I purchased Charlie's EI for my 1967 Honda CL77 and it has transformed the way this bike runs; easy starting, reliable running and no further ignition tuning needed. Just as important to me has been the outstanding customer service Charlie has provided. I had some initial tuning issues with my bike, not knowing whether it was the EI or the carbs. Charlie helped me multiple times to diagnose and confirm the EI was operating properly. I would highly recommend working with Charlie's Place for great product quality and the best customer service you can hope for. read more

I'll start by saying I don't write reviews. I had to let you all know what's going on over at Charlie's place. I can't tell you if the work is good because my bike came back in boxes after being in Charlie's shop for 8 months. I'll assume the work is great since everyone says it is. I never approved or got any heads up Charlie was doing any work on my bike and after multiple emails and phone calls, Charlie advised me he went ahead and spent 3k doing the motor and tank without asking, then gas lit me and tried for another 9k "or so" to finish the bike. I had to pull the plug. So..... use Charlie if you want, but please get a written estimate (which I thought was California regulation) next stop Ca. Bureau of Auto repair. read more

I have had my bike (Honda CL 77 ) worked on by Charlie. After looking at the bike and riding the bike, he knew exactly what direction he wanted to go with repairing the old 1966 Honda 305 Scrambler. After sending me an email explaining what he felt the bike needed, I advised him to repair anything that was needed as if it was his own motorcycle. I received the bike today from Charlie and was given a thorough class on all the particulars I needed to know about the starting, warming up and shifting of this old antique classic bike. This was proof that I was not just another customer he was trying to get out the door. I am grateful for everything he has done to my bike and feel that he is nothing short of a genius when it comes to mechanically saving these classic old Honda motorcycles. You don't meet many people in life today that love what they do for a living. Charlie is one of the last of the real mechanics and I would advise anyone with a classic Honda to have him work on your bike. You will be satisfied with his work and you'll get to meet this incredible mechanic. And by the way, now my bike runs perfect! read more

Charlie's Place - My 1966 Honda CL 77 - Motorcycle Repair Near Me - Glendale, California

Charlie serviced my CL350 for several issues related to carbs, oil leaks, bent kickstand, shifting issues, and weak front brakes. His repairs were high quality and work was very reasonably priced. He was very responsive and worked with me through all the issues. He is very knowledgeable on these old Hondas and a great person to work with. read more

What can I say, another satisfied customer. I'd brought my CB200 everywhere before finding out about Charlie's. Now I won't take her to anyone else. Bonus tip, Vintage Honda paint master Jack McCann works here and this new year I decided to treat my bike to a new paint job. And I'm glad I did. Bikes looking and running better than ever. Highly recommend. read more

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After completing the restoration on my 1975 Honda CB500T ,It still did not want to start when cold. My brother in law told me about charlie's. After talking to Charlie on the phone I ordered the electronic ignition and coils. The installation was simple and easy. Now cold starts are no problem and the bike runs better over the entire RPM range. read more

It's important to showcase the great ones. If you have an old bike/vintage or even just a sentimental two wheeler and want to bring it back to the way it was originally intended... Charlie is a dying breed of masters that know how to do something specific and necessary. I've worked in cars most of my life and there's some things I can't do. Finding a good mechanic is VERY hard these days. You can bring your bike here and have 100% confidence that you will get something beyond your expectations. I wish there was a 6th star to add to the 5. This is the place to bring your bike. read more

Charlie's Place is the only place you should take your vintage Honda! Charlie is a perfectionist and only works on Hondas. Period. And he's the best in the world. He re-built my 1969 Honda CL450 from the ground up (after I had spent $7,000 at another place where I literally had to take it out of there in boxes!) and it's literally one of the best looking vintage motorbikes in the world. Period. It's a 46 year old bike and I ride it EVERY SINGLE DAY, to work and for fun on the weekends. It always starts right up, and I've already put 8000 miles on it in one year from riding so much) They almost put my bike on the cover of Cafe Racer magazine, but it was "too perfect" for them! (They like the more grungy look, oh well.) But, if you don't mind your bike being too perfect, Charlie is the guy. You can see my bike on his site (it's the black with gold trim CL450 that has the letters HM for Honda Motors on the tank.) read more

Charlie's Place - My bike parked in my office. And I ride it every day as well! - Motorcycle Repair Near Me - Glendale, California

I meant to write this review years ago, but better late than never! Charlie completely saved my bike after another mechanic made a huge mess. I was a complete novice and he was nice enough to explain everything to me in a way that I could understand. He even found some used parts on eBay to save me money! I always recommend him to every friend with a vintage Honda! read more

