photo shot and posted by Tim Finn
This is the motorcycle that set the template for all modern Japanese bikes to come. It was Honda’s first serious run at the British big twins, which had dominated the sports bike sector since the early 1950s. Although the Super Hawk had only 305 cc versus the 500 and 650 ccs of the Brits, it gave them a run for their money. And with Honda’s firs production tube frame, that applied to the curves as well as the straights.
And when it came to reliability and durability, there was no contest; the Honda left them in the oil-soaked weeds.
I’ve written up its predecessor, the Honda Dream 300, and the evolution of Honda’s twins that led to it, so I’m not going to repeat that. These pressed steel frame bikes were a revelation in their own right, given their excellent performance and reliability. But sport bikes they were not.
That changed in 1961, when the CB77 arrived, having benefited tremendously from Honda’s outstanding GP successes. The steel tube frame was the key component, and it used the engine as a fully-integrated structural member, with the front down tube attached to the cylinder head.
The 305 cc OHC twin looked similar to the Dream’s, but it now sported a 180 degree crank, which favored high revs, and smoother running at those engine speeds. Power was now 28 hp @9,000 rpm, and performance was stellar for that small of a displacement bike: the 1/4 mile in 16. 8 seconds @ 83 mph. And its top speed was solidly in excess of 100 mph, with Cycle World timing one at 104.6 mph (168.3 km/h) average speed in a two-way top speed run.
That may not have quite been in Triumph Bonneville territory, but it was certainly competitive with the single-carb 650s and the 500s.
Author Robert Pirsig and his son Chris in 1968.
It was also capable of long-distance touring, as memorialized in Robert Pirsig’s book “Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance”, a book I gobbled up the minute it came out, having been very intrigued by its title. It turned out to be wee bit denser and challenging than my 21 year-old self was was expecting. It was the first philosophical book I ever read, having been put off a bit my father’s classical philosophy interest.
Being based on a motorcycle trip to California and back he took with his son and two friends who rode a BMW 600 and his reflections on machinery and its maintenance made it infinitely more appealing–and undoubtedly more accessible to me–Than Aristotle or Plato at the time.
The protagonist of Zen attempts to resolve the conflicts between “classic” values that create machinery like the motorcycle, and “romantic” values like the beauty of a country road. He discovers all values find their root in what Pirsig called Quality:
“Quality . . . you know what it is, yet you don’t know what it is. But that’s self-contradictory. But some things are better than others, that is, they have more quality. But when you try to say what the quality is, apart from the things that have it, it all goes poof! There’s nothing to talk about. But if you can’t say what Quality is, how do you know what it is, or how do you know that it even exists? If no one knows what it is, then for all practical purposes it doesn’t exist at all. But for all practical purposes it really does exist.”
Quality certainly does exist in the realms of machinery, and it’s easy enough to quantify based on how much maintenance is required to keep it running, or how little oil it drips on the garage floor. The Honda CB77 exuded quality, and continued to set standards for Hondas to come. And its basic features were the template for all Japanese bikes to come.
In 1965, Honda upped the ante with its CB450, a totally new engine design with DOHC and making 45 hp. Somewhat curiously, the 450 didn’t meet Honda’s sales expectations. The 450 came out rather heavy, actually a bit more than the Triumph 650. In terms of reliability and such, there was again no comparison. Honda came to realize that in order to succeed in the big bike market, it would have to offer something definitively overwhelming, not just merely competitive.
That of course resulted in the 1969 CB750 four, which effectively marked the end of the British sport bike era.
Meanwhile, the CB300 Super Hawk was replaced in 1968 by the CB350/350 family, which went on to become the most popular motorcycle of its time.
Related reading:
CC Honda Dream 300: Soichiro Honda’s Dream Comes True PN
Honda CB450: The Black Bomber or Prophet L. Wilcox
Honda CB750: The First Modern Superbike L. Wilcox
Honda 350: The Most Popular Bike Ever L. Wilcox
I’ve owned a motorcycle (in one case, two) from each of the other 3 of the Japanese Big 4 but curiously never a Honda. I’m not sure why, perhaps time and place never intersected fortuitously enough. No complaints or real issues with any of them, and if the (a) Honda is even better, pshh, what’s not to like?
