What was the engine layout of the original 1969 Honda CB750?

The original 1969 Honda CB750 used an inline-four engine layout.

More precisely, its four cylinders were arranged in a transverse straight-four configuration across the motorcycle. The 736 cc engine was air-cooled, used a single overhead camshaft and delivered power through a five-speed manual transmission. This smooth, compact arrangement helped the CB750 combine strong performance with the everyday usability Honda wanted for a production road bike.

Honda was not the first manufacturer to build an inline-four motorcycle engine, and the layout had appeared in earlier racing and production applications. The CB750’s importance was that it made the configuration widely accessible in a reliable, mainstream motorcycle. Its success helped establish the transverse inline-four as a defining layout of Japanese sport and standard motorcycles.

The alternatives describe different engine architectures. A single-cylinder engine has one combustion chamber, a flat-four places opposing cylinders in two banks, and a V-twin uses two cylinders set at an angle. Later Honda models, including the VF750F, used a V4, but that is not the layout of the original CB750.