A Wild Week of Mecum and other surprises…

 It’s a 350-mile one-way trek for me to drive up to the South Point resort hotel for the annual Mecum Motorcycle auctions, featuring 2,000 motorcycles for sale. Prices ranged from $500 to $330k with Mecum taking in money from both the bidder and the seller, per usual. Not mentioned clearly is if the bikes have a title or not in most cases. If no title, the bikes are NV taxed at 9% of the sale price! I got hit with an extra $400 last year on my CB77 racer, so it is a heavy hit for most unsuspecting buyers.

That aside, it was another amazing year of bikes of all shapes, sizes, makes, models and years. Board track racers were selling for $100k, Honda Z50s for $10k and the pair of un-crated CB125S bikes sold for $25k! There is no rhyme or reason to what some bikes sold for. Harley Baggers were selling for $2500 in some cases. When I walked into the room on Wednesday morning an SL125 and SL175 both were hammered for $10k. The prototype CB750 belonging to “Mr. Sandcast” Vic World hammered out at $313k and the George Beale RC174 incredible replica went into the $330K range.

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                                            Mislabled 1961 CB77 #58, sold for $10k

I almost passed on making the long journey again, as I had no plans of buying anything and staying at the hotel was $90+ per night last year, even with the discount. The one big draw is meeting up with many of my friends and acquaintances, many of which go back well into the last Century. I sold some CB750 parts to Vic World back in the 1980s, when he was on the search worldwide to build his collection of parts to build up sandcast CB750 bikes. My friend Tony Moseley, who is a retired Kawasaki manager was last seen at Daytona back in the 1990s, as best as we could recall.

Part of the encouragement to drive up, was from a message from my friend Don Scott Peterson, who lives in N. Las Vegas. He’s been wrangling old Hondas for many years, rebuilding and restoring some rare machines, including the #2 CL77 some years back. Mr. Peterson contacted me a few months ago about encouraging me to come up and help him clear out his leftover Honda parts, as he was down to two final machines: a CL77 and a CA77. He offered to allow me to stay at his place for free, but the downside was that he was 25 miles away from the auction site, which turned into a 30 minute drive each way during the week. A round trip in my Tacoma worked out to about $6 in gas per trip. Costco was selling regular for $2.89 when I was there. I trekked back and forth during the Wed-Friday events, having dinner with a couple of groups at the end of the day.

Scott started to roll out his “leftovers” and I got the feeling that it was going to fill up my Tacoma’s bed and then some, so I ended up renting a U-Haul trailer for $140 for the one-way drive. The parts ranged from C200-early CT90 models, to various engine parts for CB/CL72-77s. The sparkling shiny alloy CL72 racing gas tank turned out to be a copy made in India, which was quite a feat of design and assembly, but there were a lot of details that were less than factory-correct. Still, they are impressive works of art, assuming that they will hold gasoline correctly. I worked with a customer who had a metal CL72 tank from India and the petcock holes were incorrectly drilled. It had to be re-welded twice to get it functional.

Other boxes of parts revealed a bin full of CB160 transmission parts, gaskets, wiring harnesses and other model-specific items. A number of 250-305 cylinder heads, bare and complete weighed down the truck bed right away. A lovely C72 fuel tank and headlight shell were already painted and ready to use. Other interesting bits included a set of big bore pistons (+3.00mm), along with a set of unbored cylinders and a crankshaft.

Exhaust parts included some rough Dream mufflers, a WEBCO straight pipe for an S90, and some CL72 exhaust pipes that were corroded around the head pipe bends.

Having already renting a 5x10’ storage space locally for the N. Cal-Los Gatos CB77 parts haul, it was clear that more space would be required. A call to the office mentioned ONE last 5x10’ space left and I could go on a waiting list for a 10x10’ street level unit. I asked them to hold that one and headed for home on Saturday afternoon.

I hauled the trailer and truckload of parts back to San Diego in about 6 hours, parking the rig in front of the house overnight. I joined my Sunday riding buddies for our morning breakfast ride and then came home, grabbed the truck and trailer, then headed for the storage company. The available 5x10’ was sufficient for loading up the parts. Thereafter, I returned the trailer to the local U-Haul store and was done for the day.

I’ll be adding various parts from the new supply to various forums in the weeks to come. I’m working on completion of the 1961 CB77 #557, so I can clear if off of my work bench. Because of my friend Tuan, who steered my onto the CB77 in Burbank, now I am committed to driving back to Riverside to pick up a 1964 CL72 which he bought and then re-sold to me, as I am much closer than Wisconsin.

So, it’s been a busy week in Lake Wobegon… sorry La Presa, CA. The beat goes on and the stories will continue.

Bill Silver aka MrHonda

www.vintagehonda.com

MrHonda does a 1961 CB77 2.0 PART-1

I don’t monitor the Craigslist ads in the LA area, so wouldn’t have known about this until I got a quick note from Tuan Tran, who lives in WI and is a very avid collector of vintage Honda bikes and parts. The post was kind of crazy but the photos indicated that the bike, which had some definite customization way back in the 1970s, was indeed a 1961 CB77 Super Hawk. Here’s his CL post:

This 305 CB77 Honda Super hawk lived in a garage since 1976, then my neighbor sold it to me and I got it running! Everything is filmed on video:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-cUGKFQ8cj4

Everything is there and it starts every time,! Clutch is soggy and everything needs attention for safe riding.
Electric start works perfect. Starts right up. Your wife hates it already. Have original Pink Slip and key
video of it driving for first time in 46 years here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDNBNc9KgZw

You can always tell the frames by the smashed flat rear frame section where the seat bolts slide in. Honda added some formed tubing later on and this caused the seat pan bolt pattern to extend about 1” further out. There are dozens of 1961-unique features that were changed and superseded to a more improved design from 1962 onward.

The seller told a crazy story about finding the bike chained to a telephone pole just blocks from where he lived in N. Hollywood. He was first to call the owner and get a shot at buying it at the final price of $400. It did come with a CA “pink slip” title, but the VIN numbers used were the engine numbers of CB77-110563, instead of the correct frame number CB77-10557. CA didn’t even use the engine numbers as the additional part of the titles for a few years after this one, issued in 1977.

The seller, Paul, sent a ton of videos and photos to my phone which answered a lot of questions. Paul realized that my name and city = the infamous MrHonda, so he was excited to share all the details and answered numerous questions about the bike and the story behind his discovery.

