I received a comment on my last post and Marshall said he wished he had a Honda 90 & a Sport 50. Just to clarify things, here's a little background on what Honda was selling and all the cool kids, like yours truly, were riding back in the mid-sixties - early seventies.
This is the one that really started it all for Honda in the United States, the Cub 50. Three speed automatic shifter and a stamped sheet metal frame. Notice the lack of helmets and the babe in formal dress sitting side-saddle. Definitely a different time.
This is the one I had, the Sport 50. Since I didn't have to worry about getting my tux dirty, I could ride without the splash guards for my legs. This model had a 4 speed manual transmission and for a 15-year-old kid truly was more fun than a barrel of monkeys. A couple of my buddies also had these. I bought mine used from a guy my brother worked with. It was blue also, but the seat had silver and black stripes. It had a 65cc kit also, so I was the fastest of the three of us.
This is a Honda 90 like the buddy I mentioned in the last post had. He had a windshield and saddle bags on his. One of my fondest motorcycling memories is when we rode our bikes to his grandparents' house one chilly fall afternoon. It was probably not much more than 40 degrees when we left for a twenty mile ride on the little Hondas. I was about froze up when we got there but his grandmother was just pulling a grape pie out of the oven when we walked in the back door. She fixed us both a hot drink and when the pie cooled a bit, she served each of us a big piece. Just about the best piece of pie I've ever had in my life. My wife heard me tell the story a few times and she finally decided to bake one herself. Her pie is every bit as good, but the cold bike ride and the warm pie in the old farm house kitchen with good people? Hard to top that.
The guy who lived down the road from me had one of these, a Honda Super 90. He was a year ahead of me in school. He had an older brother that was into all things mechanical and his dad had an airplane that he flew out of the grass strip behind the house. The older brother had a small dirt track he made and all the neighborhood hooligans would gravitate there to race go-carts and motorcycles. If we behaved ourselves, we would get a chance to go up in the airplane once in a while too.
Life was sure enough good for us teenagers back then. Things changed dramatically after graduating from high school, though. Lot of drama back in the late sixties. That reality of being an adult took some adjusting. And in my case at least, quite a few mistakes were made along the way. At least I learned valuable lessons from most of them and was smart enough to not repeat them.
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I went out for breakfast yesterday with my buddy Kevin, and like a dumbass, we were so busy discussing the state of education and the world in general, I forgot to wish him happy birthday.
Happy Birthday, Kevin!
3 comments:
it's not a big motorcycle just a groovy little motorbike. they had to of gotten free bikes for ever, after that song.
Honda would have had to give the Beach Boys free bikes as well. Looking back, I'm glad that I had one of the little Hondas. My next step up the ladder was a Harley 250 Sprint. Had a variety of bikes over the years - still riding over 50 years later.
My first scoot was a 1970 Honda CL-70. A bit later than the generation of bikes you all are discussing. A full on street bike, I rode it to the store and to school when I was 13, until I got stopped by the police without a license. The judge slapped my dad on the wrist, and I had to park it until I got my motorcycle temps a year later at age 14.
My second bike was an older Dream 305. Wish I still had both of them.
Rich in Ky
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