A New Addition - 1982 Honda C70 Passport

Growing up in Hawaii, I remember seeing these small step-through motorcycles from Honda, that came with the ad "the nifty, thrifty, Honda 50." It was called the Honda Cub, with other variations as the Supercub and the Passport, a 70cc model.

The impression that those bikes left on me had an up swell this year. I started to research these bikes online, and found out that they are still sold (but not in the US). Honda celebrated 60 million in sales of the Cub in 2008, a remarkable feat. It was also named by the Discovery Channel as the "greatest bike of all time."

James May with the Telegraph recently wrote a nice testimonial to the Cub, and the genius behind this "people's motorcycle."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/columnists/jamesmay/3267424/Honda-Cub-The-greatest-machine-ever.html

While you might not be able to purchase a new one in the US, there are a few used ones up for sale on ebay or craigslist, which can range from very, very used to near pristine condition, with the price adjusting accordingly. I happened to be talking with a colleague at the office about my interest in a Passport, and she told me that her Dad was the original owner of a local Honda dealer in Seattle, and that she remembered him having a 1982 Honda Passport on his boat, with the bike now owned by her sister. I contacted her sister, and asked about the Passport, and she mentioned that she had been thinking about selling it. I asked her to please consider me, as I was a Honda fan (see my earlier post that proves this).

A few weeks passed and I hadn't heard from her - in the meantime I purchased a 1978 Honda CT90 (I was inspired by a blog entry from Kano where he reminisced about that bike in his life - more on this one in a future post). Then, I got an e-mail from her saying that she had talked to her Dad, and that they agreed I would make a great owner of the Passport!

When I came to pick her up, she was in great working condition, starting right up for me. It's what I would call a "semi-automatic" in that you have to shift gears, but there is no clutch lever. It was very quiet - the engine has such a soft tone to it. Cosmetically, there was rust from being on a boat, the leg fairing was cracked in several places, and the seat cover and basket needed to be replaced. But, she looked beautiful to me, and I brought her home.

Over the summer I repaired the cracked fairing with superglue and white caulk, replaced the seat cover, started removing rust from the chrome tailpipe, replaced the shopping basket, and changed the oil.

Since I live in a pretty hilly area, 70cc's won't allow me to keep up with traffic (both the motorized and walking varieties!), so I trailer it to town and ride it around on the flatlands. She gets a lot of looks, and I end up meeting many people, young and old, who had great memories of their times with this bike.