New member - need help with serial number

Kickstart · Post by **Kickstart** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 9:49 pm

Hi there,

I'm a recent CL77 owner, as well as a recent CB160 owner - both in need of a lot of work, but I got them for a good price (I think).

I have a fair amount of experience with the SOHC4 CB750 bikes (I'm a member over on SOHC4.net) but I don't know much about the older Honda bikes.

I purchased a few Bill Silver books to start boning up on these bikes... after reading the section on serial numbers I ran out and double checked mine, but what I found doesn't seem to make sense:

Frame serial number: CB77 1031519
Engine serial number: CL77E-1031056

Why does the frame serial number start with "CB" instead of "CL" - is this normal?
The frame has the front downtube and skid plate, and it doesn't look like someone welded one on there (or if they did, they did a really nice job).

Thanks,
Chris

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 1:59 am

Chris

Sounds like someone at Honda in the '60s was asleep on the job. Post some pictures and then we can help you judge what you have.

G

Kickstart · Post by **Kickstart** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 9:29 pm

Thanks G-Man.

Ok... I took a bunch of pictures.

Here's what I was told when I bought it: The guy he bought it from hasn't ridden it since the mid 70's. At some point back in the early 70's the previous owner dropped the bike an messed up the tank. He had the tank "fixed", decided to paint everything gold, and "upgrade" the instruments to Cl350 gauges and a more modern headlight bucket. He didn't say if the forks were replaced, but it looks like the fork ears are not from a CL77.

The frame is rusty where the serial numbers are, which looks suspicious but it doesn't appear any grinding or welding was done. The frame looks like a normal CL77 - except for the serial number.

Wiring harness shows "1965", which seems to match up with my serial numbers... However the title is dated 1967.

Any help identifying what year, and what parts are correct is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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ahenthus · Post by **ahenthus** » Wed Apr 23, 2014 10:58 pm

Someone at the factory must've screwed up when stamping the frame. The engine number is about 450 apart from the frame number numerically. That's a pretty wide difference but probably not unheard of. I'm not really very well versed on CBs but I do know they don't have a front downtube.

Kickstart · Post by **Kickstart** » Thu Apr 24, 2014 7:36 pm

The whole situation is strange.

Titled 67, wiring harness says 65, slip-on muffler was only 66 (I think).

Also, a PO put the more modern speedo and tach on the bike, but there's no way to hook up the tach with the CL engine (at least not that I'm aware of).

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Thu Apr 24, 2014 8:19 pm

Headlamp and fork ears are also off another bike....

G

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Thu Apr 24, 2014 8:19 pm

Headlamp and fork ears are also off another bike....

G