The down sides are that the tail light is a later 1963-66 series, the speedometer is a 1964-65 unit. The handlebars are probably CL72, along with the cables. The front fender is one of the “Superior” aftermarket replacements from Dixie International, which does fit the Type 1 forks, but is chromed and squared off differently than the OEM fender. The correct transmission cover, which has a big relief at the back to wrap around the rear breather tower was missing and a new one on eBay was $150. Looking at the fork bridge, it appears to be one from a 1962 model which has the little packing holes drilled down into the sides of the oval speedometer holder portion. Certainly, on the plus side, the engine runs, the rear shocks seem to be in good condition. The overall condition is in the “good” side,but needs a full restoration or at least to undo the custom work and make it ride-able again.

I have wondered about my sanity at times, especially when I drove over 2,000 miles to retrieve old Honda parts recently and know that it will take many months to possibly recover all the out of pocket expenses in the process. But, in considering how I might restore the “custom” CB77 back towards original condition, I know that I have a lot of NOS generic Honda parts that will fit this bike, that are not 1961 model specific. So, somehow it all works out in the end, I guess. I started this story on 11/15/25, just on the basis of the conversation with the CB77 seller in LA. I guess I will be in for another 300 mile round trip to rescue another 1961 CB77 and bring it back to glory again.

The trip and recovery of the 1961 CB77..

It has been raining all of Saturday, with a small break forecast for Sunday, then another wave or rain coming in next week. LA roads are dangerous enough even when dry so maneuvering the Tacoma up and back in the middle of a rainy day gives one pause to think and reconsider my priorities.

SO I WENT ON WEDNESDAY

I had a doctor appointment at 9am about 10 miles from home. I stopped at the local Costco on the way to top off the tank and then make it down to the doctor appointment. It all went well except the 9am appointment didn’t go off until about 9:45. I finally hit the road at 10:15 and off we went some 150 miles up the I-5. At that time of day, the roads are relatively open to highway speeds, at least until you hit LA and then it gets tricky. WAZE had me dodging back and forth on various side streets and highways until I arrived about 1:15.

I backed the Tacoma up the end of the driveway and walked back to Paul’s house and saw the bike sitting beneath a blue tarp. The seat was off and there was an ON-OFF toggle switch mounted on the bracket where the fuse holder normally sits. The ignition switch had no discernible key code numbers on the face, but the rather mangled key that came with the title was a NB series. We did get the bike to fire up for a few minutes, but the fuel in the tank was coming out all brown as seen through the newly installed clear tubing. There was a Li-Ion battery in the battery box and it cranked the engine over with good force, but the lack of fuel finally go the best of it.

Evaluation in person.

I had noted a number of non-1961 features that showed up in the supplied photos, but more came to light as I looked it over in person. I’m guessing that it had a serious crash that left skid marks on the right side exhaust pipe, the little short brake lever was rewelded at the pedal end, there were scrapes on the right side fork slider, the front speedometer drive was not correct for a 1961 model and the fork bridge had little holes on both sides indicating a 1962 part installation. The Scramble-style handlebars were another giveaway and the grips were not the original diamond-pattern pieces.

Over-sized tires were installed at both ends and the front fender was a “Made in Japan” stamped steel unit that is somewhat squared off vs the rounded shape of an OEM fender. The air filters were disintegrating and the air filter tubes were the later type with springs instead of the wide clamps.

The carbs are stock round bowl units. The fiberglass gas tank is fitted with a CB77 petcock and the forward mounts do fit the frame, so it was made for the CB77 originally. Sadly the non-1961 speedo-tach, which showed only 241 miles had a tach needle that spun around and tried to make a full 360 dgree circle when the engine was running. The speedo-tach has a high beam indicator, so is a 1964-ish edition. The kickstarter cover is held in with allen bolts instead of Phillips head screws. The right side cove knob was barely hanging into the damaged cover.

In the bright side, the chain guard was still intact and the tool kit was tucked away in the box. The seat cover apparently was recovered and then chewed on by the family dog. The pan seems to be in solid shape however. The rear shocks should have alloy covers, which are correct for 1961 bikes and the horn is black, as it should be. Most of the cables were replaced so the odd black ones are not present. The frame and engine numbers are just a few digits apart, indicating the factory pairing.

The brief running time on the engine sounded amazingly good with no smoke out the aftermarket mufflers and no terrible sounds internally. The clutch is stuck so will need freshening up with a later model version. The whole engine is covered with 60 years of oily dirt and corrosion, so will need a full teardown and replacement of necessary parts.

WHAT I HAVE IN STOCK FOR IT

NOS wiring harness A&B, NOS Tach cable, NOS fork bolts, NOS re-chromed 1-piece muffler set. Good used OEM fuel tank and petcock. NOS but old Michelin tire set in the correct sizes. Good replacement fork slider for the damaged side. NOS front fender (but steel not alloy). NOS footpegs. A set of solid side covers. A 1961 tail light assembly, which will need to be modified to fit a stock later taillight bracket. I have 10 NOS early tail light lenses! NOS tail light harness wires (white and blue). NOS brake light switch. NOS shift levers and all linkage pieces. NOS pedal pivot bolts. NOS headlight rim. Primary chain.

Missing: The special transmission top cover that wraps around the breather tube. Correct handlebars and cables, plus control switches. Mirrors, of course.

AUTOPSY

With the bike up on the work bench, the parts were slowly peeled off revealing a lot of conflicting issues. Apart from the fiberglass fuel tank and the metalflake blue paint, the headlight shell was pretty much unsalvageable due to extra holes punched into it for extra blue jewel lights. One was for a high beam indicator, as they were not offered in 1961 speedometers. Then, there was the problem with “toggle switches,” one of which was mounted in the little flat plate where the fuse holder snaps in, then another mystery switch mounted on top of the right side ignition coil bracket.

The wiring harness A and B were removed and the headlight shell unbolted. Ebay sellers had some $100 headlight shells available, but careful searching turned up one for $29 that was still in factory primer. All the main bodywork and frame components will be powdercoated black. My favorite painter will handle the Cloud Silver paintwork for the fenders and side covers.

After the air filters were removed, a big surprise was noted in that a cigarette lighter was mounted to the backbone of the frame! More worrisome was that when the battery was removed, it was apparent that a piece of the battery box where it secures the front of the rear fender was missing! I do have a complete frame that could be a donor, although cutting it up for this small piece would be a waste of an otherwise good frame.

Sadly, the rear shocks, which appeared to be in above average condition, apart from the metalflake paint on the tops turned out to have steel covers, not the original alloy parts. As removal continued, the rear wheel has to be removed or dropped down so access to the top rear fender mount bolts can be accessed. The 1961 bikes have an aluminum rear brake stay and this one was still present. Once the fender bolts were removed and the fender set aside, the wheel had to be reinstalled so the bike could be rolled off the work bench for engine removal.

