Any time your vehicle is compared to such big names as the Ford Model T, the Jeep, or the Volkswagen Beetle, you know you’re on the right track. Honda’s Super Cub motorcycle is such a vehicle, often lumped along with those icons as one of the most important vehicles of the 20th Century. The seller has this 1965 Honda C100, which has a rare Roadster Kit, listed here on eBay in Chesapeake, Virginia, and they’re asking $2,500 or best offer.
You can see the carcass of the Honda Super Cub under the add-on gas tank, seat, and front fender. It turned a step-through, underbone-framed small-displacement motorcycle into something resembling a “real” motorcycle. There were four different kits available, and this is, I think, the best one of them all, the Roadster. There was another one with an add-on gas tank called the Rally, and two other models that didn’t offer such a transformation.
The kits didn’t give a boost to the performance, and any of you who have ridden a 49-cc Honda know what I’m talking about. The kits were also available for the Honda 90 version of the Super Cub, and there was much more in the way of “performance” there. Having sold well over 100 million Super Cubs, Honda only offered these kits for a short while in the 1960s, and they’re pretty rare to find today.
This example is said to have been restored by the former owner, and it looks nice. It’s when you start digging into the photos that things start unraveling a bit. There are a few gouges in the paint, and those may be hard to touch up without looking like they were touched up. Some small bits appear a rusty and unfinished, as if maybe this was meant to be a display bike rather than a true restoration. The seller has had it for a dozen years and got it after it was restored, but it was clunked around a bit during a move, which is what the nicks and scratches are from.
You can see surface rust underneath and in some other areas, and it looks like it wasn’t totally disassembled and restored, but more of a cosmetic job. The engine is Honda’s 49-cc OHV four-stroke single with 4.5 horsepower. It’s wearing a different carb, but the original comes with it. The front wheel wobbles a bit, and there is just generally some work to do to bring this one up to the show-stopper it should be. Have any of you seen a Honda Cub with a Roadster Kit?
I’ve never seen one of these Thank you.BF!
Pretty sure it’s been listed on BF before…..or one just like it.
I always try to search to see if a vehicle has been featured in the past and I didn’t see one with the Roadster kit. Here’s a search that came up with just this one.
https://barnfinds.com/?s=Honda+roadster
But, we have seen two with the Rally kit.
https://barnfinds.com/?s=Honda+rally
I don’t think I ever saw that tank/seat arrangement but there were a few step-thru cubs in our region back in the day. I don’t think I ever saw a bike that could take that much abuse. Interesting that they had their day then they were gone. Personally I never rode one…
We sure put ours to the test. I’m wondering about the air cleaner box, it was mounted on that center tube. Sold for an undisclosed amount.
Ladies and gentlemen, a standing ovation please( clap, clap, clap), this guy is amazing. Whilst looking at the FB ads for that $1,000 Z1( cough), I actually came across a bike like this, and while not near as nice, I was surprised to see such a thing. I could find no images of this, and it’s rare to stump the computer. Having had a Honda 50, this would have been so cool. We took the white plastic guard off to make it more off road worthy, but still looked corny. I always felt silly riding that Honda step through bike, a “girls” motorcycle as it were, but it started a lifelong passion with motorcycles I truly miss. While the 50ccs may be a bit light on power, it’s better than a moped, and way better than an Ebike. 45mph in the racing hunch is possible. Cool find.
You are way too kind, sir, thanks much! I love the oddball stuff for sure.
A friend of mine had a moped that had this treatment. It made it look more like a mini motorcycle than a step-through slowpoke.
I want it.
Ugly as hell and I would love to have it. It’s probably a steal at that price.
Auction update: someone made an offer the seller couldn’t refuse. It sold for an undisclosed price.