Motorcycle Repair: Fork oil CL77 1967

Question
Thank you for your help with my CL77 1967.  Took it for a 60 ride today and it's running great!  The front end feels a little stiff so I would like to change the fork oil to be sure what is in there.  What is the correct amount of fork oil for a CL77 1967.  Thanks!

Answer
John, I am glad to hear that the bike is running well and reliably now. Honda never upgraded their shop manual information when the later Type 2 alloy forks were employed, so they never really updated their fork fluid information. Type 2 forks on the CB77s use about 200cc of fork oil, while the somewhat related CB450 Bomber forks used about 275cc in the K1 forks. Early CB450s also had steel fork sliders for the first year or so. The Type 2 front brake comes from a CB450K0 Black Bomber after serial number 1003743.

If the forks aren't leaking, carefully drain each one and measure the amount of oil that is released. That can put you in the ballpark, at least. Unfortunately, the forks on these bikes are not very sophisticated and an oil change probably will not yield the results you want. The springs are too stiff and the dampening is minimal. You have to remember that these bikes were built in their fledgling days, where the real science of fork functioning with rebound eluded their best efforts.

Bill Silve