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Been waiting 57 years for this to show up and for it to be new is incredible. Museum bike going to be ridden. In my house today! I think I feel 14 again.

Superhawk (250 or 305?). A local rider has several classics, most that he either restored or cleaned up some bar finds. He's got all three models of 305s, Dream, Scrambler and Super Hawk. The Hawk was in a class of its own as far as engineering and build. It's also a convertible where the controls can be adjusted and set back, it's really a bike that could easily be converted to the track and commuter the rest of the time. The Speedo/Tach is really cool. This guy also has Bridgestone 175, Vespa, Yammie 650 KR street tracker and modern Yammie 950 v twin.

@footgoose love the vintage advertisement of the family of Honda’s @alannn That Pirsig bike is legendary. Second picture is in Vancouver Canada where museum had put the bike outside the museum during vintage bike meet at the museum before I got it. The CL77 next to it is 1966 used, unrestored and on its way to my friend and former colleague from airline industry. We will be riding them to local bike meets and shows to display together!

Seeing the number of times you’ve had such a recollection, it seems the time you’ve spent in college was very, . . . hmm, educative!

Yeah, we all have that dreams when we get older...😂

That is the best looking vintage Honda I've ever seen. I always though the Honda Dream looked kind of goofy. The popular CL series with the high exhaust never looked to me as good as yours. And the lack of front downtubes makes the engine look better. The color scheme of yours is the best I've seen. I owned a CB360 back in the day. Quite ordinary compared to your rare museum piece. The '66 version of your bike is at the Smithsonian in DC, but not a pretty red one like yours. Sign says, "This motorcycle is a 1966 305cc CB77F Honda Super Hawk, S/N 1029216 [frame #: CB77-102918]. At the time, it was Honda’s largest and sportiest motorcycle. It belonged to Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2017), the famous American author who rode it 5,700 miles from Minnesota to California and back with his 11-year-old son Chris in the summer of 1968. In 1974, he published the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." I hope you have a local bike show you can ride it to. Where was your second picture taken?

Yes it is a 1964 305, The early years like this one have the speedo / tach that both sweep Clockwise. My first ever ride on a motorcycle, as a passenger was on a brand new red one of these in 1965. I really wanted one badly but when I turned 14 in 1967 the best I could afford was a used 1965 Honda 50 Sport! Where I lived in Canada we could get motorcycle license at 14 at that time. it was a long wait to finally get one! Apparently Cycleworld test ride got a two way average of just under 105 mph top speed in 1962 What read is Honda built them from 1961 to late 1967, At that time there were no date of manufacture on the frame, only SN. Many places show date first registered as the model years so you see them sold as 1968 model years for the late 1967s.

Good times. Who is 'we'? PM me if you don't want the stigma of racing a Sportster.

I remember those days as well. Some of it I was aware of, but other things I likely never knew. It was funny to see guys on production bikes bumpstarting them. We were not going to cheat to the extent others were prepared to. Racing the Sportster was just a side show for us, our main focus in those days was racing air-cooled Ducati 750s. But I did enjoy racing the Sportster, most of the mid-pack guys were great fun to hang around. And due to the slow-motion nature of racing a Sportster I learned about fun things like reaching over and tapping the other guy on his far shoulder as you slowly went by, so they would look over their left should while you were going by on their right. I also learned about other less fun things like reaching over and turning some else's kill switch off. Learned to move the kill switch to a location they could not easily reach with their left hand.

congratulations!

Sometimes typos are just delightful. This one reminds me of that girl I dated in college . . .

Not that *you* ever have to chase anything... except that old drum brake Tonti that keeps showing our age.

Bzzzzzzzzzzt. Nope. No G&P for you either. Here's a clue

I think my most important bolt to fall off was an engine mount bolt from my TZ250 racebike. The cool thing was, it happened at a track and I was able to walk the track and find it. Good thing, that was not an easy to source bolt.

I’m guessing you won’t be installing the tensioner because it doesn’t fit due to the casting boss in the case?

And then, what happened . . . What an amazing story. I cannot wait to hear this in person and chase this resurrected Sport across the Cherohala Skyway at next year's South'n Spine Raid XXII . . . @Gmc28, this is your formal (as it gets ) invitation. Bring Dave! You know: Get There. Bring Tools.

With all the concern about tightness AKA torque , there has never been an unimportant bolt fall off a motorcycle.

That is (in some circles) like Steve McQueen having owned it.

I am philosophically opposed to re-inventing the wheel. The stock manual-adjust and the weak suck stock spring loaded tensioner are well addressed with this one. I did consider how I could add a spring behind the stocker when this lump proved unfit. But a new one is in the mail.

@Speedfrog my thoughts exactly.

There was a race series in Australia for a short time in the late eighties. The bikes were Suzuki GSX 125, and the riders were about half-and-half professional racers and motorcycles journalists. In an article about that, that trick was mentioned. I believe it was more the pros that knew it: streamline the opponent, and when you slip out to pass, hit the kill-switch on the way past. I never did it like that, but doing it to a mate as the traffic light turned green was occasionally good for a laugh. Ok, so I'm a nasty prick, but it was fun at the time.

I mean, hey, I'm after those G&P! And I would not put it past @Pressureangle to build his own tensioner . . .

CB 160 or 305 ?

The Californian wants the fruity ones. So many jokes, so little time. You get none anyway- if gears were available I'd be installing them, but this tensioner is new. I won't be installing it, either.

The mounting plate on the tensioner is upside down. Figures I got the bad one. Paint, easy. The trick is of course to prep the uglies, but then to wipe everything down with acetone and let both the item to be painted and the can of paint soak up the sun for an hour before applying, and rest in the sun an hour or forever afterwards. With the temperature and extra spray pressure, it gives a finer spray and the carrier evaporates much faster, allowing a thicker coat without runs. This is my secret to hiding poor prep. lol

A box of Good & Plentys to whoever can tell me why a picture of a tensioner is here.

That will certainly be a big surprise, more for me than for the rest of you!

My Italian is not so good, but doesn't that translate "Fast & Lusty ?" Reminds me of a girl I dated in college . . .

Perfect riding weather

There's the logistical problem of not actually having one.

Don't quit now, buddy . . .

SSR forecasting is coming into range: sunny, cooler with lower dewpoints. High temp at The Appalachian Divide on the Cherohala Skyway Saturday: 67ºF, lows: upper 40s-low50s. Y'all "Morning People" mind that windchill!

The outrigger bearing in the bevelbox is particularly weird in that the inner race has a hole in it that seems Al mostly deliberately chosen to allow water ingress! You can of course buy an standard aftermarket bearing without this interesting *Feature* for a lot less than a ‘Guzzi’ bearing. Also just as a heads up if you’re having trouble getting the rusted, munty old bearing out of the box the factory expanding puller for the needle roller bearings in the old five speed gearbox works a treat. Just take your bevelbox to some crusty old fart who never moved beyond five speeds and, if you can stand being sprayed with phlegm for not riding an Eldorado, they’ll be able to pull it for you in five minutes.

You built your own tensioner?