- The Honda Super Cub 50 was the right bike at the right time, tapping an enormous market that its competition couldn't touch. The motorcycle scene in 1958 was like a giant Hell's Angels convention, rife with images of black leather, skulls and antisocialism. However, this era of little pink houses and McCarthyism was far from compatible with the social deviance that the average motorcycle implied. Those who craved the simple fun and efficiency of a motorbike were out of luck if they dared to show up at a "nice girl's" home for a date at eight. It was against this backdrop that Honda introduced the Super Cub, blitzing American airwaves and magazines with upbeat jingles and pictures of clean-cut Cub owners smiling and laughing.
- The Cub 50 uses an "underbone" frame. The underbone is similar to a step-through scooter in concept, but uses motorbike-sized wheels and lacks the scooter's trademark floorboard. The Cub 50 got its name from its 49 cc displacement, four-stroke air-cooled engine. While the Honda's four horsepower may not seem like much, this engine remains in production today nearly unchanged from its 1960s overhead-cam configuration. The Cub used a three- or four-speed rotary-type transmission, rear swing-arm suspension, a centrifugal clutch and drum brakes front and rear. The Cub utilized a carburetor until 2007, when Honda switched over to fuel injection in order to meet new emissions and horsepower standards.
- Annihilating the much-vaunted Beetle by a wide margin, Honda had -- as of 2008 -- sold more than 60 million Cubs worldwide. Despite a slow start, Honda had already surpassed its goal sales figures of 1,000 per month a scant two years after the Cub's introduction in America. Demand quickly outstripped supply, and Honda all but pulled its advertisements and dealer expansion through the early 1960s. Honda actually began rolling Cubs out of their new -- in 1963 -- Belgian assembly plant while the building was still under construction. The Cub's popularity rose not so much from its outright speed -- 50 mph with a good tailwind -- or its road course performance, but from its low price, versatility and legendary reliability. The cub remains popular outside of America, where Honda last sold it as the Passport in 1980. The Cub remains on sale in more than 160 countries.
- Like any vehicle that's been around nearly as long as the Nation of Israel, the Cub has received its fair share of aftermarket support. The most popular upgrades usually involved a larger, newer engine; 90-, 100-, 110- and 125 cc Honda engines are a fairly easy retrofit, and will deliver far more performance bang for the buck than anything you can do to a 50 cc engine. Porting the 50 cc engine's cylinder head can be good for as much as a 40-percent increase in power -- two whole horsepower -- especially when combined with a more aggressive camshaft, a larger carburetor, high-flow exhaust and airbox modifications. Two-stroke engines are lighter and more powerful, but lack the four-stroke's reliability and low-rpm torque. Race-prepped 100-plus cc four-strokes -- designed for go-karts, primarily -- can deliver as much as 11 horsepower. Engines like this can put your happy little Cub within a grizzly-hair of the 13-horsepower CBR-125 sport bike.
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