Mike Salek, from Calgary Alberta, Canad, is 32 years old, and has been riding since he was ten, starting out on motocross bikes before moving on to street bikes, riding at track days and on riding twisty canyon roads. After buying what he describes now as "soulless" bikes for years he started looking for bikes that were rare or had some sort of meaning. Over the years he's amassed a small collection of bikes and now has an '05 Ducati 999R, and '05 Honda RC51 SP2, a '96 Kawasaki ZX7RR N-1 and a custom '03 Ducati Monster 1000 and this gorgeous '75 Honda CB750 - which is of course the bike were were most interested in. (Although the RC51 and 999R have their attractions). For Mike, the CB750 had the soul, history and character that he was looking for, and to get the Brat Style look he wanted, the only way was to build the bike himself, and, he decided to do it on a tight budget of just $3000. Mike finds it funny that the bike divides opinion so strongly - people either love it or hate it, but that's part of the cafe/brat/custom scene. Some bikers get it straight away, but others just haven't got a clue why we want machines that challenge our riding skills and represent more than the fastest way from A to B. This bike was featured a while ago on Bike EXIF but we still wanted to have our own take on the build, with Mike's own pics and his own perspective for The Bike Shed. Mike lowered the bike 3 inches and fitted the hoops with Firestones for that full-fat Brat look, with tyre-hugging shortied fender, tiny 4-inch headlamp, short pipes and everything removeable powdercoated or painted black. The slim, flat seat had to be made up, but the worn paintwork on the tank and sidepanels was left as he found it, rough and ready but capturing the feel of the bike's original era. And Mike's verdict on this, the most low powered and low-tech of all his bikes? "...more fun to ride than any other bike he's owned". And finally - Gold flake lid and inappropriate riding gear finish off the look & feel to perfection.