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Difference between revisions of "Honda C100"
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The '''Honda C100''' is a 50[[cc]], [[single cylinder]], [[four stroke]], [[street motorcycle]] manufactured by [[Honda]] beginning in 1958 through today and more commonly known as the Honda '''Supercub'''. | The '''Honda C100''' is a 50[[cc]], [[single cylinder]], [[four stroke]], [[street motorcycle]] manufactured by [[Honda]] beginning in 1958 through today and more commonly known as the Honda '''Supercub'''. | ||
==History== | ==History== | ||
With more than 60 million sold worldwide, it is the best selling powered vehicle of all time and thus the best-selling | With more than 60 million sold worldwide, it is the best selling powered vehicle of all time and thus the best-selling motorcycle of all time. This 50cc Honda is still produced today, 50 years after its inception. Out of all the brilliant bikes produced by Honda; the CB750 superbike, Mike Hailwood's magnificent six-cylinder racers, even the mighty Gold Wing, there is little doubt that the most important of all of them is the '''Honda C100 Super Cub''' of 1958.<ref name="Brown1991">{{cite book|author=Roland Brown|title=Honda: the complete story|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=BBzaAAAACAAJ|accessdate=10 December 2010|date=May 1991|publisher=Crowood|isbn=9781852235444}}</ref> The first one was sold in August 1958. If there is one motorized vehicle that can be said to have brought mobility to the masses it is the '''Super Cub'''. It can be thought of as the first scooterette, a totally new type of machine that had many characteristics of a scooter but the large wheels and stability of a motorcycle proper. After two years of production Honda was the world's biggest manufacturer. By 1960 over a half a million Super Cubs were sold every year, with a peak of 900,000 in 1963.<ref name="Brown1991"> | ||
In 1964, two larger engined versions were offered, the CM90 (OHV 87cc) and C65 (OHC 63cc) with slight alterations to frame and styling. Around 1967, the whole motorcycle was uprated, the 50cc engine going from pushrod 4.5bhp to SOHC 4.9bhp (a bored-down C65 engine) called the C50, and similarly the 90cc was redesigned with an OHC engine called the C90. Though the basic design of Cub remained unchanged, slightly new styling features and improvements were integrated, most visible being the enclosed front forks. In the 1980s, Honda fitted a new capacitor discharge ignition system (CDI) to replace the earlier contact points ignition, thereby helping to meet increasingly strict emission standards in markets such as the US. However, many experts on the Cub testify to the fact that Honda used the CDI system for better reliability and fuel efficiency, with the emissions improvements being an appealing by-product of these goals. | In 1960 Honda introduced the electric start C102 Super Cub; the [[Honda CZ100|CZ100 monkey bike]], with its similar enginge but tiny balloon tires; and the [[Honda C110|C110 Sports Cub]]. In 1964, two larger engined versions were offered, the CM90 (OHV 87cc) and C65 (OHC 63cc) with slight alterations to frame and styling. Around 1967, the whole motorcycle was uprated, the 50cc engine going from pushrod 4.5bhp to SOHC 4.9bhp (a bored-down C65 engine) called the C50, and similarly the 90cc was redesigned with an OHC engine called the C90. Though the basic design of Cub remained unchanged, slightly new styling features and improvements were integrated, most visible being the enclosed front forks. In the 1980s, Honda fitted a new capacitor discharge ignition system (CDI) to replace the earlier contact points ignition, thereby helping to meet increasingly strict emission standards in markets such as the US. However, many experts on the Cub testify to the fact that Honda used the CDI system for better reliability and fuel efficiency, with the emissions improvements being an appealing by-product of these goals. | ||
[[Image:Honda-C100-Ad.jpg| | |||
=="You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda"== | |||
[[Image:Honda-C100-Ad.jpg|right|thumb|Honda C100 Ad]] | |||
That it sold superbly well would be understating the obvious. It was backed by one of the best advertising campaigns ever - "You meet the nicest people on a Honda", with illustrations showing many different types of people enjoying the ride - it rapidly became the best-selling motorcycle of all time. The "Nicest People" ad originated with the Grays agency in Los Angeles, and it appeared in general interest magazines like ''Life'' and even in upstart and radical publications like [[Playboy]], before making its way to television. The campaign proved key to starting Honda's huge export drive. Just 3 years before they had overtaken [[Tohatsu]] as the leading Japanese motorcycle manufacturer. In the US it completely changed the image of motorcycles, as much of the affluent public had previously thought that only greasy gangsters rode bikes due to the image conveyed by the [[Hell's Angels]] and films such as The Wild One. | |||
==1958-67 C100== | ==1958-67 C100== | ||
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* Available in the same | * Available in the same colors as the C100, depending on country of sale. | ||
* Engine: 49cc OHV single cylinder | * Engine: 49cc OHV single cylinder | ||
* Transmission: 3-speed with an automatic clutch | * Transmission: 3-speed with an automatic clutch | ||
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* Spark Plug: NGK [[NGK C7HSA|C7HSA]] | * Spark Plug: NGK [[NGK C7HSA|C7HSA]] | ||
==References== | |||
{{reflist}} | |||
{{motorcycle-stub}} | {{motorcycle-stub}} | ||