CL77 Speedometer Question

[gbyoung2]

The rubber mount needs to be bonded the the case of the speedometer, any half decent adhesive should do the job.

That'll work.

Thank you very much.

[gbyoung2]

While on the topic, there is one item I’d like to see about getting corrected – it is a stain on the speedo face. It works, but the stain on the face kind of detracts from its overall appearance. It’s almost like one of the previous owners (I am the third) had it removed and allowed it to sit face down in a warm environment, and some of the internal lubricant dripped down and bled around one of the screws (or wicked up) and onto the face plate.

A noted repair facility here in the States said that he has seen many older bike gages with similar issues, and trying to clean up the face can only cause additional “damage” by making the matte finish shiny where the stain was removed.



Is there a suitable fix??

[G-Man]

The face looks pretty tired regardless of the stain. Best to pull it apart and find a better face or get an overlay for that one.

G

[Tim Allman]

The face looks pretty tired regardless of the stain. Best to pull it apart and find a better face or get an overlay for that one.

G

Let me share another perspective on this.

Opening up these instruments is by its nature destructive. I have successfully repaired several CB77 speedo/tach units but it requires careful prying open the swage and then careful bending it back into place. I have never reopened one of these instruments but given the stress and strain it causes on the chrome band I suspect that two repairs is the maximum that can be done without leaving obvious damage.

If I were preparing a bike for show I would follow Graham's advice simply because nothing but the best is good enough. However, if you are rehabilitating the bike, i.e. not restoring it or showing it competetively, I don't see a problem with signs of age such as this. The bike is, after all, 50 years old and there's no reason it cannot show some signs of this. After all, its mere existence as a usable machine is a significant victory.

So, if the instrument is working and is in reasonable shape I would leave the opening and repair for later, perhaps the next owner, when it might be necessary simply because the number of times it can be repaired is so limited.

[DJM]

A couple of years ago I bought a speedo 'overlay' for my CB77.

The colours were a very definite black and white instead of the 'slate grey and cream' of the original dial.

In the end i didn't use it as I thought the colour mismatch was more obvious than the not perfect original.

Go with what you have sounds good to me, especially if the speedo still works well, just part of the old bike's natural charm.

I still have the CB72/77 tacho/speedo overlay if anyone wants to make on offer for it!

[G-Man]

I'm with the leave it alone if it's working camp. I was just offering ideas on how to make it look better. :-)

As for the bezel. The CB72/77 bezels are brass and can be annealed once stripped for re-chroming. I am making a press tool to repair damaged ones and once they are annealed and straigtened out I will get them re-plated.

A lot of damaged stuff gets thrown in the scrap and I like to save it if possible.

Here are some CB72/77 Bezels stripped.



And here is a tool set that I made for another Honda bezel



My new tool will be able to press out this kind of damage.



G