50cc Hondas. From weakness to enjoyment of life

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Purchasing classics there

The introduction of the bike was earth-shattering. Those of the first cars too. Before the assembly line was introduced in the car industry, driving was something for the happy few. For the people with more haste and less money, a clever intermediate step was devised: the motorcycle.

Especially after WWII, the demand for affordable motorized transport was very high. Also in Japan where the Americans had drastically changed the infrastructure. WWII was the basis for the motorization of Japan, which shortly before that was still quite medieval. WWII can be described mildly as… the time for Honda.

Of course the first Hondas were mere means of transport, upgraded bicycles

But after that things moved quickly, fueled by Honda's genius. Around the XNUMXs, the global economy was once again so booming that functionality was no longer the only consideration. Honda's famous slogan: 'You meet the nicest people on a Honda' was the strongest foundation for this.

Motorcycling was no longer for the 1% hooligan biker clubs on ex army Harleys

Motorcycling became something that combined functionality with pleasure. For the time being, the functionality was apparent from the cylinder capacity: with 50 cc you were already seriously on the road. And what if those 50cc bikes were nicely sculpted and turned out to be much better technically than the rest? Then you did business. And doing business was the approach. Doing big business, turning numbers. Before that, Honda seized the possibilities of and for mass production: Honda used pressed steel frames.

Honda was inspired for the Super Cubs during a company visit to Germany.

There he saw how the Germans made mopeds. Soichiro must have thought: “Watashi mo kibō!”. And of course that means: “I want to!” During visits to Italian scooter and moped manufacturers his idea must have been: “Watashi wa shitaku arimasen!” “I don't want that!” He liked the Italian products. But they did not meet his quality requirements.

Making press molds is an expensive mechanical engineering business. But once you have such a press in production, it continuously spits out left and right frame shells that only have to be put together for a while.

But the market asked for something less serious.

Something sportier. That is why Honda came up with the C1960 for 110. At least that was a Real Sporty Motorcycle. In an English test, only a quarter of a century or so ago, Honda's best and most charismatic 50cc sports bike was the first C110 'Sports Cub'. And who are we to comment on that? The C 110 had a C 100 power source adapted to the sporty approach. The extra powerrrr (5 instead of 4,5 hp) came from a higher compression. The higher temperature, which caused the higher compression, was effectively combated with an aluminum cylinder head instead of a cast iron one. The motor was just a pushrod operated overhead valve. Such a C 110 was the first 50 cc engine in England that could be driven at 50 miles per hour. And the first to stay intact.

The first C110s had to make do with three, but four gears were soon on board. The C 110 had a pressed steel backbone frame. No hand-welded tubular steel frame, which neatly housed the air filter and electrics, and the mixture had to travel quite a bit through the long, curved intake manifold. The swingarm front fork was still very 'fifties', but the high-angled exhaust system was the mother of everything we see on all-road/off-road motorcycles today. Including the beautifully perforated heat shield.

The same model was also available as a solo seat or with a regular low-lying exhaust. They are then called C 111 and C 110 D or C 114 respectively. To increase ease of use, the small Japanese had closed chain guards and the now seriously sought-after 'plastic' anti-splash lips on the rear mudguard. For people who only went for raw power, Honda made the unbridledly powerful C1961 machines with a larger bore from 115. That led to a cylinder capacity of 54 cc.

Also read:
- More stories about classic engines
- Honda CB350 Four. Honda's smallest four-cylinder
- Honda CB450 DOHC (1965-1974)
- Honda and the Bami blocks
- Honda C72-77. Still not hot!

50cc Hondas. From weakness to enjoyment of life
50cc Hondas. From weakness to enjoyment of life
50cc Hondas. From weakness to enjoyment of life
50cc Hondas. From weakness to enjoyment of life

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10 comments

  1. In the past (1977-78) of course also had a 4 stroke HONDA. My best buddy had an SS50. That Honda was literally a breath of fresh air: regular petrol (available everywhere) and less stench and smoke when you drove to the pub and back in succession.
    They were small mopeds compared to the Germans. But in the end it was: size doesn't matter and Honda was right.

