66 CB77 Cafe Racer "Red Molly"

B

byrdman76

Been Around the Block
Picked up a craigslist special basket case and have decided to go the cafe route due to its condition and lack of original parts that came on the bike.

The motor turned over, but the guy never had it running since he purchased it back in '77.

I stripped the bike down straight from the get go and bagged and tagged everything.

1966_cb77011.jpg


I stripped the frame and all of the painted parts down to the bare metal and went back with self etching primer so far. The bike will have a red frame and silver body work much like the Lossa Engineering bike - In fact it will pretty much be a direct ripp-off ;D What can I say, ever since I purchased this bike and started looking on the internet for ideas I kept coming back to that bike...

cb_77011.jpg


I tore the motor down and glass bead blasted everything. The outer case covers will be polished. I was quite surprised to find the motor has been partially rebuilt with high compression pistons that have never been fired... I say partially since the head needed to have the valves cleaned and lapped and the transmission has a worn second gear and a bushing that needed to be replaced. currently I'm waiting on some parts in order to button the motor back up.

cb_77006.jpg
 
Here's a link to some other photos of the bike and progress.

http://s170.photobucket.com/albums/u245/byrdman76/?start=0
 
I love that style of Honda!
It has the old style of the stamped steel framed bikes without all those hideous steel stampings!

I like your tastes and style in the way you build your bikes. That wire wheeled Suzuki GS550 is AWESOME and one of my favorites to look at every since you put it on the net.
 
I'm so jealous, I would love one of those. And the bike you are going to copy is hot so I say rip it off for sure... ;D
 
"Red Molly"? As in, "...red hair and black leather, my favorite color scheme...". right?

Regardless, GREAT name for it...

I knew your screenname was familiar, but I couldn't place it until I saw the photos of your awesome GS550, and then I remembered drooling while seeing it on thegsresources.com. Can't wait to see your results with the CB77; nothing wrong with drawing inspiration from the Lossa bike, that guy's work is incredible...

Keep the pictures coming; I learn a LOT from seeing your work. Now, if I only had the skills, tools, and motivation, this could be a fun summer...
 
Thanks for all the comments and support guys! ;D and for all of the props for the Suzuki too!

With the suzuki pretty much done I stumbled across the cb77. As soon as i saw it i thought toaster tank honda you gotta love it.

Ding Ding we have a winner! I was wondering if anyone would catch on to the name.

Kneedragger the bike is named after the "1952 vincent black lightning" song - Del Mccoury version since i reside here in North Carolina bluegrass country.
 
I confess, I've only heard Richard Thompson do "VBL 1952", and might be somewhat biased against any cover versions... though I think I'll try to track down the Del McCoury version, if only because I like bluegrass so much. If it's bluegrass, it CAN'T be bad...

Hope everyone is enjoying the Fourth; now almost midnight on the East Coast, and 9 PM here on the Left Coast...

Keep the photos coming; I really enjoyed seeing the various stages of the GS550 build, and I'm looking forward to watching you resurrect the CB77...

-- kd
 
hotfunk67 said:
this ones for sale on fleabay uk at the moment
Click to expand...

Man that is one sweet bike! I love the high pipes on each side. I might try to see if I can come up with something like that - keep the photos and ideas coming guys ;D

I thought I was going to have to powder coat the rims, and I will probably replace the stockers at some point, but some fine steel wool and chrome polish and I think i'm going to try and use these for the time being. I would rather wait for some nice ally rims to come along than blowing money on powder coat.

cb_77027.jpg


I also drilled the front hub

cb_77029.jpg
 
What method/tools did you use to hole the hub? I know theres different ways to do the same thing,drill,mill,hole saw etc.

My tire/wheel is mounted to the hub(CB350 twin) so it may be hard to do it on a drill press. Did you use a template or just measure/line?

My bike is going to be a track bike only,so I'm not worried about dirt/junk getting in there as much. I still may epoxy/mount screens it though.
 
WOW! Man, you REALLY drilled that thing! Any chance you'd care to explain the process to the unwashed (like me)? Did you use a drill press, or something similar?

Just an FYI, you might want to track down some XT500 / 550 and XS650 wheels; IIRC, they used alloy rims, not steel, and should be almost a straight bolt-on proposition; except for maybe fabbing a few spacers, though even that might not be needed. About fifteen years ago, I saw an incredible SR500 (in the Rockies) that had an XS650 wheel (drum brake) up front, and an XT500 wheel in back; according to the owner, the XT500 back wheel bolted right in, though the front XS650 wheel MIGHT have required a longer spacer (can't remember all the details)... Still, can't ask for much easier than that; those XT / XS rims were ugly when he got them, but they polished up to a nice satin finish after wet-sanding with aluminum oxide sandpaper and WD-40. I really was STUNNED at the improvement; I got to see some BEFORE photos, and I compared them to the finished products. Of course, the wire wheels were MUCH lighter than those heavy-ass stock (aluminum alloy) SR mag wheels...

Of course, there are other alloy wheels that would probably work just as well, but if the XT / XS wheels meet your needs...

