When it comes to chain length for a vintage Honda motorcycle, there is not always a dedicated answer like you would expect. The number of links in your drive chain is based on the number of teeth on your front and rear sprockets. For some models, Honda shipped different sprockets for different markets. In other situations, many dealerships had the option to fit the exact sprocket sizes you wanted when you purchased the motorcycle back in the day.
Besides changes to the sprocket size that happened when these machines were new, these motorcycles have been through fifty plus years of ownership and fifty plus years of sprocket changes. There were countless 3rd party sprocket sizes sold plus Honda themselves had several different size sprockets available for someone back in the day to mix up the sprocket ratio on their motorcycle after you took the motorcycle home. The moral of the story is unless you are pulling the chain off the motorcycle yourself, and can count it yourself, you really do not know exactly what length chain to buy.
So what can you do when you do not know the length chain and need to order one? Well, you just buy the longest chain available. Buying a longer chain ensures you have plenty of chain length to fit it to the motorcycle. Using a chain breaker tool, the extra length can be removed to get the perfect fit for your motorcycle.
See our chain breaker tool article to learn how to use it to break a drive chain.
Buy a Chain Breaker / Chain Press Tool
Once the length of the chain and sprocket size are set, it is worth writing down the link number so you can buy the exact length you need on the next go around.