The Honda CB77, or Super Hawk, is a
straight-twin motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...
produced from 1961 until 1967. It is remembered today as
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...
's first
sport bike
A sport bike (sports motorcycle, or sports bike) is a motorcycle designed and optimized for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering on asphalt concrete race tracks and roads. They are mainly designed for performance at the expense of comfor ...
. It is a landmark model in Honda's advances in Western motorcycle markets of the 1960s, noted for its speed and power as well as its reliability, and is regarded as one of the bikes that set the standard for modern motorcycles.
Characteristics
The CB77 had, at only 305 cc, a relatively big engine in comparison to most other Japanese bikes of the period, although it had performance to rival much larger motorcycles from other countries.
It quickly built a reputation for reliability, and was equipped with luxuries such as an electric starter.
[
The engine on the CB77 differed from that of the touring C77 version, in that the crankpins on the crankshaft were spaced 180 degrees apart. This had the benefit of making the engine smoother at higher revs but due to the firing sequence of one power stroke following another, the engine note sounded 'flat' and 'low-revving'.
The CB77 was built on the experience Honda had gained in Grand Prix racing, and differed greatly from previous models. It had a steel-tube frame instead of the pressed frames of earlier Hondas,] and a telescopic front fork. The parallel twin engine, the biggest then available in a Honda, was an integral element of the bike's structure, providing stiffness in a frame that had no downtube, and was capable of 9,000 rpm. It could propel the bike at over 100 mph; as fast as British parallel twins with higher displacements, and with great reliability. ''Cycle World
''Cycle World'' is a motorcycling magazine in the United States. It was founded in 1962 by Joe Parkhurst, who was inducted to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame as "the person responsible for bringing a new era of objective journalism" to the US. ''Cyc ...
'' tested its average two-way top speed at , and its time at 16.8 seconds reaching .[
In 2003 author Aaron Frank called it, "the first modern Japanese motorcycle... that established the motorcycle that we still operate under now, more than 40 years later."]
Related bikes
Honda also produced a lower-powered version called the CB72 Hawk, which had a bore and carburetors but otherwise had the same specifications as the CB77. In 1962, Honda introduced an off-road bike, the CL72 250 Scrambler, with the same engine as the Hawk but with a different, full-cradle frame with a skid plate and other adjustments for off-road use. In 1965, the CL77 305 Scrambler appeared, with the bigger engine of the Super Hawk but otherwise similar to the CL72.
''Roustabout''
In the 1964 film ''Roustabout
Roustabout (Australia/New Zealand English: rouseabout) is an occupational term. Traditionally, it referred to a worker with broad-based, non-specific skills. In particular, it was used to describe show or circus workers who handled materials ...
'', Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
rode a CB77 Super Hawk, rather than the Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...
s Presley would later be associated with, because Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
wanted to avoid motorcycles' outlaw image that had originated in media coverage of the 1947 Hollister riot
The Hollister riot, also known as the Hollister Invasion, was an event that occurred at the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA)-sanctioned Gypsy Tour motorcycle rally in Hollister, California, from July 3 to 6, 1947.
Many more motorcyclists ...
and the 1953 film ''The Wild One
''The Wild One'' is a 1953 American crime film directed by László Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer. The picture is most noted for the character of Johnny Strabler, portrayed by Marlon Brando, whose persona became a cultural icon of the 1 ...
'', especially given Presley's scandalous televised hip gyrations.[ Honda had cultivated a nonthreatening, wholesome image with their "]You meet the nicest people on a Honda
The Honda Super Cub or Honda Cub is a Honda underbone motorcycle with a four-stroke single-cylinder engine ranging in displacement from .
In continuous manufacture since 1958 with production surpassing 60 million in 2008, 87 million in 2014, an ...
" advertising campaign, so the CB77 was ideal to make Presley's film persona seem just rebellious enough, but not too much.[ The film, coinciding with the 1964 ]Beach Boys
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...
song "Little Honda
"Little Honda" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1964 album '' All Summer Long''. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, it pays tribute to the small Honda motorcycle and its ease of operation, specifically the Honda 5 ...
", was free publicity for Honda in the early years of establishing their brand in America.
''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance''
Robert M. Pirsig rode a 1966 CB77 Super Hawk on the trip he made with his son and their friends in 1968 on a two-month round trip from their home in St. Paul, Minnesota to Petaluma, California
Petaluma (Miwok languages, Miwok: ''Péta Lúuma'') is a city in Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 a ...
, which became the basis for the 1974 novel '' Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values''. The novel never mentions the make or model of Pirsig's motorcycle, but does discuss their companions', John and Sylvia Sutherland's, new BMW, an R60/2. The R60/2, prized for its place in motorcycle literature, has changed hands and was regularly ridden. Pirsig died in 2017, and in 2019, his wife Wendy K. Pirsig donated the CB77 to the Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
. The donation included Pirsig's leather jacket and memorabilia from the 1968 trip, and some of his personal tools.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Honda Cb77
CB77
Standard motorcycles
Motorcycles introduced in 1961
Motorcycles powered by straight-twin engines