Honda Sells Its 60,000,000th Super Cub
The venerable honda super cub motorcycle is the best-selling vehicle in the history of internal combustion, and there are now more than 60 million of them on the road. That's an amazing figure that speaks to the strength of a 49 cc motorcycle Soichiro honda designed 50 years ago, helping spur Japan's eventual rise to dominance in the motorcycle industry.
The Cub was a turning point in the history of motorcycles because it took them from the hands of The Wild Bunch and gave them to suburbanites with ads promising "You meet the nicest people on a honda." It brought motorcycles into the mainstream, and made personal transportation affordable to people around the world. Sometime last month, honda says, the 60 millionth honda super cub rolled off an assembly line.
The Cub isn't very fast and it isn't very pretty, but it's everything you need in basic transportation - cheap, efficient and damn near indestructible. It'll take as much abuse as you can throw at it and, like Max Mosely, come back for more. You can even toss it off a building and it'll start right up.
See for yourself...
Honda_cub_02 Two-stroke motors were the dominant engine when honda introduced its innovative four-stroke Cub in 1958. The step-through design, big tires and clutch-free operation made it a snap to ride. honda's steadily improved the mechanicals - the Cub got fuel injection not long ago - and offered models with bigger displacement under different names, but the look hasn't changed much over the years. It still gets better than 150 mpg.
Cubs are workhorses, and it's not uncommon to see them loaded with packages or people wending through traffic in cities throughout Asia. They're cheap to buy - about $1,400 US new - and you'll find them in 160 countries around the world. honda's sold more Cubs than there are people in Italy, and and the best selling car in the world - the Toyota Tercel Corolla, at 35 million - doesn't even come close to the Cub's sales figures.
As great as the Cub is, you can't get new ones in America anymore. honda quit selling them here in the 1980s, when the bike was called the Passport.
Source: http://blog.wired.com/cars/...
issued: Tuesday, May 27, 2008
updated: Tuesday, May 27, 2008
More recent news:
- Honda to offer hybrid motorcycles from 2011
- Honda Introduces '09 Models Including ABS
- Four cylinder Honda Monkey
- Kawasaki to build Japan's fastest train
- News flash: more new products
- Thundersprint Speed Trials Report
- SL70 XL70 Exhausts
- Yamaha FZ16 in India
- First place for Sturgis Lammes in Micromax
- SS50ZK3: Ride In Color
More honda news:
Honda to offer hybrid motorcycles from 2011
Honda Introduces '09 Models Including ABS
Four cylinder Honda Monkey
News flash: more new products
SL70 XL70 Exhausts
SS50ZK3: Ride In Color
1980 Honda Lineup Poster
Honda FCX Clarity Fuel Cell Vehicle Lease Program Begins with First Customer Delivery
Cross country Scramblers
Finally! Parts for 1982 CBX1000C
Pimp your Dax to the Max!
Cool Classic CB125T's added
CB750 small decal kit
Honda's eighties Toy Motocompo repairable again
World's First Electronically-Controlled 'Combined ABS' for Super Sport Bikes
New parts for Honda CX500C
Customize your Shadow with stunning new accessories.
Reliving the 60ties with Honda's classic racecar
Honda CB900F Windscreen
Highlighted: Honda CB200 - a Classic Commuter
Honda Sells Its 60,000,000th Super Cub
C100 Astrea Partslist added
Just in: Honda Benly Emblem Sets
Just added: MB50Z MB-5 1979
Attention MB50 owners
22 resources for CB250RS owners
Just in: CB750 OEM exhaust Kit
Honda to show off experimental "walking assist device"
Honda says to build half billion-dollar plant in Japan
UK Launch - Four brand new Honda models