1965 HONDA 305 CL77 RACE SCRAMBLER (CL72, CB77, CA77)

Рет қаралды 81,260

9 жыл бұрын

This un-restored vintage motocross bike is a 1965 HONDA 305 CL77 SCRAMBLER. The old parts and modifications on this bike were left just as they were.
A special thanks Jeff Mann Jr. & Sr. for kindly allowing us to shoot some video at the Oasis Motocross Track (by Clearlake Oaks, Ca.) on a closed track day where I would not obstruct any actual motocross riders.
Below is
a link to Jeff Mann Junior's Facebook page:
/ 111303598912786

Пікірлер: 69

@neilyakuza6595 Ай бұрын

It's crazy how good that engine sounds.

@janpow331 4 жыл бұрын

I rode a 305 scrambler from Newport Beach, Ca to Colorado and back in 1966 on Route 66 which was the main highway to LA back then. I was 19. What an adventure! Just threw a $10 sleeping bag (stuffed with scrap paper) on the back. Just barely enough money for gas. I thought that bike was the greatest ever at the time!

@mrken503 4 жыл бұрын

That's awesome! An epic adventure on a true Honda classic.

@Bdelauder1987 8 ай бұрын

LORD I fell in love with the sound of these bikes because of grease, your bike sounds IDENTICAL.

@seanmcpat Жыл бұрын

This has got to be the coolest 305

@mrken503 Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@servicarrider 8 жыл бұрын

Been a long time I have heard those sounds. Still a pretty sweet note. Unique.

@cptntwang 2 ай бұрын

Übercool bike and really good music.

@mrken503 2 ай бұрын

Thanks!

@larrywhalen596 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing, nice ride btw, as for me I've owned a '64 CL72, a '65 CL77, and a '66 CL77; and still have the '64 and the '66, but traded the '65 for a Bultaco Sherpa S quite awhile back, and miss it to this day as it had been built for Clubman racing and with a set of Bates megaphones it had the most beautiful sound I've ever heard in fifty years. The Honda Scramblers and the 250cc Hawks, 305cc Super Hawks, and the Dreams were THE bikes that put most American males on the road, and this is why I have seven '60 and '70 vintage Hondas, I Love the old iron, and for me each time I throw a leg over one of them it's like a time machine, especially when I'm riding over some of my favorite roads, like the Ortega, or to Idylwild. Wish Honda would make a 'Retro' of the Hawks and the Scramblers, cause if they were true to the original design I'd by them in a heartbeat (!).

@mrken503 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks. Very cool that you still have your 64 and 66. The early Honda 250 & 305s are true classic vintage Japanese bikes. As you said are like time machines. If Honda did make retro versions of them I think they would be a big hit.

@rcnelson 5 жыл бұрын

Those were such great bikes and made a nearly perfect engine note. Friend had a 305 hillclimber with stretched swingarm, sweet sound.

@mrken503 5 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I've never gotten tired of hearing it!

@ferkuzuel Ай бұрын

Awesome!

@davidlerma8270 3 жыл бұрын

Just found this video as of this day Im glad to still have my 1965 305 scrambler nice to hear your bike 👍 watching from Port Hueneme Beach CA ✌️

@mrken503 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks. Very cool you still have your 65 CL77.

@larrywhalen596 3 жыл бұрын

I still have a '64 CL72 and a '66 CL77 which have maybe a 1,000 miles on either one since I rode a '65 CL77 on the street due to the extra power it had, and the '64 and the '66 still run as nice as they did when I first bought them. The '65 CL77 had been built for Clubman racing and to this day have never heard as sweet an exhaust tone as that bike put out and ran a pair of carbs from a '65 CB450 which helped more than a "little"; made a trade for the '64 plus a few hundred cash (to me) for a Bultaco Sherpa S which I still have plus a Lobito, a Sherpa T, and a previously Factory sponsored Astro which is way too much fun on a flat track (!).

@jeffmullinix7916 Жыл бұрын

really cool , This was about how they road these bikes back in the day . Some riders rode these bike a bit harder on the jumps .and a lot harder on the turns . You kids now take note these bikes are not like you motocross bikes of today . These bikes was a lot slower and have a lot more weight . So it may seem slow until you ride one then thing can get out of hand .

@mrken503 Жыл бұрын

Yep, heavy old beasts, but they made up for it with their cool sound.

@billhoover6347 8 жыл бұрын

I got lotsa great memories of my CL77 all the fire roads around the San Fernando Valley... and it was definitely my desert scrambles bike!

