It is, of course, common knowledge that Honda’s legendary step-through motorcycle, known in many places as the Cub, is the most-produced motor vehicle in history. By 2017, Honda had made and sold over 100 million of these little jiggers and continue to do so. The arrival a couple of years ago of the Super Cub will only mean that this trend will continue.
In 1956 Honda and his chief engineer, Fujisawa toured Germany and were struck by the huge popularity of the mopeds and scooters that cluttered the streets. Fujisawa thought that a variation of the concept could be worth producing but Honda didn’t see any future in it, he was too intent on looking at what was happening in grand prix racing and whether he could get into that arena.
Fujisawa didn’t think that mopeds and scooters were “the go” but he did think there was a market for a small, utilitarianian motorcycle that could be produced and sold cheaply and in large quantities. Central to the plan was a bike that was suitable for Asian markets and mopeds were too fragile for rough, unmade roads and scooters were way too complex an their small wheels made them totally unsuitable for those same sorts of roads.
Eventually Honda was convinced and the Cub went into production. Its plastic parts were, literally, plastic, the first motorcycle to be fitted with parts made of such material. And it took over not just Asia, but the world. The invasion of the USA by Honda and the Cub. aided by the iconic, “You meet the nicest people on a Honda” ad campaign is the stuff of legends.
My exposure to the Cub (it wasn’t called that here in Australia) took place long before I became interested in motorcycles. In the 60’s it was impossible NOT to notice them as they were everywhere. The Cub embodied the “cheap but cheerful” mantra. Yes, you did have to have a motorcycle licence to ride one (unlike other jurisdictions where this was not required – a clever wheeze on Honda’s part) but they suddenly meant that young people, especially, could have an independent means of transport without having to buy a car.
Consequently the Cub became popular with nurses, city workers and especially students, and it was at Teacher’s College, in 1969 that I suddenly became aware of just how the Cub had taken over this whole corner of the motoring market. The car park at WTC was littered with the things, mostly 50’s and some 90’s for the more affluent students :). The Cub was perfect for a student, it ran on the smell of an oily rag, maintenance was simple and cheap and you could carry your bag with your books, lecture notes and paraphernalia anywhere you wanted to go. Some students even carried their musical instruments with them (mostly guitars and small wind instruments) though it was rare to see the more expensive ones slung over a student’s back. Certainly here the seed was planted for my (much) later exploits of taking a guitar to school with me on the bike when I started doing casual relief school teaching.
Of course there wasn’t really any emphasis on safety equipment back then, riders just rode in their street clothes with a basic helmet to satisfy the law. Indeed, it was touted as one of the major advantages of the Cb that, like a scooter, a woman could ride the Cub while wearing a skirt (though when I was at college, the skirts were so short that that factor didn’t really come into play)
The Cub was to spawn a myriad of variants, the most noticeable on for us being the ubiquitous postie bike, for years Australia’s best selling motorcycle but Honda continued to make the Cub in mostly unchanged form because people still wanted to buy them.
The new model with a 125cc engine is more sophisticated, of course, but stays true to the original concept in almost every way and should continue to sell well. A classic case of sticking with a winning formula.
And yet, despite having heaps of friends who owned them while I was at college, I only ever rode one once and found it to be a totally unnerving experience. I’m sure that, had I had the chance of doing a few more rides, I’d have become a motorcyclist much earlier than I eventually did.
Most of my bikes HAVE been Hondas so I guess that advertising catch-phrase is true after all.