-- kd
 
coolatula said:
What method/tools did you use to hole the hub? I know theres different ways to do the same thing,drill,mill,hole saw etc.

My tire/wheel is mounted to the hub(CB350 twin) so it may be hard to do it on a drill press. Did you use a template or just measure/line?

My bike is going to be a track bike only,so I'm not worried about dirt/junk getting in there as much. I still may epoxy/mount screens it though.
Click to expand...

I marked the inside of the hub to center the hole saw drilling point. Once the hole saw center bit broke through hub, I flipped the wheel over and drilled the hub with the hole saw. I finished it up with cartridge rollers. Everything was done with the Milwaukee.

Just make sure you begin from the back side so that you do not interfere with the splines in the hub.

Good luck
 
kneedragger said:
WOW! Man, you REALLY drilled that thing! Any chance you'd care to explain the process to the unwashed (like me)? Did you use a drill press, or something similar?

Just an FYI, you might want to track down some XT500 / 550 and XS650 wheels; IIRC, they used alloy rims, not steel, and should be almost a straight bolt-on proposition; except for maybe fabbing a few spacers, though even that might not be needed. About fifteen years ago, I saw an incredible SR500 (in the Rockies) that had an XS650 wheel (drum brake) up front, and an XT500 wheel in back; according to the owner, the XT500 back wheel bolted right in, though the front XS650 wheel MIGHT have required a longer spacer (can't remember all the details)... Still, can't ask for much easier than that; those XT / XS rims were ugly when he got them, but they polished up to a nice satin finish after wet-sanding with aluminum oxide sandpaper and WD-40. I really was STUNNED at the improvement; I got to see some BEFORE photos, and I compared them to the finished products. Of course, the wire wheels were MUCH lighter than those heavy-ass stock (aluminum alloy) SR mag wheels...

Of course, there are other alloy wheels that would probably work just as well, but if the XT / XS wheels meet your needs...

-- kd
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up KD - I'll check into it man. Hopefully you got the picture of how I drilled the hub my previous post. If not just let me know if you have any other questions.
 
I THINK I'm up to speed on how you drilled those wheels now, byrdman; thanks for explaining it. I don't know JACK SQUAT (as Chris Farley / "Matt Foley" used to say) about machining anything, but I've loved motorcycles since I was a kid, and I try to learn more constantly. I'd like to work as an apprentice with some of the talented people who post here, or someone in my area, but we all know the odds of that happening...

For now, I'll just try to pick the brains of those who know more than I do, and hope I can absorb some knowledge that way...

I do hope you find some alloy wheels; XS / XT wheels did wonders for the SR500 I mentioned, and I'm sure they'd look just as nice on your terrific little CB77... keep us posted on your progress, OK?

EDIT: Well, this is what sleep deprivation will do for you; I just modified this thread because it has been pointed out to me that I referred to byrdman's Honda as a Yamaha... don't know HOW that happened, but I finally got a few hours of sleep, and even though I'm still very tired, I think I've now had enough sleep to keep from making that mistake again... We now resume our regular programming...
 
I need to get the seat and tail section completed and the exhaust will be pretty different from whats on the bike now. My biggest challenge now will be trying to salvage the original rims for now - both have a pretty good flat spot on each. I would love to find a set of aluminum rims at some point but for now the budget will only allow cleaning up the stockers - if i can straighten them out :-\.

Still allot of work to do, but I would really like to have it completed for my trip to Barber for the vintage days event in October - we'll see.

cb77005.jpg


cb77013.jpg


cb77007.jpg


cb77020.jpg
 
Looking great!
Dig the color as well and thanks for the drum/hole method you used.
I'm either going to do the same on my CB350 hub on my Hodaka Ace or do Grimeca,Fontana "triangle style" openings and run a external screen over them to keep large crap out of the housing.
http://www.motocicliveloci.it/inglese/catalogue/frenitamburo_uk.htm

It's a Track Day only bike and I'll check/inspect the bike(including brake/hub condition) before each session.
It will also get tore down every few track days and looked over anyways just to make sure everything is as it should be.
 
very cool to see another one of these being done up.

can you show some more views of the clubman from the top and back. i am torn on whether or not to put one on my bike. my buddy has one coming in for his bike that i am dieing to put on the tree to see if i like the look/feel. we shall see. i did up my seat, did you check that out?
 
coolatula said:
Looking great!
Dig the color as well and thanks for the drum/hole method you used.
I'm either going to do the same on my CB350 hub on my Hodaka Ace or do Grimeca,Fontana "triangle style" openings and run a external screen over them to keep large crap out of the housing.
http://www.motocicliveloci.it/inglese/catalogue/frenitamburo_uk.htm

It's a Track Day only bike and I'll check/inspect the bike(including brake/hub condition) before each session.
It will also get tore down every few track days and looked over anyways just to make sure everything is as it should be.
Click to expand...

Man those hubs are sick! :eek: I'm debating running screens or running them open. If I start to get a bunch of crap in them I'll probably come back and put some black screens on the inside of the hub.
 
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