@donaldcameron8909 3 ай бұрын

Total top end power be ah blast

@bobwhite5440 4 жыл бұрын

really nice bike, sound and informative vid. now i know where preston petty plastic fenders in the 1970's came from.

@mrken503 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@whalesong999 7 жыл бұрын

Hearing a CB-72 in a road race with the factory megaphones was quite the treat back in the day. Honda had some fair accessories for road racing but few internal parts to hop them up. That was where aftermarket parts came in. In '62, several of us trekked to San Angelo, Tx to road race on an old airport, Concho Valley Timing Assn. event. I had a C110 with the factory high compression piston and a home made megaphone. Danny Graves rode a CB-72 with a few factory parts, sounding awesome. I think Buddy Elmore won the 250cc class on a H-D Sprint "R", I took second in the 50cc class behind another C110 that was a Dalio shop machine. We walked away from all the 2 strokes.

@mrken503 7 жыл бұрын

That would be awesome to have video of those bike races back in the 1960s. Not a lot out there. Congrats on your C110 race. Those are cool looking bikes.

@larrywhalen596 3 жыл бұрын

I always remember rolling up this one steep hill at Ocotillo Wells, CA., with my '65 CL77 which had a big damn Goodyear knobbie and a huge rear sprocket, in '73 and when I stopped to look back down several young kids on their Elsinores were stunned when I told them how old the bike was plus it was basically twice as heavy as their bikes. Even "stripped-down" to race these beasts still topped over 300#, but hey we didn't know any better then, and about the only thing you could do was throw on a plastic tank, some aftermarket rear shocks and front forks from another bike to improve it's performance in the dirt.

@spanky522 5 жыл бұрын

Been so long since I've heard one running again. Music to my ears for sure. That's the bike that got me into motorcycles way back in the day. My older sisters boy friend would give me rides on his and that's what started my love for bikes. I miss those days when he would fly by and that sound is so sweet!

@mrken503 5 жыл бұрын

Glad it brought back some good memories for you!

@billlee8012 3 жыл бұрын

Sounds just like mine!🤠

@bferguson9277 3 жыл бұрын

I had a '66 CL77 that I bought used from a guy that raced it. It was pretty thrashed, but the guy had kept all the stuff he'd taken off it for racing so I made it street legal again. Rode it for three years in high school. Tough little bike.

@mrken503 3 жыл бұрын

Great memories!

@moondoggerss 9 жыл бұрын

Make another video with a young guy that races motocross, would like to see the bike perform to it's best. Great video.

@mrken503 9 жыл бұрын

+Martin Dougherty Yeah, as cool as it would be to see the old Scrambler really put through its paces, its capabilities, even in skilled hands would be limited, particularly on a modern MX track. Another consideration is that vintage replacement parts can be a challenge to find should the bike take a spill (apart from damage to the rider).

@tomsmith1390 3 жыл бұрын

Sounds like you missed or someone missed rearranging that gear box. I raced these things back in the day and have to say that was a very effective way of advancing the horse power, with out that slight drop in power that came in the stock gear arrangement. No harm I had some great friends that helped me in the shop, along with AMA Sanctioned tracks and a few others. Jack Tracey's Harley, later included Honda, Yonkers NY and the Yonkers MC - Oldest MC club in the world.

@fourseasons2349 2 жыл бұрын

I used to eat a 305s lunch back in the day with my Yamaha Ascot (aka Big Bear chopped for the track with magneto compliments of Malcolm Smith at the old K & N) at the old old Elsinore track...

@mrken503 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, the 305s weren't the fastest, but they sounded cool!

@garypatrick7817 10 ай бұрын

Music….! I had several 305 Honda..?

@stoker20 3 жыл бұрын

When the 450's came out the pistons went in the 305's to make 420. With Conolly? cams and head work my buddies class C bike was very fast!!!

@rogerharper47 8 жыл бұрын

Nice bike, but who's playing the get-fiddle, man that's some nice jammen!

@mrken503 8 жыл бұрын

+Roger Harper Thanks. The song is a karaoke version of Johnny Cash's Long Legged Guitar Pickin Man.

@ripmax333 8 жыл бұрын

Ducati introduced a ducati scrambler 400cc version , moto guzzi have the V7 scrambler, Cmon Honda! give us a classic modernized scrambler too!