MOTOR REVEAL

With the 115 lb engine removed and up on the work bench, disassembly began. It was obvious that the engine has been serviced previously, as all of the screws were somewhat less difficult to remove than when they are still factory installed. The cylinder head is correct, given that the spark plugs are C9H 10mm versions rather than the later 12mm D8HA plugs used on later models. With the top cover removed, the massive first generation “flywheel” camsprocket was revealed to still be in place. The engine had to be turned over a few times in order for the master link to be accessed. The head was gently pried off and revealed the tops of .75 over-sized pistons and relatively clean valves. When the valves were removed, the seats were wide but intact, showing good contact.

The cylinders were lifted off and a disappointing little rain of broken piston ring bits fell out. Just the top compression ring on the right side piston was shattered. The pistons are the early 9.5:1 types. The wrist pins came out easily and the top end removal was complete. I decided to take the rest of the day off and tackle the bottom end on the following day.

The NEXT DAY

Tackling the bottom end revealed more non-1961 parts inside. The biggest one was that the crankshaft is a later model version with the oil holes in the small ends of the rods, vs. the slotted rod ends used on early model crankshafts. Once the crankcases were pried apart, inspection of the transmission gears revealed a mix of straight and back-cut gears intermixed. The shift forks were rather burned on the sides from previous shifting problems. The gear dog corners were somewhat rounded out, as well. I will probably just replace all the gears with later back-cut types and “X” the gearbox to give the 1-2 gear split a tighter jump from gear to gear. Suprisingly the low gear bushing was in quite good condition and will be reused. The kickstarter pawl was a little worn, as well. I have a number of NOS gears that came from the CO treasure hunt, so the transmission should come out working good. One end of the countershaft’s bushings had a bit of an accident and the locating pin for the bushing got squeezed in a little cocked and there is a small crack in the adjacent support boss. It should be okay with a bit of massaging and making sure that the locating pin goes in correctly.

I bundled up the engine cases, head and cylinders to send them down to the local automotive engine builder shop where they will hot-tank the parts to de-grease the blackend gunk that was glued to the surfaces. I did use some S100 on the engine and frame before engine removal which gave me a glimpse of the condition of the castings. It did have the correct 250 code tappet covers that were leftovers from the dry-sump Dreams. These seemed to be used on the 1961 and early 1962 bikes. They are somewhat domed but have a wide rim around the outer edge. The incorrect right side bolt camchain tensioner will have to be refreshed with the Capellinni replacement sprocket kit. The CL72 oil pump will be ditched in favor of a correct CA/CB style pump with a flat bottom.

In one of those synchronous moments, in the pile of NOS parts brought in from Colorado, there was one package of one set of piston rings which happened to be .75 oversize! That will save buying a box of rings which always come in two sets per engine.

The carbs will get submerged in the ultrasonic cleaner and hopefully will have still-correct and functioning internals. I always check the flanges and then replace all of the o-rings in the carb flanges and the insulators to eliminate air leaks on the intake side.

In the process of removing the camshafts, the point cam popped out of the right side cam. So far, there are no signs of the required snap ring that keeps the shaft in place. I think I have a full set of either new or used cams and a NOS camsprocket to reassemble the cylinder head once again.

In pulling the chassis apart, the swing arm will have to go to the welder for reattachment of the little inside chain guard tab, which is often broken or missing on the older bikes. Because of the alloy rear brake stay, you can’t just replace the swing arm with a later one and have everything look correct.

The next shocker was that the whole front end was not an early model 1961 CB77 with the 38mm fork tubes and steering stem. The updated fork crown was a first clue, but as the forks were removed from the fork bridge and stem, out slide a set of next-generation forks that have a little taper to them vs the big step from 38mm to 33mm on the earliest types. So, apparently the entire original front end was replaced with something from a 1963-ish type bike. That coincides with the front wheel/speedo drive not being 1961 either. So, I’m looking at ¾ of a 1961 CB77 it appears. I noticed that the fork crown holes for the fork tube ends were ground out oversize. Sure enough when I compared a 1961 fork tube with the one on the bike, the OD was increased for the later models. That was a bit of trivia that I had to add to my knowledge bank.

TO BE CONTINUED.

Bill Silver 

aka MrHonda

www.vintagehonda.com

SlowLow350

 Getting referrals can be a tricky thing when it comes to new customers bringing in a basket case bike that was slowly reassembled over a 10 year period. My CL77/160 customer, Jim, from a year or so back, bumped into a guy with a SL350 project bike that he couldn’t get started after doing what he could on his own.

                                               

                                                        Honda SL350K1 courtesy of AHMC

Of course, it was a kickstart-only K1, I think, Orange paint and had the correct black mufflers installed. That’s what showed up when they strapped it to the back of a Jeep and drove 3 hours to meet me at home. I got a quick rundown on what had been done and what had been happening, so based on that information, I decided to check the timing first. The owner had mentioned that the engine had backfired when he was trying to start it, leading me to think that the point cam had been installed 180 degrees out of normal.

As I began to remove the point plate and advancer, I was told that the advancer weight pivot washers and e-clips were missing! With the point plate removed, sure enough the advancer springs were stretched out and the retainer hardware was not in place. Removing the spark advancer, I noted a 369 product code stamped on the advancer base, indicating that it was from a CB360! I dimly recall having a 350 spark advancer that came to me years ago. After a bit of digging, it made itself known and it was marked 312, which is correct for an SL350K1-2. The springs were tight and the point cam in good shape. I added a bit of Bosch point cam lube and dropped it onto the end of the camshaft.

Turning the engine over, to check the valve lash, which is supposed to be at .002 intake and .004 exhaust settings. But the index marks on the ends of the tappet adjuster shafts were all in the 10 and 2 o’clock positions, instead of about 8 and 4 o’clock. The valves had been set on the wrong stroke (overlap), so the actual valve lash was probably an 8^th of an inch. Once the valves were set, and the ignition timing reset after replacing the point plate, it should have been a candidate to start right up.

Unfortunately, all it did was slowly kick over with no signs of life. The plugs were pulled out for inspection and a compression test. They looked dry, even after all that kicking. The engine had never been fired in the last 5 years, so I thought that the cylinders and rings were running dry and not creating a good suction in the intake tract. I mused about the condition of the intake manifolds and was told that they were originals. This could lead to intake air leaks if they are 50+ years old. I dropped the float bowls and found a loose main jet in the bottom of the bowl! I was so glad that they were present to watch me troubleshoot and to witness what I was finding. The next step was to check the mixture screws which were out 2 turns instead of just one turn as specified. I removed the idle jets and made sure they were clear and the float level was set correctly. A number of attempts were made to bump start the bike down the driveway, but all it did was leave black tire marks from the installed knobby tires. Still no signs of life.

