Found! A brand new CB77!
Some guys have all the luck. The vintage bike market has some crazy moments, especially in the last few months. An "original" 1965 CB77 recently sold on an E-Bay auction for $19,100 to an unidentified European buyer. I thought it might have been my friend Mike, in Holland, who is amassing his own version of the Honda Museum in his warehouses and loves to find "new" or mint condition vintage Honda motorcycles. When I contacted him about the bike, he knew nothing about it. BUT, he had something to share with me, instead.
See photos of a brand new, never-serviced, 1966 (CB77-1037464) 305cc Super Hawk, which he has just acquired from a US seller. The accompanying MSO document shows that the bike was "transferred" to its new owner in 1971, having supposedly sat in American Honda's building, on display since it had been uncrated.
We don't have a lot more information, at this time, about the bike's long-term storage with the last owner. However, it appears to have been stored very well and looks as fresh as it did, when the large wooden box was cracked open in the late 1960s.
It does look stunning, however the 1966 features of the lipped seat and 4" riser handlebars detracts from the classic look of these bikes, which originally came with flat bars and flat seats from 1961 through 1965 production. That's my opinion, anyway. You can see that it is still equipped with the metal spark plug caps, which were supposed to be removed, due to the possibility of arcing internally, according to a Honda technical bulletin. It is definitely an unmolested machine.
So, this story is short and sweet, but just goes to show you that there are rare treats still awaiting the patient and lucky Honda fans, around the world.
Bill "MrHonda" Silver
This article was written by Bill Silver.
source: http://www.examiner.com/art...
issued: Thursday, April 26, 2012
updated: Thursday, April 26, 2012
link to this page:
http://www.cmsnl.com/news/found-a-brand-new-cb77_news651.html