@pelvishakerg271 9 жыл бұрын

Great vid... Just wondering if In the 60s competitions what they did to the forks and rear suspension to make them handle better off road? Or did they keep them standard?

@mrken503 9 жыл бұрын

Sean Mamo Thanks. I don't think there was much in the way of suspension upgrades available back then. Even so, I remember them being ridden hard in TT Scrambles, including the jump. What a great roar they made.

@bengvall6432 3 жыл бұрын

We wore a “gut belt” as tight as we could stand to save our kidneys.

@stoker20 3 жыл бұрын

With scrambler pipes and knobbies, what else could you need?

@gareth5000 7 жыл бұрын

Time you made some more videos....

@whalesong999 7 жыл бұрын

Hey, she's breaking up on ya' a little, Ken. Sounds and looks too rich to me!!. Was there a designated 350cc class for these where you are, or were they forced into the 500cc class?

@mrken503 7 жыл бұрын

Yeah, it started missing some after I rode it for a while. I think you're right about it running rich. Also the battery was suspect so that can cause a problem too. As for racing classes back in the day, the 305s usually had to compete in the 500cc class.

@tomsmith1390 3 жыл бұрын

@@mrken503 That is why I had the 250 cc Honda Scrambler also.

@larrywhalen596 3 жыл бұрын

For those that might be interested, during the late sixties and up into the early seventies I ran a '65 CL77 305 cc Scrambler at Lake Elsinore ('67 or '68) and a Yamaha 250 cc DT-1 in the desert near California City in the 250 Class. The starting lineup was a mob scene with bikes of all displacements and when you finished they figured out who you were and in which class your bike was, (IF I remember correctly) found a picture of me on my DT-1 sitting next to several Triumph 650's at California City, so that is correct, and am pretty sure about Elsinore too. One thing I do remember was being passed up by Malcom Smith more than a couple of times like he was out for a Sunday ride.

@mrken503 9 жыл бұрын

@mrken503 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks. I agree with what you said about these awesome early Hondas. That's great you still have your 64 & 66 Scramblers. Yes, they are time machines that have a distinctive sound that many have never forgotten. I have 3 '65 CL77s and a 67. Two are stock and 2 were set up for off-road including the one in the video. Agreed, it would be cool to see Honda do retro versions of these classics.

@gareth5000 7 жыл бұрын

Gold! Great vid, I loved it. My first "big bike" was a Greeves Scottish, I pushed that thing miles. It made a man of me. I had a couple of Suzuki Stingers, they were fun... Still got a qa50. Here's some oldies for you. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jJx3ZqV9sMeafWw.html

@mrken503 7 жыл бұрын

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video. That was some great riding in your video. What fun times & great memories. Back then we were immortal!

@gareth5000 7 жыл бұрын

And we're still going...

@nelebaelemans451 7 жыл бұрын

gareth5000

@mrken503 7 жыл бұрын

What great video of some fun rides and times!

@tonyvaldez2127 Жыл бұрын

Hey what's the point of showing these bikes are there no way to find out how to get one that's

@tonyvaldez2127 Жыл бұрын

Your videos are are

@richardmerrifield8186 2 жыл бұрын

Hope you aren't the goon who butchered those non-obtainium '65 pipes.

@mrken503 2 жыл бұрын

No, that was some other goon who butchered the pipes…back in the 60s. The parts on the bike were either modified back in the day or were period aftermarket parts. I wanted to keep it "original" both in terms of its racing configuration and its patina. I like that it's different and that it looks like it had just been raced; dirt, grease, grime and all.

@richardmerrifield8186 2 жыл бұрын

@@mrken503 Ok,you are forgiven !Put out a Bolo on the culprit who did. I have my sights on a mint '67 that has the '65 pipes. The pipes were the deciding factor on the purchase. A set of true '65 pipes are impossible to find.Come to see us at the Barber Festival in October be do October.Space B25 I believe.

@mrken503 2 жыл бұрын

@@richardmerrifield8186 Good luck and have fun!

@dennisschell5543 5 жыл бұрын

Lame....

@mrken503 5 жыл бұрын

I think you may have missed the point of the video. Comparing dirt bike racing today with racing a heavy, modified 1960s Honda Scrambler with limited suspension is like comparing a Ford Model-T with a Corvette or Ferrari. Yes, the riding was lame but the point of the video was to take a few easy exposition laps both to give a semblance of what it was like to race these heavy vintage beasts and to hear the roar of an engine that so many of my generation knew well. The point was not to beat a vintage bike or the vintage rider.