What I thought would be a one-hour maintenance visit ran into 3 hours and still no success. The battery voltage was around 10.8-11v, so it should have had enough juice to light off the cylinders. I was running out of ideas and disappointed at the lack of fire in the engine so far. As a last check I ohm tested the spark plug caps only to discover that one was 9.5k ohms, instead of the desired 5k ohms reading. The cap was poorly connected to the plug wire, which wasn’t helping matters. The opposite spark plug cap read out as an open circuit. While we did check for spark with the plugs out and grounded to the head, the combination of BR8ES spark plugs (resistor) and the high resistance on the plug caps were not creating sufficient fire under cylinder pressure. The owner understood what I was doing and what was needed next, so they loaded it back up on the Jeep and headed back to the desert where they were wintering rather than staying in Idaho in January.

Additionally, the kickstarter ratchet was not engaging properly, so the engine was not turning over very much due to restricted kickstarter lever travel. I was sorry to send them off without a running engine, but the lack of parts and other issues prevented a complete success for this pretty, but still sleeping SL350 which has undergone a long Slow/Low 10-year sleep. We all learned a lot about the bike and general maintenance steps needed to make them come alive once again.

With my fused ankle, I was happy not to have to attempt to kickstart the engine this time. I had a similar bike, as part of a 750 swap, some years ago and I recall it was difficult to start up, even when everything was tuned up properly. Give me an electric starter every time!

Bill Silver

aka MrHonda

www.vintagehonda.com

Vintage Honda Switches for the 250-305 models.

 Honda used an array of various types of electrical switches in the 1960s. Let’s look at a selection and see what they have in common among the various models.

Ignition switches:

CB72-77 models basically used the same ignition switch for all models. Key codes might be T-series or some of the harder to source NA/NB types. In the early, early models, the key codes were just 4 numbers and no letter code. When Honda started re-issuing the ignition switches, they used the later series number/letters like a 14H or something similar. The only other switch option was for the CYP77 Police bikes which had a 4 position switch vs. the standard 3 position switch for common street bikes. The three positions are OFF, ON for all systems, and OFF. When the ignition switch is ON, the headlights, instrument lights and tail light are controlled by a separate HEADLIGHT switch on the headlight shell.

CL72-77 models first used an elongated CB72 switch, which had an extended barrel section to allow the plastic latch to secure the side cover to the bike. After that, the redesign was an adapter that bolted to the frame and the switch with 2 small screws. The threads on the adapter held the side cover latch. Because of the difference in diameters of the two types, there are two different latches of different ID/OD dimensions. The three positions are OFF, ON for all systems, and OFF. When the ignition switch is ON, the headlights, instrument lights and tail light are controlled by a separate HEADLIGHT switch on the headlight shell.

C/CA72-77 Dream models had a big plastic 6 pin harness connector, plus some extra wires to operate the Dream ignition and lighting functions. The US switch had 5 positions CRANK, OFF (key comes out), ON for ignition, brake light, horn and neutral light, then Lighting position, and finally the PARK position (key comes out). JDM and EURO models used a 6 position switch, which included one stop for the little position/park light located in the headlight reflector, which was required for numerous countries. The Dreams share the headlight switch with the 125-150-160 Benly models.

Lighting switches:

CB72-77 models generally have a 4 wire headlight switch with a single ON-OFF function. The CB switch has a 268-810 product code for use in the US models.

CL72-77 models used an early 5 wire switch which has 2 ON functions, one of which is for the little position/park light used in non-US models. The CL switch comes with a 270 product code, stemming from the CM72 model. There is no real use for the 3 position switch on US bikes, but many seem to be equipped with them.

C/CA72-77 lighting functions come as part of the Dream ignition switch.

Brake light switches:

CB brake light switches came in two versions. Early models had spring-loaded terminal ends which captured the tinned wire ends for the brake light wiring. Later versions had the switch wiring harness attached to the switch permanently. CB/CL160s use a similar brake switch.

                                                           

CL72-77 brake light switches are a press OFF plunger function. When the rear brake linkage is at rest, the brake pedal pushes up against the end of the switch plunger in an OFF position. When the brake pedal is depressed, the switch plunger extends and closes the contacts inside the switch to illuminate the brake light function. This is the only switch of this type, as all others are a pull-ON type where a spring is attached to the plunger and the contacts are connected when the switch plunger is pulled out of the switch housing.

C/CA72-77 brake light switches are basically the same as the same metal CB switch (also the CB160), but the switch is activated by a complex set of levers and springs which activate the switch when the brake pedal is depressed.

Starter solenoids:

CB72-77 solenoids are bolted to the bottom of the tool box and the terminals and connection wires face the left side of the bike frame. The solenoids are “hot” all the time and the way to activate them is a small yellow/red wire that runs up the wiring harness and through the handlebars to the starter button switch on the throttle housing. When the button is depressed, it connects to ground through the handlebars and forks, to complete the circuit, enabling the solenoid to close the contacts inside which bridge the battery contacts and the starter motor contacts.

CL72-77 NONE

C/CA72-77 Dreams mount the starter solenoid under the distribution box on the right side of the frame under the side cover. It is mounted next to the ignition coil and the rectifier. It is activated in the same manner as the CB solenoid.

Dimmer switches:

All three models share the basically same dimmer switch designs, apart from the length of the switch harness that run through the handlebars on the CB and C/CA models. The CL models have the switch harness running outside of the handlebars, affixed to the bars with a clip to the clutch cable. CB/CL160s also use a similar switch.

Winker switches:

Because turn signals were not permitted in the US until 1968, no US model bikes have a winker/turn signal switch on the throttle side. US wiring harnesses do not have the extra wires for the winker system, as well. Many people have sourced the rare switches from outside of the country and used them in conjunction with the correct harnesses with the winker wiring included. While this makes the bikes legal, as required in some states and everywhere else, the actual function of the turn signal switch is awkward as it requires the use of the throttle hand thumb to release the throttle somewhat to activate the left or right (UP or DOWN) switch contacts and again to turn the switch back to the center neutral position. It is definitely not as smooth as the later model Hondas with the turn signal switch function built into the left side dimmer switch.

