Page Three: How about a little Honda History!

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Honda development after world War II:

Soichiro Honda was a poor Japanese boy who learned how to repair bicycles through the efforts of his father. By age 22 he had is own repair shop. He raced bikes and attended the Hamamatsu School of Technology and was a rebelious but creative student. After World War II, he purchased several hundred crude single cylinder engines and attached them to bicycles. After running out of salvaged motors, he began to build his own. Honda had refined the piston ring, which was a weak link on older engines, and began producing engines which had a reputation for reliability. From here, the real story begins, from innovation to mass production, Honda led the pack in innovation, reliability, and consistent progressive development.

1947 Honda bicycle with a motor!

Not a new idea but the one to put Honda on the map in Japan.

A 1950 prototype Honda moving toward the "Dream".

This motor bike was a huge step toward the future of Honda's future development.

Below is a 1956 Dream.

This was a significant development for Honda making him a serious manufacturer of motorcycles.

Pictured below is the 1959 Cub. The machine which changed it all.

The cub is still produced today and still looks very much like the original. Honda celebrated the 50 millionth Cub being produced in Jyly of 2008.

The 50cc Super Sport was a huge seller in the mid 1960's.

The 50 cc Super Sport was wildly popular and led to the 90cc Super Sport.

This is a later version of the 250/305 dream from the mid 1960's.

A Dream which looked very similar to to one below, but not as refined, was produced as early as 1959. The Japanese version had a high pipe and was called a "scrambler"(not to be confused with the 1963 version called the CL series).

The 250/305 Scramblers sold well and were good looking motorcycles as well.

Go to "page two" to see a picture of the Super Hawk. In either 250cc or 305cc versions, these bikes sold by the tens of thousands and prepared riders for larger bikes.

So much for the older bikes, what Honda's are popular today!

For 2010 Honda will offer a "bobber" called the Phantom. The Fury chopper has done well, so why not continue with the "bad boy" bikes. It will be based on the 750cc series. At $7.995, I think Honda will clear their showrooms of these very cool bikes! Honda, why not make an 1800cc version of the Phantom if this bike does well?

A European model which will be brought to the US in 2010 is the Varadero. It's called the Deauville in other countries! It's a 700cc (actually 680cc) version of the ST 1300. It already has a good reputation overseas.

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The Fury, based on the VTX 1300c, has been very popular. I called a number of dealers and they had sold their quota and were unable to get more bikes till later this year! I talked to a new owner, and he stated that the bike is comfortable to ride, unlike many $30,000+ choppers. They really do look good.