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 There are dozens of 1961-unique features that were changed and superseded to a more improved design from 1962 onward.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
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