Neutral switches:

Thankfully, ALL 250-305 Honda models have the same neutral switch mounted on the end of the shift drum, underneath the kickstarter cover. The problem with the switches is that, over time, the solder joint fails at the switch contact which is the ground connection for the neutral light bulb circuit. If you are very careful, you can re-solder the wire end back to the original location. Too much heat will cause the internal contact to loosen in the plastic case and then it retreats away from the rotating contact piece inside the switch. You can gently pry them apart and clean and re-solder the wire, insuring that the contact piece is still flush with the body, so the rotating contact will touch the wire contact at the correct time.

Horn switch:

Like the starter button function, the horn button is tucked into the dimmer switch and provides the ground connection to complete the horn circuit which is “hot” all the time when the ignition switch is ON. In both cases of the starter and horn wires, if the handlebar switches rotate due to a fall or improper installation, the tiny 22 gauge wires will get pinched and grounded against the handlebar metal. You will know this when the ignition switch is turned to the ON position and the starter or horn instantly are activated. Shut the ignition switch OFF and attend to the wire grounding issue. The wire that comes out of the little plate, which mounts behind the button, can easily become grounded against the button hold-down plate. Soldering the wire back to the contact plate for the button is tricky business, but needs to be insulated from any metal contact when the switch is reattached to the handlebars.

12/2025

Bill Silver aka MrHonda

www.vintagehonda.com

When ONE BIG ADVENTURE is NOT ENOUGH….. 2.0 to N.Cal

 The Devil made me do it! Masquerading as Mr. Bob Kelly, he has tempted me with new primary chains, then revealed the treasures of the Colorado Rockies which then pulled me into a 3 day sift and search for vintage Honda parts, then ended with a 1200 mile return trip in a bouncy U-Haul rental truck, hauling a trailer behind.

Like many of us, Mr. Kelly is always on the hunt for a deal on bikes or parts for his collection. We have both spent the last week or two sorting and putting up our vintage Honda parts treasures for sale to get them back into circulation. I didn’t buy the two CB77s that were in the storage unit, but he found homes for them in just a few days. So… now what?

In his searching around the internet looking for hot deals, Bob sent me a link to the same auction company that offered some of the pre-sale items from the CO estate sale. This time he posted: This looks like a nice CB77…. Auction in Los Gatos, CA about 450 miles away from me. It is an early 1965 black Super Hawk with 4k miles on it, but not run for many years. I click onto the website and find not only the CB77, but a pile of CB77 parts listed in one batch for a starting bid of $1.00. Also a 2004 Kawasaki 250 Ninja with 31 miles on it, but also not a runner.

So, the bidding is closing on 10/30/2025 around 8:30. NO ONE BID ON THE PARTS! I got the whole truck load for $1!The Ninja ran up to the $2k range and the nice CB77 bumped up past $3500 with the 15% fees so I let it go. I already had a $1500 CB77 on the line, so I now need to trek up to Los Gatos and haul away my truck load of CB77 parts, bought for a dollar. I did also win some used CB77 badges for $3. Total outlay was $7.50.

So, the next challenge is to drive up to Los Gatos, hopefully spend a night with my daughter’s aunt Tammy and return the next day. The unforseen challenge, this time was that the auction was on Thursday and the pickup time was on Saturday ONLY! The auction company told me about some “helper” websites where you can hire people to do work of some kind, but this would involve picking up parts, storing them for a day or so, then me driving up and picking them up from the assistant. I checked a couple of websites and sent out messages, but it was a big “ask” for most of them, so I decided to DRIVE UP on Halloween Friday and rent a trailer to drag it all back down to San Diego again.

Happy Halloween...?

Having just done 1200 miles a couple of weeks ago, I was not totally in the mood to do another 1,000 miles again so quickly, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. So, I threw some gear and tiedowns into the truck and hit the highway at 9:30 am on Friday morning. It’s I-5 for 80 percent of the drive, so off I went, hoping for a break from the usually awful LA traffic. Leaving at a late morning time, allowed me to miss the morning commute and it was clear sailing all the way until the Hwy 101 and I-5 interchange, where it all ground to a halt for about 30 minutes while we managed about 10 mph for the good part of it. Once I cleared that hurdle, it was onwards and upwards to the “Grapevine” climb to 4144 feet, then quickly down into the flatlands of central CA. There are miles and miles of trees and plants of all kinds that help feed much of the US. Water is a big problem for the farmers there and you wonder how they managed to plant and water thousands of trees all year long.

At the top end of the I-5 journey, you have to transfer over on the Hwy 152, which leads over into the San Jose and cities around the S. Bay area. I arrived into the city of Los Gatos, where the parts were being stored at a house at the end of an 8-mile winding road, but was not available until the next morning.

SPOILER ALERT!

A year ago, as I was hauling a load of bikes and parts in my 2015 Tacoma, the low air pressure warning light switched on at 4:30am, just as I was about a half-hour into my 120-mile trip to the El Camino College swapmeet event. I checked all the tire pressures with my battery-powered air compressor that is always kept in the truck and all the tires were fine. It was the tire pressure sensors which have little batteries inside which were failing. I had two of them changed out and was told the other two were about ½ power left.

Fast forward to Oct 31, 2025 and the light came on again, this time in the middle of the uphill grade towards the peak of the Grapevine climb. I figured that if there was a tire going down, I would have felt it as it went flat somewhere along the way. There was no change, so I carried on with the knowledge that the last two sensors had given up, but the tire pressures were all okay. I did recheck the tires when I was at the U-haul place and they were down a few pounds from normal, but all four were doing just fine. Whew!

I tracked down the closest U-Haul in Los Gatos, but they didn’t have any one-way trailers available, so they had to re-direct me to San Jose area for pickup after 9am in the morning. My calls to Aunt Tammy went to VX mail. It turned out that she was at a Halloween party, so I just looked up a local hotel that was on the way towards the trailer location and settled into for the night. It was a Quality-branded Hotel in Santa Clara for $90 for a king-sized bed on the ground floor. The first thing I noted was that the decades old digital clock with the red numbers had a scrambled display, so you had no idea of the correct time. I always pray that the room becomes dark at night when you go to bed, but the bright lights of the parking lot bled around the edges of the curtains and there was another light source coming through the shower window, but the door was out of square and it wouldn’t close all the way unless it was forced closed. The empty mini-fridge was humming loudly, so I pulled it out of the cabinet and unplugged it. I added some ear plugs and finally got settled down after watching the World Series game.