That said, just looking at this makes clear what helped it get things going for the UJM – It looks fantastic, yet everything looks accessible and unintimidating even to the novice. Coupled with being a good value even if considering nothing but the purchase price, and then the general long-term benefits and lack of vices of Honda ownership are heaps of icing slathered on the cake.
The wide range of offerings by Honda and their attendant popularity are just staggering. From the SuperCub with over 100 million produced (!) to the GoldWing, with the Monkey reintroduction to the Grom’s new market niche opening, and countless offerings in between and all over in virtually every segment, the more you consider things, the more Honda is a motorcycle maker that dabbles in a small automotive sideline.
I have to agree Jim, and couldn’t have said it better. I have owned mostly Honda bikes (and ATC trikes) and all were as reliable as a anvil. And yes, Honda is a motorcycle maker that happens to dabble with cars. And outboard motors and portable generators.
And lawn mowers, yard trimmers, snow blowers, jet skiis at one point, and they predominate in the stationary engine category.
And then there’s the business jets . . . . .
Having worked for a Honda dealer for fifteen years before retiring (and, I’m bored with retirement again, so I’m back at the shop on a part time basis as I write this), I’ve had a great appreciation for Honda’s, although I haven’t owned that many of them. ’69 Super 90, ’72 CB350, ’98 996 Super Hawk, and a ’16 Gold Wing has been the entirety.
It’s rare that Honda puts out a bad bike. If something comes out and is unsuccessful, it’s usually because the new model is overpriced for the market (something about Honda’s way of doing things that I swear they’re trying to amortize the tooling within two years of introduction), not that it’s an underdeveloped motorcycle.
They’ve made a stumble or two, but said stumbles are insignificant compared to the successes they’ve had.
That’s quality all right. In all my years of Honda motorcycle ownership I’ve never ridden or even seen a Super Hawk in person. Too bad, because they’re quite pretty.
I too struggled through ZAMM at a young age, a couple of things stuck with me. “Quality is the leading edge of the train of reality” is one. The other is to read the last two pages in times of stress or dejection, they are incredibly hopeful.
I’d really like to retrace the physical part of Pirsig’s journey from Minneapolis to San Francisco someday.
Before Honda had the CB’s they had some small displacement racing bikes made with the Benly stamped steel frame, the tachometer fir in lieu of the speedometer .
Indeed the CB77 and it’s smaller stablemate the 250CC CB72 were amazing, fantastic bikes, then and now .
-Nate
It’s probably hard for current riders to believe, but these 305s were considered to be real, full sized, motorcycles. They, as well as the later 350 models, were ridden by everyone, just about everywhere! They were decked out as touring bikes, cafe racers, and even choppers! I had my own, that I turned into my own “outlaw” machine. I rode it during my Junior year in h.s. back in 1972.
Love the pipes! The only mod that would have made it even cooler in 1972 would be a front brake delete. I was also a junior in ‘72 and just getting into bikes inspired by my friend’s 305, which he took in a different direction as a café racer and even road raced with the AFM a few times in 1973. I didn’t get my first Honda until 1975.
I traded my month old Honda CB-160 for the bike I really wanted in Sept., ’65: a ’65 Honda 305/CB-77 Super Hawk. I knew the CB-450 was coming, but when? So on a late Friday afternoon I went on liberty and purchased the Super Hawk; 305cc of SCREAMING Honda POWER…all 28.5 horses worth !
Of my generous USMC salary of $96/month, $56 was going to go to pay for my magnificent blue and silver Honda! I put 16433.8 miles on that bike in the @ 13 months I had it. Not bad on a mere 305 cc bike which seemed more than adequate back then. 🙂 The bike went from Huntsville, Ala. to Wisconsin, and then via REA Express out to MCB 29 Palms, Ca. When it got to Ca. in late April of ’66 it only had 6K + miles on it. The rest were rapidly run up on the lil Super Hawk between then and Oct. ’66.
