Honda CL77 street/tracker

Here are some shots of my brother's Honda CL77 (305) Sonicweld replica he built about 8-10 years ago.




Here's the article http://www.honda305.com/racing/index.htm under the Vintage Racers Flat Track CL77 subject.

It has a Bultaco Pursang front fork with shortened travel and a Bultaco conical hub front brake laced to a 19" Sherpa S (Akront) rim (he didn't know, I did, it was my rim). He and some friends built the hardtail. He modeled it with PVC tubing to get the proper bends, then sent the PVC tubes to be replicated in steel. They set up the frame in a jig one friend used to build his H2 triple drag racer frame.

The tank is CL175, rear rim is Yamaha XS650 ridged alloy, the seat is some chopper accessory as is the headlight, handlebars are K&N model 13 (from my SR500, I like model 24 bars better), and a fender I got from Domiracer years earlier.

Riding it reminds you of just how nice a swingarm frame really is, regardless of the quality of the shocks.

very vintage with the rigid frame-clean ...nice job! joe @vcycle

Dude, great looking motorcycle! I just can't get enough of these things!

joea said:

very vintage with the rigid frame-clean ...nice job! joe @vcycle

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He saw a picture several years back when Cycle World did some sort of article. It showed a rider with his Sonicweld framed Honda 250 circa 1967 or so. Kevin liked the look so he got ahold of a somewhat junk 305 scrambler frame, a Dream engine, and played in the garage over about a year, piecing it together... kind of like my SR, but compared to the SR that would be like an accelerated build and some others would be like instantaneous... twelve years... I gotta keep on working to keep from stopping. Doing upholstery layout/cut out today, after doing pattern work two days ago.

That's a beaut man!

I'd also like to see that H2 drag bike if you have pics-maybe post up in the lounging section 'til we have a drag bike section

Kev Nemo said:

That's a beaut man!

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Would you believe it - under $1000 in it.

I don't know if there are any pictures scanned of the triple, that was about 20 years ago.

are those the original pipes? I LOVE their look; they don't get all wavy lays potato chips like the original 350 pipes.

emcarthu said:

are those the original pipes? I LOVE their look; they don't get all wavy lays potato chips like the original 350 pipes.

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They are stock Honda CL77 305 scrambler pipes with the muffler removed, pipes painted black, and some baffles inserted.

I love it. Such a nice change from the resto look.

She's such a cutie!

What a clean little Honda, rigid frames look so much better than a swingarm. Seat is a bit high, with a lower center of gravity that bike would have been one handling son of a bitch.

You shouldn't have shown that, since I'm going to run speedway bars anyway, my poor CL may just end up a rigid tracker instead of a swingarm tracker/cafe hybrid as originally intended... Too far gone to restore, might as well have fun with it.

Scruffy said:

What a clean little Honda, rigid frames look so much better than a swingarm. Seat is a bit high, with a lower center of gravity that bike would have been one handling son of a bitch.

You shouldn't have shown that, since I'm going to run speedway bars anyway, my poor CL may just end up a rigid tracker instead of a swingarm tracker/cafe hybrid as originally intended... Too far gone to restore, might as well have fun with it.

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The key point on the seat position is that it is a flat tracker. Any lower and it wouldn't work, legs would be too folded up. The seating is virtually perfect for what it is. You'll find most hardtail flattrackers are very similar. Some have the upper tubes arced a bit, which makes the seat closer to the tubes, but not lower. Number plates usually cover the gap up. If it was a bobber where the pegs could be moved forward and ride position didn't matter, the seat could be lowered. Those are some of the differences I've mentioned before between bobbers, brats, and street/trackers. If he built the engine a bit, he could actually probably competitively race it in the vintage hard tail classes.

It actually does handle pretty good considering that it's a hardtail. I will tell you, no matter what anyone says, there's no substitute for suspension. One reason my SR isn't a hardtail. Both my brother with his street/tracker and my buddy with his XS650 hardtail bobber wil vouch for the benefits of shocks. The hardtails look cool and all, but no way around it, they'd be better rides with swingarms.