I tend to wake up around 5-6am, so had plenty of time for a shower and grab a few bites of their “free” breakfast offerings, which were Yogurt, a muffin, a banana and some Orange Juice. I left about 8am to give me time to navigate over to the U-Haul location where I arrived at 8:45. Initially, I was surprised to not see the promised trailer on the small corner lot, but finally discovered the lone unit tucked behind a van on the lot. The place was supposed to open at 9am, but the owner didn’t get the door open until 9:05. Then there was the paperwork and photos of the trailer to be taken, credit card charged and finally a full hookup about 9:30.

I plugged in the Los Gatos address and headed back for another half-hour journey across the South Bay Area to the exit for “Black road.” It was several miles of 2-lane, twisty mountain roads with cars suddenly popping up around the middle of some sharp bend. Finally, there was a private road that continued up through the thick forest scenary to the address. I mis-read an address plaque on the side of the road and turned in one driveway too soon! I had to manuever the truck and trailer back out carefully and then drove up a long driveway to where a gathering of other winning auction people were busy hauling out their treasures. The property is on 40 acres and was for sale at some multi-million dollar figure. The house was surrounded by lush green grass and I was told DO NOT DRIVE ON THE GRASS!

The lucky bike winners were there loading up their treasures. The driveway was narrow and I had to wait until most of the first wave of buyers had loaded up and driven off so I could carefully back my truck and trailer up the driveway and off to the right side where the bounty of Honda parts were staged in a 3 car garage. I brought a dolly and some other loading tools, plus a motorcycle ramp that I often use to load up boxes into the back of my truck. 

While I was viewing the large load of engines, a bare frame, boxes of mostly CB77 parts, the owner offered a rolling chassis bike from down in his barn for FREE! That changed the dynamics of my loading plans a bit. I brought a little battery-powered air compressor and aired up the tires. With some help, the bike was loaded off the corner of the tail gate, with the trailer still attached. Without the 115 lb engine and other chassis parts, the bike was tucked into the corner of the truck bed and strapped down for the journey. I actually was given a CA title for either the bike or the bare frame, as I left. I had arrived at the location at 10am, but wasn’t able to leave with the parts packed up until noon. It was another 15 minutes driving back down the hill, partially blocked by a bicyclist coasting down at 20 mph. I hit the freeway at 12:30 pm and was on the way home, loaded with a partial bike and a trailer loaded with precious CB77 parts.

                                                   

Now, it is Saturday and traffic is building and busy. I am keeping the truck about 60-65 mph in the truck lanes which are often all chopped up or poorly patched. I am now dodging slower moving semi-trucks in the truck lanes for another 500 miles. You can see how the trucking industry is the lifeline for the country, given the unending lines of big diesel trucks going in both directions down the I-5 and all the way home. Small wonder that the roadways are so damaged from the huge weights of the trucks and their loads.

Apart from WAZE steering me around and through the evening LA traffic, the rest of the journey went smoothly. Gas stops were about $40+ each time and the truck handled the task with amazing ease. There were times when I had to hold it in 2^nd gear at 60mph on long uphill sections, but it never overheated or seemed to be fazed by hauling an extra ton or two behind it.

I walked into the house at 9pm, after 1014 miles of driving up to SJ and back. There was so many parts and bins that I have to rent a storage unit for a month or so, while I sift and sort out all the parts and fine homes for them all. In the end, it cost me about $400 for my $1 purchase, but I was happy to be able to get them back into circulation again.

Bill Silver

aka MrHonda

www.vintagehonda.com

11-2025

MrHonda’s REALLY BIG adventure…

 Having been in the “game” for over 50 years, I have bought and sold a lot of bikes and parts, done a lot of repair work and answered thousands of tech questions. This all gets your name out in front of a lot of people world-wide. Your name also circulates around a wide group of vintage Honda enthusiasts and friends that are made through the years of doing deals, helping others find bikes and parts and just the greater group of “Nicest People” Honda friends.

At 77, I am trying to wind down a lot of work and parts/bikes wrangling, but often a friend or two will refer a friend of theirs to you for an opportunity to possibly cash in on an old parts stash left behind by retired dealers and collectors. Recently, my long-time buddy, Ed Moore, down in TX suggested to a friend of ours. that I would be a good home for some NLA vintage Honda primary chains. Ed has stopped rebuilding engines after more than 30 years, so some of the spare parts are not needed into the future. Our mutual friend Bob Kelly, contacted me on Ed’s suggestion and offered a batch of NOS primary chains for a REALLY good price. It’s been quite a while since I was able to offer a new chain to my 250-305 Honda engine customers, so it will be a real treat to do that for a few more customers.

The stash of primary chains came from an old Honda Dealer in CO who passed away recently and left his estate to his 80 year old sister, who lives in the Mid-West somewhere. The estate went into probate and there were a lot of approvals to be completed before she could sell the house and empty out the place, the garage and then 2 storage units that she didn’t know existed until Bob stepped up and hunted them down for her.

Looking back at some old messages, I noticed that Bob had asked me about any spare CB77 engines being available because he had a line on a new, unsold CB77 which had its engine removed and installed in the son’s Go-Kart! The mostly mint rolling chassis deal fell through, but it was expected that it might well be in the inventory of the storage units, which haven’t been opened for many years and the contents are unknown. It was thought that there was a supply of NOS Honda parts buried in the boxes and bins in storage, but there was no inventory sheet or list of what was in either unit.

Bob gave me a heads-up about some auction items that the sister had dug out of the house and put up for sale on an online auction site. It was not widely publicized and few people, apart from the locals knew about it or were interested in the listings. They all had generic descriptions placed by the auction people who had no idea of what any of them were for and any values. I bid on about 8 items and won 4 of them, including a used $22 CB77 seat, a NOS CYB72 racing seat, a used, bare, steel CB92 early fuel tank with the screw-on cap and a batch of fenders, which included an early CB77 front fender, and one for perhaps a C200/CM91 in black. With an 18% buyer fee, the whole batch came to $500. The auction site offered shipping from some unnamed third party, so I opted to have Bob pick them up, along with his auction successes and then I had to make a decision about how to A. Transport the auction items back to San Diego or B. Drive 2400 miles out to Denver and pick them up, along with some unknown other bikes and parts from the storage units or C. Fly in and stay with Bob, while we both sifted through the storage units and divvied up any good parts and bikes, then rent a U-Haul truck and drive them back 1200 miles to San Diego again. Option C became the prime option.

If the haul is big, I will have to rent a storage unit of my own to hold them temporarily until they are sorted and determinations made about where they might all go in the future. So, as of 9/29/25, the jury is out as to just what is in the units and what if any of it I might want to purchase out of the collection. Yes, I am faced with a big, expensive adventure ahead of me, hopefully before winter sets in the middle of Colorado.