If you have a vintage Honda and it needs a repair or you want a Honda bike restored then Charlie's Place should be the only shop you should bring your bike to. Charlie know's every nut and bolt with a vintage Honda motorcycle. He is able to find hard to get parts and he does excellent work. He also takes pictures along the way so you are kept in the loop on your repair. He will explain everything so you will understand why the part had to be replaced. My Honda 350 was at another shop and they caused my bike to blow a fuse and the delivered my bike with a dangerous brake issue. I was so upset and then I found Charlies Place and he was able to repair all the mistakes and other issues I had with my Honda. He does work by appointments and if you need work on your Honda I highly recommend you call Charlie and make an appointment. I guarantee you will be happy with his work read more

Simply put, Charlie and Jack at Charlie's Place are a blessing for all vintage Honda owners! Rarely do passion, expertise, experience and competency come together in one profession and/or business. I contacted Charlie about a problem I had with a vintage Honda Dream. I had already spent two hours trying to repair the problem and just made it worse. I took it to Charlie who knew exactly what the problem was and he skillfully had the bike running perfectly again in 20 minutes. It was a pleasure watching a skilled craftsman at work. He could have done it blindfolded! He did the work as though he was working on his own bike. You could tell he cared about it! This kind of brand-specialized vintage shop is a dying breed. They are more about the passion than the profit. Do I recommend them? What do you think? Yes! Yes! and Yes again! read more

This review is a bit over-due and my apologies for this. It's been more than a few months since I was towed into Charlie's Place to have my dead Honda 350 worked on by Charlie. I was in town for a 3 day 1000 mile ride (Sat, Sun & Monday) with my son and it was Friday afternoon right before the ride the next morning and my Honda died out on the superslab, so I was in a bit of a panic trying to find a shop that would work on my bike in such short notice. CHP pulled over to see what the problem was and the kind Officer called a bike towing service that knew of Charlie's place. Immediately I was thankful of my good fortune and soon arrived at Charlie's Place around 3 in the afternoon. 15 mins later I was talking to Charlie's Place owner, Charlie O'Hanlon. He rolled the bike into the shop and began to change engine oil, adjust the carbs (something you don't do when the engine is cold), adjust the clutch & brakes, change tire pressures and lube the chain.......all of which I had just done less than 30 miles ago. Confused, I told him I'd I had gone over the bike well back home in Maryland, changing all the fluids and getting all the adjustments set perfectly, the points and plugs looked fine and I adjusted the valves. The tires were fair and all in all I felt confident the bike would make the 1k run without issue. Charlie kept going without response. I was hardly in a position to tell him to stop removing good fresh oil and adjusting things that I had done less than 30 miles ago. All I wanted him to do was find out why the bike was running badly and it was probably a ignition issue, not oil, clutch or brake adjustments or the carbs. The oil he put in was some unknown brand out of a large barrel. The Mobil 1 20w--50 100% synthetic JASO MA oil ($12/qt) was dumped and his shop oil ($4/qt generic) was installed. Charlie did find the problem which was a bad points condenser, so he put in a new set of points & plugs for a complete ignition re-do. 45 mins later the bike was done and Charlie hands me a $480 bill. Frustrated, with little recourse, I paid it. Frankly, I was thanking God the bike was running. All I wanted to do was get away from Charlie's Place and never see it again. Once down the street and around the corner I pulled over and pulled out the tool kit to re-adjust the clutch as the engagement he set was terrible. Now that the motor was warmed up I re-adjusted the carbs so the motor now idled smoothly. Once back at my son's place I dropped Charlie's cheap oil and put Mobil 1 motorcycle oil back in the engine. I re-set the tire pressures according to the owners manual. Charlie, had over inflated the tires 6 psi. Bottom line....... don't let Charlie work on your bike, not to mention his prices are ridiculous. read more

Charlie brought my cx500 back to life. He did a phenomenal job re-wiring the whole bike, making very clean custom welds for a new electrical box and tuning up the whole thing. He would also take the time to explain why he'd go with certain components instead of others based on previous experience etc. He's extremely knowledgeable and I can't recommend him enough. His assistant Jack is also a terrific painter. He repainted my gas tank and the quality of the job was just outstanding. So happy that I discovered Charlie's Place. read more

Can't express enough how happy and impressed I am with Charlie and his work! Had my 1978 Honda CB750 fully restored and it looks like it just rode off the assembly line. Made the entire process easy and works with you every step of the way. Transparent with costs and nailed the budget estimate. Highly recommend to anyone with a Honda bike in any condition they want to bring back to life! read more

Charlie knows all and takes the time to share it with his customers. As a new rider I really appreciate this. He's also honest and works fast. Which, unfortunately, but not unsurprisingly, is not the norm. Charlie's place is absolutely where you should take your Honda. read more

