Some customs begin with a clean sketch and a detailed brief. This 1967 Honda CB77 Super Hawk began as dusty storage tubs labeled simply “Honda” and a frame bolted to a square-tube engine stand.
Owner Richard bought the bike on a whim in 2004. It had spent years being hauled to race meetings around Australia, then sat in a garage for nearly two decades before arriving at Purpose Built Moto in pieces. Bikes with that kind of racing past keep landing on builders’ benches, and Ellaspede recently reimagined a Ducati Mike Hailwood Replica with similar reverence.
The track history gave the build its direction. Racing pedigree has fueled other standout vintage builds this year too, like Fuch’s Workshop’s championship-winning Yamaha TX500 flat tracker. After sorting and cleaning every salvageable part, the workshop assembled a rolling chassis, which let this Honda stand on its own wheels for the first time in 20 years.
From Boxes to Rolling Chassis
The forks had been lengthened and rechromed years earlier. The worn-out rear shocks were the hard part, since period-correct road-racing units proved scarce, so the team sourced off-road shocks and had Joe at Ride Dynamics rebuild and re-angle them.
Rebuilt wheels wear polished Borrani rims over brakes that were stripped, repaired, polished, then updated with hydraulic actuation and Kustom Tech master cylinders.
A Fresh 350cc Heart
The 350cc conversion needed only new rings and a light hone. The head received fresh valves, guides and springs, and the ignition was rebuilt around a new stator, rotor and starter motor.
Amal carburettors made way for Mikuni flatslides breathing through DNA pod filters wearing PBM’s delta motif. Up front, restored clip-ons, two-button switches and a 48mm speedometer pare back the cockpit around a 4.5-inch Flashpoint LED headlight.
Exactly one part escaped the rethink: the fibreglass racing tank, a defining piece of this bike’s history. The new tail traces its half-moon profile into a side-number-plate shape and a tidy ducktail.
Tipping the engine forward echoed the original racer’s stance and opened room for a true 2-into-2 exhaust, with sand-bent stainless headers running into welded torpedo mufflers built to sing as the revs climb. That soundtrack is the detail I would queue for.
Paint stayed deliberate: luminous red on the tank and tail, black pinstriping, and a blacked-out nose, laid down by Sam at Colour Fuel in Sydney.
Before the Super Hawk, Honda was best known for pressed-steel commuters, and the 305cc original brought a tubular frame, telescopic forks and a dependable overhead-cam twin good for 100 mph. That machine is often called Honda’s first genuine sportbike.
Purpose Built Moto has history with the brand, from its earlier custom Honda XL500 scrambler through to this Super Hawk revival. After almost two decades in pieces, the bike is back on the road and ready to rev.
Source: Pipeburn