Next step

Oct. 13^th was the day of the “auction” and it turns out that Bob outbid one other party and wound up owning them both. I had already tried to make a reservation on SW airlines at $169, but the day before it was $199 for a 7am basic flight. When I called their agency, I was told if I waited until after midnight, I could call in and get the 8:45 am flight if seats were open at an extra $28. Going early meant I had to be at the airport at 5:30 am. My brother, Jim, volunteered to take me down to the airport, but he had to leave his house at an hour before the time I needed to leave my house, which put him out at 4am to leave his house. The 8:45 flight gave him more time to get down to me and for us to get to the new airport terminal at 6:30-7am. Fortunately, it all worked out successfully.

My midnight call to SW airlines paid off with a seat at 8:45am, as we hoped. Jim came down by 6:15 and we were down to the airport by about 7am, in plenty of time to get the luggage tagged and checked in to the flight. Unfortunately for a guy with a fused ankle, extended walking is not pleasant and SW airlines located ALL of their terminal gates at the FAR END of the building. I would guess that it was more than a ¼ mile away from the entrance. I dragged my little roller carry-on bag slowly down the concourse until I reached the 102 gate. I sat and waited and waited, I was given a ticket that said C46, which I thought was the seat number. I haven’t flown on SWA before, so I didn’t know that they were still doing open seating. I was one of the last people boarded and was trying to get back to the back of the plane, only to have a few people say that there were no more seats available at the back. So, it turned out that there was a middle seat open in row 6, which I grabbed and settled in for a flight that is about 1 hour and 45 minutes. They served little Graham Crackers and drinks in cups made of bamboo! The flight went smoothly but then I had to walk the length of the terminal again, just to get out to where the luggage carousels were located. The bag got there about the time I did, then I had to find Bob who was just arriving at the airport. We finally met up and he drove me back to his house in his black Chevy pickup.

Bob had already taken a quick look inside the units and his long-held myth about the “new” CB77 with the engine removed for a go-cart was dispelled, when he found a black CB77 less the engine in a chassis that showed 14k miles on the odometer. There was a red CB77 that was intact, but needed a lot of TLC, plus a CB550 race bike, another CB550 street bike and a chopper looking bike. Surrounding the bikes in the middle were dozens of cardboard boxes containing hundreds of NOS Honda parts that the owner had purchased from the first Honda dealership in Co in 1990 and packed away in the storage units, paying rent regularly for 35 years.

Just opening the door, a tattered cardboard box fell to the floor, spilling the contents of obviously brand new genuine Honda parts. It was a mind-boggling experience. I already had a taste of the ancient treasures that came from the estate when a NIB CE71 racing tachometer turned up in the house, before it was sold. That dated to 1959, so confirms that the dealership was the first in Colorado. I saw that Bob had listed it on FB forums, just a few minutes previously to it being posted. It was definitely not cheap, but I had never had a chance to buy even a used one. The tachometer fits into the headlight shell, similar to how the CB92 racing tach fits the headlight shell in place of the speedometer. The tachometer read to a maximum of 18k rpms! Apparently, Honda had brief thoughts of taking the CE71 road racing, but apart from some designated exhaust pipes in a catalog, there were no other “racing” parts offered for a street bike with a probable rev limit of about 8,500 rpms. It is just so BEAUTIFUL that I had to have it. Bob set it on the pile of parts that I already purchased at the previous auction and I was excited to see it in person, when I arrive at his house in Erie, Co shared with his wife, Mary.

We dropped off my bags at the house and headed into the mysterious Honda treasure trove that awaited our inspection. I brought a little air compressor to help air up some bike tires, as the bikes were all in the center of the room, blocking access to the boxes of parts. Once a few bikes were backed out, we could start opening some boxes along the left corner, sorting them into “Bill boxes” and “Bob boxes” that we had brought along. A majority of the parts were in those little slender bin boxes with part numbers marked on the ends. My knowledge of parts and applications for the part numbers helped me sort out the 250-277 code items, which I was interested in purchasing. We worked until dark and then returned home for a rest. The next day was a visit to a favorite breakfast place, not far from the storage units, for a recharging meal before we went to work again. It was a good 6+ hours on the next day of wading through countless parts with product codes from 001 (Honda Cub 50) all the way to some 422 CBX parts, in limited quantities. Each new cardboard box revealed new bins full of both exciting and other parts that didn’t hold much interest, but you could tell that much of it was ordered in the early 1960s for 250-305 twins, CB92s, CB350s, CB450K0-K1 bikes, and a fair amount of 300-code CB750 parts which were all melded together in the seemingly unending supply of surprises.

A third day of long hours of work, yielded more goodies and odd surprises of unusual quantities of some parts that you would never use in a lifetime, like brake pedal return springs for a CA95 Benly… 8 of them. We found NOS CB450K1 carburetors, but not a lot of other carburetors. Very few pistons and ring sets, as well, apart from the awesome CY110 racing piston, which was alone in the bin. There were some 250-305 transmission parts, including gears that never usually wear out and a couple of output shafts. The CL72s were represented with a gathering of model-specific items, but again when would you wear out the rear sprocket bolts in a 250 Scrambler enough to warrant ordering two sets? There was a good selection of 268 code CB72-77 parts, including the front fender that I had purchased earlier. A lot of parts with 250-259 code parts are Dream-based, but used on the other models. I was disappointed to find only ONE of the clutch retainer wires, where they are used in sets of 3 or 4 on various models.

Along with the CB92 bits, there were other generic 200-207 code Benly parts, which fit the CA95 Benly 150 models. Again, there were really no pistons or ring sets for the Benly bikes, as was the case for the 250-305 models. Not a lot of hard parts for CB750s, either. The owner had an interest in the 500-550 Fours, so a lot of those parts came to rise in the boxes of all sizes and shapes. I was pleased to see some new lower fork housings for the Type 2 alloy forks, but they were both for the same side instead of being a pair. There was a lot of single-sided parts for many models. After three days of sifting through the myriad of parts, three large bins of “Bills parts” were transported back to Bob’s house for evaluation of prices and applications for various models.

After we sifted back through the “Bill box” and made a determination of value, they were all sorted into six 12x12” U-Haul boxes and made ready for the return trip to San Diego. Bob arranged a nice dinner meet-up with Roger Burns and his wife, along with Lyle Penner, who is wrangling something over 100 motorcycles in his collection. After dinner, we all parted ways and returned back to Bob’s home for the last night of rest before the send-off on Friday morning.