This is a long overdue review, but it started off by me making an emotional purchase of a "cool" 1961 Honda CB77 from what I thought was an honest vintage motorcycle shop in Santa Monica. As they say, don't be "that guy" and I was totally "that guy"! Haha. So 10 mins into my first ride, the bike literally died while I was coasting down a hill at 20mph. So when I heard about Charlie's Place on the Honda forums, I made an appointment and when I brought it in, before I could take the bike off the trailer, Charlie stopped me and said he had seen the bike 3 months prior from the previous owner. He pointed out all the issues with the bike, right away, and said he would let me see what would need to be done, just to get it safely running from his previous inspection and if i still wanted to have him repair it, then I could leave the bike with him. I really liked the bike because it fit me so well, so I had him start on the repairs. Calling up the previous owner, I asked if there was any work done on the bike, and he told me that the shop I purchased it from had maintained it for him, so when I called the shop, the shop owner never got back to me by text or returned calls or anything. He probably figured I was just another guy he scammed outta money for a "cool" vintage bike and since it's old bike, this is the way it is suppose to be. Anyway, Charlie got the bike all tuned up for me with a new starter, cables, plugs, and cleaned/tuned the carbs so at least I could ride around for the Summer, but I probably would need to bring it back to get the engine/transmission sorted since he hadn't looked into that. I figured since the bike was over 50 years old, I might as well wait a little longer and get the engine checked out. Luckily I did, because as soon as he pulled out the engine, it was one hot mess after another. I'm new to the whole custom bike mod/building scene, but what's the point in putting parts from a different bike manufacturer, if those parts are gonna destroy the inside of the bike?! I could've just left it as is and rode the bike occasionally and then sold it and let the next guy deal with the problems, but I'm not that guy. So we ended up deciding to do it right and build it back up so that I could be confident the bike could be a daily driver. Charlie told me exactly what was wrong, what needed to be done and brought the bike back to it's glory days. He would give me options based on my budget so I could decide if I really needed to do it or not. Yeah, he's not the cheapest mechanic out there, but when you're dealing with a classic motorcycle, he's the best and that's the guy you want fixing your classic bike and that's what you pay for. Do it right or don't do it at all. Along the way, I had to get certain parts of the restoration/mod done by other top shelf vendors, and when I brought the parts to them and told them Charlie sent me, they all said, "Damn, Charlie's a hard ass" and he'd send stuff right back if he didn't feel like the quality matched his work. That's the kinda thing I like to hear! So all said and done, I couldn't be happier with the work he did with my bike, he's always been there if I had questions from day one and since I've gotten it back and he even asked if I would bring the bike so he could feature it at his booth at the Venice Vintage Motorcycle Rally last Fall. So if you actually care about the work that goes into fixing your classic Honda, make an appointment. He may not be the cheapest but if you want the best and someone that knows exactly what you need to make the bike run like it just came out of the factory, then Charlie's Place is where you should go. Brandon is cool too! read more

Charlie has been doing the restoration work on my CB 750's for at least seventeen years. He has restored somewhere in the region of ten bikes for me during that time. His amazingly high quality work and attention to detail is second to none. I have won many concourse awards with the motorcycles Charlie has restored. I recently shipped my 1971 CB750 K1 to his Glendale shop for a partial restoration and a complete major service. This bike had not been used for almost thirty years. I travelled from from the Bay Area to Glendale when it was ready for collection and rode it back to San Bruno and what a pleasure that was! The bike now runs better than the day it left the factory thanks to Charlie. He has always completed my projects on time and at a very reasonable price. I have owned at least fifty classic Honda Motorcycles and there is no one else that I would allow turn a spanner on them. My next project is a 69 Sandcast which will soon be sitting on Charlie's restoration bench, I know exactly how it will be when it leaves his shop. Perfect. read more

Charlie's Place - 71 CB750 K1 - Motorcycle Repair Near Me - Glendale, California

Charlies place - The best shop around LA for your vintage Honda, seriously. I don't even know where to start.. But let me put it the way, Brandon and Charlie are first and foremost great honest guys with a genuine passion and extensive knowledge of these bikes. My first bike, a '70 CB350, was more or less an unreliable mess when I bought it. I knew from the get go I should have taken it to Charlies but on a friends recommendation took it to a non Honda specific shop, wrong move. Long story short I finally got a clue and took it to Charlies. They did an initial assessment, which cost around $100, and caught so many things the first shop overlooked! It was a whole laundry list of repairs but I wanted it done properly and by the right mechanics so I went ahead and gave them the go ahead. I know Brandon wouldn't steer me in the wrong direction and in the long run it was beyond worth it to have these particular guys working on my bike. Aside from the fact they are experts in their field, which can be intimating, especially for a female, they have never once made me feel inferior, in fact, several times they've opened things up or pulled out pieces to actually show me how certain things work so I could have a better understanding as well as a visual reference. Since my initial repairs I've come in several times with stupid problems (my own fault, of course) and Brandon never gives me too much shit and is always willing to take time out of his super busy days to help me out, with a smile on his face, no less. I'm constantly recommending this shop to all my friends who have Honda's because knowing what I know now I would have never ever ever take my Honda anywhere else, which I learned the hard way, so you don't have to! read more