As for restoring, don't be at all disappointed, it's a bitsa bike - made up of a number of donors which were also beyond being worth restoring. A crusty scrambler frame and a Dream engine with a lot of missing parts in both cases. He collected parts all over the place, including some NOS parts from the dealership where I worked part time. You'd be surprised what hard parts can be had for old Honda engines. They're mainly engine parts, body parts are non-existent from Honda usually, but it never hurts to check for some parts. He used a 305 Scrambler/Hawk head for the twin carbs.

The front fork assembly was from a 1976 Bultaco Pursang 250 frame I parted out, with the small conical drum brake and all. The front rim is a 19" ridged Akront alloy 36 hole rim from a late 60s Bultaco Sherpa S, the rear rim an 18" ridged DID alloy 40 hole rim from an early XS650. He had the spokes done and the wheels built by Buchanon Wheels. He could have built them, we both have done a few hundred bicycle wheels and some motorcycle wheels, but Buchanons price made it a reasonable thing to do and made it so they were absolutely sure the spokes were right. The tank came from a CL175 year unkinown.

The wild part was that he borrowed a drag racing frame jig to set up the chassis. He set it up with the swing arm on it, then took all the stuff off the back and cut off the frame behind the backbone tube. He got 1" PVC tubing, cut it, heated it, and fitted it to know how the tubes needed to be. He took them to a tubing fabrication shop and had them cut and bend the steel tubes to match. Then everything TIGed up without any problems. Slick trick. I think he made the axle plates from wood to cut the pattern and how they would be cut out. It was a few years project just because he built in spurts, but it actually was fairly easy to construct.

Unfortunately the carbs and electrics weren't... They were the toughest part of the project when it comes down to it.

Mine is a junkyard dog hodge podge...

CL72 frame, swingarm, headlight, gas tank, front suspension and engine. CB72 pipes. Unknown wheels and brakes. Unknown make dirt bike bars. No fenders, one side panel. Progressive shocks. Grand touring "zeppelin" grips. No airbox.

I've got a seat that will fit it perfectly. But the only tailpiece that would look right would be a scaled down HD XR750 miler. I'm putting my tls Suzuki front wheel on it so I have tls on both wheels (stock was tls front sls rear).

It is very tempting to chop up my Rickman frame and use it as donor metal. BUT I was just given an 80% complete XS400 (bad frame) and I'd rather mod the frame and stuff in the 400 twin engine, wheels, forks, etc...

I was given the Rickman frame and tank, a couple Benelli 125s and some other period junk to make an AHRMA track bike out of. Ain't gonna happen, bad back and one already rebuilt shoulder won't take another high speed wipe out.

I figure between the three sets of bits I'll get at least two street/fire road/ logging road have fun with them bikes. For peanuts. If the neighbor's niece is serious about learning to ride and race when she's 16 and can get her license, well, she'll have her pick of the toys. Gives me 3 years to get them tech legal....

As much as I love riding rigids, the Rickman and Honda chassis are staying swingarm. That's what the 57 Panhead is for.

I'd ebay the rickman frame before cutting it up. It's likely someone out there would see decent value in it. Besides, it's chrome moly, 531 Reynolds I believe. It would definintely require either MIG or TIG welding to avoid making brittle spots in the frame.

Regardless, sounds like an enjoyable project. Like I said, I think it took my brother about two or three years to do his.

Definitely not in a hurry. I have other ones I can ride while the other two are being built up. Gives me time to do them up right instead of a full on thrash to get something running.

The Rickman chassis is ROUGH. Ducati John, a friend who vintage races a 350 Ducati single, let it get kinda rusty before he gave it to me. Tank is in decent shape, rear Girling shocks are okay, frame needs to be replated. I need to take some pics and post them up. Right now it is hanging in the rafters to keep it dry and out of the way. It is available for a race only bike if someone here wanted it badly enough. No papers, was originally spec'd for a Zundapp 125 2 stroke. I'd take a fifth of hundred year old single malt for it...