New guy here

56_oval · Post by **56_oval** » Tue Nov 16, 2010 11:22 pm

Hey guys, I've been into small displacement bikes for awhile with the vespa's and such, and though they're fun, I thought I'd move up to a slightly larger bike. But with my need to ride something rare, I had to find something different, so I purchased a cb77. I love the lines of these bikes.
With that said, can anyone tell me any helpful hints about these bikes? I was never a real fan of the hondas until I saw a 60's superhawk at one of the local bike meets. I looked everywhere for one, and finally found a decent one a few hundred miles away. I expect to receive it early next week sometime.

My questions are what year is it; what seems to be missing; where can I find parts; and what do you guys think of the bike overall?

And where can I find clip-ons and mufflers like these?

cyclon36 · Post by **cyclon36** » Tue Nov 16, 2010 11:40 pm

Welcome to the forum.

Looks like you have a fixer upper on your hands. Overall, good shape though. The seat is incorrect as well as the gear change lever, rear light, exhaust, perhaps a few other bits, but that's just a quick glance. The good news is that it's a great start for a build up. Ebay will be your friend in the next few months though. :-)

I'd start by getting the two books that are sold on this site in the marketplace. They're the Bill Silver's repair and restoration manuals. They will walk your through the restoration process and let you know what goes where. They'll also give you an idea of what you're missing.

If you're interested in a restoration, keep your eyes peeled for an uncut front fender as they can be difficult to come across. Kick stands are also in short supply as they break often. Expect to pay over $100 for each of those items. Those are your big ticket things. Everything else is a few bucks here and there.

I'm sure others will have useful info as well. When you do fix it up, be sure to post on here. We all love seeing the bikes come back to life and we're all here to help you as well.

56_oval · Post by **56_oval** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 12:03 am

I've found a few of those parts on ebay already. I also found an original racing factory seat that's been sitting in a field for 20 years. I picked it up for under $100, but it's gonna need to be reupholstered. I don't know why I didn't start out with these bikes in the first place!! If the Vespa crew heard me say that, I'm sure I'll be shunned!

rustywrench · Post by **rustywrench** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 12:23 am

I do have a couple bits of advice for you.
First of all, be prepaired to have this turn into an addiction. Believe me, it happens. There is no better feeling than hearing one of these bikes run again after so many years. Assuming this one has sat idle for a few. Then there is the ride. That's another story in itself.
To get there, the books and manuals are a must and then learn to use the search funtion and read, read, read. There is so much info at your fingertips here and you are more than welcome to it. Then when you find that you don't understand,ask and you shall recieve.
If money permitts, I like to go the parts bike route. You can not believe how much usefull stuff can come from a junker. Then you will turn out like some of us with a garage full of stuff and more on the way. Like I said, it gets addicting. Enjoy the journey,,,,,,,,,,,,, Rusty

cyclon36 · Post by **cyclon36** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 8:30 am

56_oval wrote:I've found a few of those parts on ebay already. I also found an original racing factory seat that's been sitting in a field for 20 years. I picked it up for under $100, but it's gonna need to be reupholstered. I don't know why I didn't start out with these bikes in the first place!! If the Vespa crew heard me say that, I'm sure I'll be shunned!

That seat is probably only worth about $10. I'll give you $20 for it :-)

Seriously though, that was an awesome find. If you ever plan on selling it or trading it for parts, let me know.

Like Rustywrench said, parts bikes are a good way to go. Especially during this time of year you can pick them up cheap. Most have all the parts and are just not running. I've already went through two this year and I only bought my CB77 in May I think.

Gun · Post by **Gun** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 12:11 pm

I'm a younger feller by this boards standards; 27 years old and all of the lack of wisdom that comes with it. I picked up a few things in my 2-3 years on this board that may be useful in helping you avoid the mistakes I made (and make).

1. buy bill silvers books FIRST THING
2. if you can't understand what bills books says, use the forum search function
3. If you can't find the solution through search or dont understand it, ask the forum.
4. whatever LOUDMOUSE says is correct
5. any task that you can do yourself instead of sending out to a shop, DO YOURSELF. the rewards and knowledge are so exciting.

that's about all I've picked up at this point. :P
that which follows is my questionable opinion:

Regarding your rebuild. I am not a purist who thinks these bikes should be 100% stock in 100% of cases... however, Honda had a pretty solid idea of what they were doing in my opinion and these bikes are most beautiful within that REALM of stock-ness. If you're not going to go for a reasonably stock looking bike, and are going the cafe route, by all means GO THE CAFE ROUTE. in my mind this wouldn't mean clubman bars and a cafe seat and call it good. I would research all I could about cafe racing and the spirit of what created these cafe bikes, and then i would ask DAVOMOTO on this forum for even more input. TEAZER (sp?) on this forum also knows a good chunk of racing these bikes I think.

I think you should save the cafe project until you're more familiar with these bikes and motorcycles in general. The further you move away from stock design and engineering, the further you move away from reliability, which can create more maintenance and repairs than riding and working on CHOSEN projects, which can drain gumption and motivation rather quickly.
whatever you choose, glad you chose the CB77.
Best of luck to you!!!

davomoto · Post by **davomoto** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 12:33 pm

Measure the upper fork tubes with a vernier caliper after the headlight mounts are removed. You can then go on ebay, and purchase clip-ons in the correct size for your forks. The top clamp will still have the handlebar holders sticking up. You can try to find an old CYB top clamp, spendy, cut the mounts and re-weld the holes in a stock unit, time consuming, scour Ebay and or post in the parts wanted section for an already done top clamp, or make up your own solutuion. As for mufflers, there are many to choose from. JC Whitnet has some, and there are lots on Ebay, search megaphone. I have some straight through bare megs that would need to be finshed to fit on header pipes and rear mount made. I'll let them go for $50 plus shipping, PM me if intersted.

Davo