Charlies place is incredible and have the best customer service around! I purchased an electronic ignition for my 69 Cb350, but couldn't get it timed right due to a variance in the cam, not the electronic ignition. Charlie and the team were great answering all my emails and working out the problem to help get my bike going. I got the electronic ignition to work perfectly, which is built very well and arrived quickly in the mail! I definitely recommend them to everyone. read more

Charlie didn't have any mufflers that would fit on my vintage Honda trails bike so he welded a patch and remounted the bracket on my broken one. He then painted it and had it ready for pick up just a few hours later. It looks great and he did it for a very reasonable price. read more

These guys are the best. I picked up a 78 CB750K on the side of the road for a couple hundred bucks. Figured it needed some loving. Tuned it up a bit then it went on me on the road. Heard about Charlie from some friends who used to take their bikes to him up in SF. I had my bike sent up to them on a trailer and delivered since I live on the westside and couldn't get up there during the week. They let me know all the problems I had with it. ( I was basically riding on a deathtrap ) and they took me through everything that they were going to do to it. Complete rewiring, taking out the airbox and replacing with new carbs, rebuilding brakes and new tires, the list goes on. The thing I really appreciated about this was that they weren't just doing this to get more money outta me. They did only what was necessary and and to make the bike sing like it's supposed to. They finished it up and I wasn't able to get to Glendale during the week so Charlie and Cybelle met me on Saturday on their day off which was incredibly nice because they knew how badly I wanted to ride the bike again. I showed up and Charlie took me through everything, and told me all about the new choke and the proper way to warm it up and how to ride the old girl. Once I started riding it, it was like a whole new animal. Like I'd never really ridden it before. It rips now. If you have a vintage Honda, these are THE guys to go. Best work in town and best people around. read more

Charlie rebuilt the motor on my 1969 Honda Cl 350 scrambler he is very meticulous About all aspects of his work. He uses genuine Honda parts when available and assures that the engine is retuned to factory specs. His own brand of electronic ingnition works flawless at all rpm and povides more horsepower due to a constant reliable spark. He is not inexpensive but you get what you pay for! The vintage Hondas are art and historic and they are engineered to last and Charlie treats them as such. If you want your bike to run perfect at no expense Charlie and his staff are the ones to go to. read more

I don't know where to begin.... I've taken my bike to various garages over the years, and something always f***s up after a while/ they can't seem to fix something. so when I found out about Charlie's Place- a vintage Honda specialist, I was happy to give it a try, but didn't expect a lot tbh. They very quickly gave me a long list of problems with the bike - I pretty much built the bike from almost scratch about a year or more ago, so I knew what worked/ what didn't need doing, and everything they mentioned that needed to be worked on, or needed a new part, was legit. I thought it was a bit pricey at first... But I hadn't ever had such a thorough examination of my bike ('72 Honda CL 350) and I decided to bite the bullet and let them do their thing- after all I had just moved to C.A and my bike would be my only daily mode of transport, so I want to rely on it. They gave me an estimate of the time it would take, an a run down in writing of every single thing they would need to do, and emailed and called me to give me updates and photos on its progress. It actually ended up being fixed sooner than they said, and when I went to collect it, Charlie was there to give me a run through in person of every thing he'd done to the bike. Great guy... He obviously sees working on vintage Hondas as more than just a job, and it really shows. I've had a few old bikes, but my baby now runs better than it ever did, it's an absolute pleasure to ride, and I never worry about if it's going to break down - and that peace of mind - as any vintage vehicle owner knows- is priceless . Thanks again Charlie & Cybelle- will definitely be coming back in the future (if I even need to!) Can't recommend highly enough, would give 6 stars if I could. read more

I walked in and saw a friend's bike being worked on so I knew I was in good hands. Charlie helped me by supplying an OEM part I couldn't find elsewhere - original Honda quality at a great price. Nice people too :) read more

I'm a solid believer in shops only working on their preferred brand of bike on so many levels! For my BMW i go to a airhead specialist and same for my Guzzi i go to a Guzzi guy then there's Charlie's Place. This shop knows vintage Honda inside & out, there is no mystery and he has a bounty of parts at his disposal that at times can take you months to track down or they show up via ebay and they're hammered. Also before any work starts they spell out costs very clearly before any work. All & all, this shop is top notch, honest and thorough. Charlie helped me on my black bomber for a year to get running as reliable as a new bike which was no easy task, this thing has been put through hell and back. I also use his killer ignition on my bomber and my Honda GP race bike. I wouldn't think of bringing my Honda any where else. Super huge thanks to Charlies Place! read more

Love this place, i had a bike that needed fixing, i was on the road again in no time.