory on the miles and half-mile dirt-track circuit on their hand-built bikes, crafted by Ray Plumb and Skip Ekins. Cobbled together at first, the bikes evolved into beautiful, elemental tools designed to win at tracks such as San Jose, Indy, and Springfield, and win they did.

The Bobber: Bobbers hearken back to the post WWII-era when returning soldiers wanted speed without the frills. They'd take whatever motorcycle they could find and remove just about everything but the engine, rolling chassis and seat. No front fender and a single seat with the rear fender "bobbed" about as short as it could be. Rattle-can paint, mostly flat black was the color of choice.