Motorcycle Repair: CL77 Vin#=Year??

Question
Hi Bill,

I am looking to purchase and restore a 305. It is a long distance sale. He says it is a 67 305 scrambler Vin CL77-1054161. How can I prove or disprove that info.

Thanks Tom

Answer
Tom, all of the CL77s were built from 1965-67. They all have 7 digit numbers, starting with CL77-1000001 and they just kept going after that. Beneath the fuel tank, on the wiring harness there is a white tag with a date code on it (date of manufacture of the harness), which is often a good indicator of the manufacture date of the bike. The highest numbers I have seen for CL77s is about 68,000, so the one you are interested in is 54,161, so your bike is in the last 14,000 of production, which pretty much puts it as a 1967 model.

Many of the Hondas of that era were titled as to when they were sold, so some leftover 1967 models turn up with 1968,69 and even 1970 titles. This has lead to a lot of confusion about when the bikes were actually built.

I offer a comprehensive CD/download package of information focused upon the Scrambler series of bikes, if you need a total overview of the bike. Contact me through my website for more details. Some of the technical bulletins in the info package are dated by Honda and include affected serial numbers which makes narrowing down the date of production a little more accurate.

Bill Silver
www.vintagehonda.com