That little (by todays’ standards) Honda certainly sold me completely on Hondas. Most of my 72 bikes over the decades have been Hondas. 🙂 Another restored ’65 Super Hawk has been in my small collection for many years now. I must admit that the Super Hawk has not aged very well compared to my ’74 Yamaha RD 250; altho it pains me to admit that! DFO DFO
Happiness is having a bike you love back when they’re new, and getting a second example in your later years. I can think of very little that is more effective of warding off the effects of age.
I remember the first time one of those appeared on the Westmont Hilltop High School parking lot in 1967. Owned by one Raymond Gombar, second string quarterback of the school’s football team, and rapidly turning into an all-around big man on campus. Of course his sidekick, Denny Peterson, couldn’t take that lying down, and showed up a couple of weeks with a Yamaha Big Bear 250 (YDS3, if I remember the nomenclature properly), which, being a two-stroke, could smoke Ray’s Hawk.
He went on to having the first Ironhead Sportster chopper in Johnstown, and afterwards disappeared. From what I heard from is sister (our families were neighbors) he’d married a doctor’s daughter from the class after ours and had gone into banking.
Finally caught up with him at our class 30th reunion, where upon asking him if he was riding anymore, got a waspish answer from the wife, “Raymond has a family and responsibilities now. He can’t own a motorcycle anymore.”
Of course, I’m sitting there at the table wearing my Phoenix Riders M/C colors, and my scoot is out in the parking lot. My reply to mention to “Raymond” that it might be nice if he got ownership back of a certain body part from the ***** sitting next to him, and learn how to enjoy life again.
By chance, everyone else at that table happened to be somewhat serious motorcycle riders (BMW and Moto Guzzi, primarily), and they were basically choking to keep down the laughter.
“Raymond” and wifey departed the reunion early.
Sort of made up for my desperately wanting a Honda Super 90 back in 1967, and having no chance in hell of getting one, even if I was able to save up the money.
I have only ridden a motorcycle once in my life. It was my brothers Honda CB 550 in 1975 while he was training at NTC San Diego and had to leave his bike up in La Jolla. Seeing that blue CB 750 just makes me drool to want one just like that even though cars, around motorcycles, scare me.
I considered the CB77 an especially attractive bike when they were nearly new. I still do. I’d say much the same for the newer CB450.
The fact that these motorcycles could break 100mph back then seems even more impressive today. Of course, there were some 250cc to 305cc two-stroke twins from other manufacturers that could do that as well.
I agree that these machines were considered fully capable for any street motorcycle use. I recall a motorcycle journalist that wrote that the late 70’s were the last gasp of motorcycles being thought of as a sole mode of transportation. Much truth to that. But there was a local guy that I saw everywhere for decades, up to about the mid 90’s. You would see him in a slush covered supermarket lot on his CB350 with milk crate.
I’ve mostly owned and ridden Yamahas, but I have a Honda XR100 that I’m doing some work on now. For such a small and simple bike it sure is a lot of fun to ride. My most recent acquisition is a (new) minibike which has twice the displacement and weighs more than the Honda, yet is nowhere near as capable. The Honda is a 1982 model and pretty beat up, but it still gets a lot of favourable attention and could doubtless be sold today for more than what it cost me several years ago. Parts remain available and even today it’s considered a good choice for young and inexperienced or casual adult riders (as long as they don’t weigh too much).
My friend’s ’67 Super Hawk scrambler was the first bike I ever had a ride on, Fall of ’68 on rt 140 in Md. I was hooked, bought my first bike, a putt-putt B100p 120 Suzuki in Spring ’69, almost immediately traded on a ’71 Suzuki T-350, a sweet handling 2-stroke considerably quicker than a CB-350. 20 bikes later, Triumphs and many Japanese bikes including a ’72 CB-350, still have a ’71 Kawa A-7 350 and little ’72 Honda CB-125. But it all started with that Super Hawk, that bike set the tone for the industry and for my love of bikes. I’ll always have one, even if just to gaze upon in the garage as I get old.