Hello everybody! What an awesome site this is...I can't believe the amount of knowledge and general information plus everybody willing to help.
My name is Jeremy, I am 34, and just acquired my first honda, and first bike in many years. It is a 66 Superhawk (sort of but I'll get to that) Initially I was going to ask you all for some clarification and then to talk me out of this project. But after tearing into the bike and reading Steve's post below, I'm just enjoying it too much.
I bought the bike from a neighbor and friend, essentially he gave it to me. My friend bought it in 1969 or 70 and rode it until 76 when he stored it. The bike was free, I trust the guy, and the engine hums after 30 years..but there are some issues. I knew it was a honda, but it had some crap on it from unkown bike (fuel tank, seat, tailight, "engineered" headlight can) The frame is CB77, the engine serial number is long gone (undoubtedly some nefarious activity from two owners ago). I think the engine lower is a CB72, at least the magneto says so, but I really can't tell at this point. I have my doubt about the upper motor as it doesn't have a place for the engine hanger bolt closest to the rear of the bike, but all of the other mounts line up. I don't think the front end is CB at all. The yoke has an additional brace between the forks, with a small hole in the center(just right for cables and wiring possibly) and no lock or adjustment handle.
Anyway, I have started tearing it apart, taking pictures, labeling and bagging everything and making a parts list. As of now Ive only invested some time, which was well enjoyed. Before I go much further I was hoping to get some help identifying everything and assessing how much custom work I need to do. Any help or advice is appreciated. Glad to be here.
66 CB Strange ProjectWelcome...I'd be interested in seeing some pics of the fork brace you mentioned, as I have been thinking about adding one to my project bike.
As for the "CB72" on the rotor, that's normal for a CB77. The two models shared rotors, but there were two different versions, one supposedly more powerful than the other. There is an "L" stamped on one of these (I forget which) but someone should be able to give you more insight on this. pics of motor and stering bracewas a bit dirty--still trying to identify the motor and front end
Welcome to The Forum, Jeremy, and good of you to offer a full intro.
All CB rotors were stamped 'CB72' or 'CB72L' (lower magnetic output). The motor's cc is stamped in the lower-front of the cyl fins. That front end and cyl head breather/top-plate looks pretty well stock as far as I can tell from the pics. The brackets attached to the upper mounting bolt seem to be crash-bars. The chrome fender was stock during the '67 production run, but not with those fork legs that you have (yours appear to be type-I; type-II had alloy lower legs and 'caps' clamping the axle). Your fender has an odd-looking mounting brace where it attaches to the fork legs, so I'd say it seems to be from another bike! It looks as though the top yoke (triple-tree top bridge) had been modified, probably to facilitate the cables' path after the 'engineered' headlamp was fitted. The handlebar isn't correct for a CB; could be from a CA (touring), with those centred splines(?). We'd be interested in a better pic of the 'brace' that you describe. I can see the boss, for the steering lock, poking forward on the bottom yoke. The damper (adjustment handle) ass'ys are aplenty on eBay. Let's have your frame nr; we can get close to the year of manufacture. Shame the engine nr is missing.
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