  2. When I was 16, the life goal of almost every male fellow student was to first do a month's holiday work, and with the money they bought a 50cc as tough as possible, often with some extra help from the parents. (in Germany this was 80cc from 16 years).
    This 50 cc was replaced by something heavier when you were 18.
    In addition, a stereo system with the largest possible speakers was also on the wish list of almost every teenager.
    In 2022, the youth is focused on long navel-gazing on the latest iPhone.
    Well, times are changing, now people drive almost exclusively on scooters, I haven't seen normal 50cc mopeds for a long time.

    • Peter, not all youth. There is still hope
      My son (for example) has a phone that has grown into his hand. And a game console, an internet TV, is playing football, etc etc.
      But he also has a Derbi GPR50 to drive around and tinker with. Sometimes together with his father 🤗
      He goes to school by bicycle. So that moped is pure hobby.

  3. I drove an SS50 myself, also fixed the centrifugal limiter and the motor ran over 70 on the nippon-seiki counter. The fixtures were Honda's: solid, robust, strong (aluminium housing switches), the ascending pipe, economical and the sound ❤️. The SS already had an OHC, and the frame matched my later FS1 (Yamaha's 2-stroke opponent) in shape. Often copied never surpassed!

  4. Maurice, totally agree. The somewhat later version was called an 'S', after which research the earlier type with the flat or right-angle flywheel (as opposed to the beveled edge on the S-type) was called an 'E'.
    But with reservation.
    Both also improved by replacing a less restrictive air filter – in practice with the filter element broken out. Super-efficient, super reliable and soon the moped with which you could distinguish yourself from the Kreidler and Zündapp audience, which also had to dig considerably deeper into the pouch. A fellow student built a second tank under the buddy by welding (or having welded) a plate with a filler cap on it and drummed it to Spain – and back, coffee-brown sound and all. Strange that you see them so little, but perhaps because they were also seen as a women's model (but never saw a girl riding one) and did not have the macho look like the aforementioned German two-strokes.

    • The first type from '63 is called an A.
      Postmen loved the C310 with low entry and Jawa patent halfaautomatic coupling.
      The C320 was the men's model with tank in the normal spot.

  5. And then there was (also) in NL the Honda C310. Also with such a sheet steel frame, a semi-automatic clutch and a 3 speed manual transmission that pulled a key back and forth to select the desired 3 constant mesh cog to move forward in the desired way. Not synchronized and therefore 'double clutch' switching. I drove about 40.000 km with it. Apparently they are very scarce these days and the chances of encountering one with leggings are actually even less than that of a Martian entering the front door. They were available in red, blue and black. At some point the engine received an update in which cylinder head, carburetor, camshaft and flywheel were changed. That version wanted considerably better from its place. Replacing the spring in the flywheel with a piece of welding wire resulted in an increase in the top speed of almost 20 km/h. Gloves and a tool kit fit under the saddle. A best moped. With today's fuel price they were definitely a blessing!!

    • Besides the bikes I have a pack of Honda 50cc; a '66 PC50A (OHC) and a '68 C310S (so later type).
      The S has a semicircular combustion chamber and delivered a little more punch, although you notice that especially when accelerating.
      Consumption 1 in 60 is easily achievable, and the vertical tank and (Jawa patent!) centrifugal clutch made it a popular moped among postmen; switch, but not connect.
      He doesn't really like it very robust, long full throttle ... because no oil pump.
      A locked flywheel provides approximately 15 km/h extra

    • My love had one. The only night he was outside he was stolen. I found the perpetrators and arranged things. The moped had been demolished, but a crying single mother promised to pay my price in parts. The payments stopped. I ran 200 copies of the boys' names and addresses and handed them out to two comprehensive schools. Because there were more Hondaatjes lost. I then approached the two mothers with the urging that the installment payments should go ahead. I got the police at my door because of my copies handed out. I got even more police at the door because there had been an attempt to set the house of one of the boys on fire. But I had an alibi. In the meantime, the mothers had filed a complaint of extortion. I forced the last installments. And there the police were again… Those were good times with those old Honda mopeds… And then you saw the police too. Where did that blue on the street go?

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