We had our third breakfast meal at the nice cafe and then headed for the U-haul in Bolder to pick up the 10’x10’ truck. I initially wanted the truck as I was somewhat expecting to buy the two CB77s that were stashed away, but the quantity of parts put a dent in the budget and I had other projects in the works at home. My attempts to just rent a car/van from Avis and Budget were foiled as they claimed that they had no cars to rent out on a one-way rental back to CA. After I confirmed the U-haul truck, I received a text message from U-haul asking if I wanted to be part of their load-sharing program. In this case I would have to drive to Aurora, CO and pickup a small trailer and storage unit box for a return to CA. One of the three CA return options was National City, CA about 8 miles from home. The reward for hauling the trailer was $500! I opted in and picked up the trailer in Aurora, then headed west on the I-70 looking for the I-15 South to San Diego.

I left Aurora at 9:30am my CA time and just put my foot down and drove, drove, drove all the way out of Colorado, then across Utah and a corner of AZ before diving into Nevada, passing through Las Vegas at 2am. I had cat-napped once in St. George, UT for a half hour but was running low on energy about half way between Baker and Barstow, CA. I pulled into a Truck rest stop and planned on another power nap for a half hour or so, but it turned into a couple of hours, as I woke up a 5am! From there, WAZE had me arriving in National City at 8:30. Cal-Trans had other ideas, as the ramp from the 215 to 60 to 215 was closed with no alternate route offered. I pulled off the freeway and reset the GPS to Corona, where the I-15 was accessible after a lateral move across the 91. Once on the I-15 again, the drive was mostly uneventful, but WAZE was trying to take me off route to the National City exit in ways that were not helpful. I knew exactly where I was headed and arrived in time to drop off the trailer at 9:30am… 24 hours of driving a bouncy, noisy U-haul trailer covering just under 1200 miles.

I came home, unloaded the truck and took a shower and a rest. My neighbor Smitty, followed me down to the local U-haul depot to drop off the truck and bring me home, once again. I finally got a good night’s sleep on Saturday night, but then woke up with a sore throat and stuffy nose. It got progressively worse and I finally went to the VA ER for evaluation and treatment. The diagnosis was Bronchitis, which I have never had before. Causes could have been from the airplane trip, the lack of sleep coupled with 3 days of sifting through dusty bin boxes that sat in storage for some 35 years or some combination of the three. I was tested for Covid, flu and RSV, but none of those swabs showed positive results. The VA sent me home with 4 different meds and my recovery continues.

I was able to post some of the interesting parts on Facebook Forums and sold 5 items quickly. It looks like I will be spending a lot of time photographing and listing NOS Honda parts for sale for the next few weeks. It was a crazy, wild and expensive week from San Diego to Denver to Aurora and back home again. Thanks to Bob Kelly and his wife for their hospitality and the adventure of a lifetime, especially now. These opportunities are few and far between in the 21^st century.

Bill Silver aka MrHonda

10/2025

www.vintagehonda.com

Mystery parts for the mysterious CE71

 For those of you who have never even heard of the 1959 250cc Honda CE71, I’ll give you a quick overview here.

Before there was a CB72-CB77 Hawk/Super Hawk, Honda was still making dry-sump Dream models and attempting to make them competitive in competition. Honda was just making its move into the US market starting June 4, 1959. Their first shipments included Honda C100 Cubs, a 1959 CA92, CB92 some 250-305 Dreams and then they tossed in the 1959 CE71 Dream Sport, just for the US market.

                                                                       AHMC Factory photo

Honda parts books show only 390 model serial numbers, although a few odd ones have popped up in Australia with higher numbers. Honda had been building bikes to race in Asama cinder tracks and other events in Japan, so racing was already in their long-range plans for world domination.

When the CE71 showed up, it appeared to be a grown-up version of the CB92 in overall styling. It featured the same arrowhead shaped fuel tank, big 18” wheels with magnesium brakes, an improved 250cc engine with a larger 24mm carburetor and dual points and coils despite the fact that it was still a 360 degree firing crankshaft design. The engine ignition had a bolt-on spark advancer on the end of the camshaft, which was unfortunately replaced by the integrated camsprocket/spark advancer unit on the later wet-sump models. Looking at the NPS parts listings, there were numerous parts replacements for the mufflers, fuel tank and other bits, which seems odd for such a low-production machine.

Honda did produce a small handful of CR71 factory race bikes, fit for both road racing and off-road competition. Those models had gear-driven camshafts twin port heads and amazingly high redlines given the 1957 basic design architecture. Soichiro Honda had been to Europe and attended races where exotic Italian and German hi-rev machinery was already in use. He actually bought a bike and disassembled it, bringing it back as luggage so he could study the design features. The desire was stated that he would have Honda motorcycles competing in the IOM races as soon as they could be designed and produced. The competitive urge ran through his veins and he was driven to make things happen to put HONDA on the world map of racing events.

Backing up to the CE71 model, Honda offered a few “racing parts” for the new model, including a racing tachometer with a crazy 18k rpm range, and some racing high pipes. This distinctive tachometer has been seen and collected by a handful of my friends over the years. The seldom ever come to market and if/when they do the asking prices rival the original price of the whole CE71 bike.

I have an extensive list of early Honda part numbers in a NPS conversion file that had some 400 pages and covers all the bikes up to the CB450K0 Bombers. Looking up the 257 codes for the CE71, a number of which were used on the first CA77 Dreams, I was unable to find any reference to the -810 style Y racing part numbers. The list only showed the part numbers for the standard street bike. Digging back into my archives I had a memory of a reference to the Y71 part numbers for the tachometer. In the 1961 AHMC special parts catalog, there is a reference to a set of split high pipes for the model, plus it shows a completely different R71 (as in CR71) round racing tach, with a 20k rpm face that was designed to work on the CE71. So far, the NPS part number for the known examples of the 18k tachometer that fits in place of the speedometer has eluded me.

I can’t remember if there was a Honda ad reference to the bike racing at Daytona, but I do recall either talking to someone who raced the CE71 there or perhaps a third hand story, but I am pretty sure that the CE71 did race there once. A stock CA77 Dream has a top speed of something in the 80 mph range, so a CE71 probably didn’t go much faster than 90 mph. Still for a 250cc street bike, back in 1959, it was probably relatively competitive at the time.

The Genesis of this story is that I FINALLY was able to buy a pricey, but perfectly new CE71 tachometer from a collector in Colorado. There is a whole story about this man and the treasures that he has been able to acquire recently. Watch for the full story coming soon.

In the meantime, here is the fantastic 18k CE71 racing tachometer in all of its glory.

Bill Silver

aka MrHonda

www.vintagehonda.com