I’m still trying to figure out why a grown man (who shall remain nameless) who is 6′-5″ tall likes such small vehicles: small trucks, small cars, and small motorcycles like this 1970 Honda Z50-AK2. This little monkey bike is listed on eBay with a current bid price of $1,650 but the reserve isn’t met. It’s located in beautiful Malibu, California where I should be located.
The Honda Z50 is sure a cute little thing, isn’t it? Honda is now re-releasing the “Monkey Bike” for the 2019 model year in the US, but it doesn’t have a 49cc engine, it has a 125cc one! Not to mention disc brakes, fuel-injection, etc., all things that no self-respecting kid in the 1970s had a clue about. All they knew was that their friend had a Z50 and they wanted one.
This example is mostly original but the wheels have been restored and they’re wearing new rubber. Also the seat has been recovered and it has a new taillight bracket and assembly. There are a decent amount of scrapes and scratches and it has been dumped over a time or two as evidenced by at least the right grip. Restored bikes can easily run two or three times the current bid price.
The engine is a 49cc single and it has a new “spark plug and oil, valves adjusted, fuel system cleaned, carburetor tuned and refreshed.” The seller says that it “Starts right up. Sounds nice and idles well. Runs very strong and rides great.” These are really fun bikes no matter a person’s age or size, all it takes is not caring about what anyone else thinks and there are those folks who will always make fun of someone else just for kicks. Life is too short to worry about what anyone else thinks, so to heck when them! Have any of you owned a Z50?
They are a fun little bike but that’s all they are, a play toy. Certainly not worth anything close to the price they want for this one!
I can’t speak as to the bike’s value, stateside, but you might want to check out the Monkey Bike Run to see how far people go on these li’l machines, Mark. (cheeky grin)
The Monkey/Mini Trail have a huge cult following in Japan.
Love these little guys! I had a 1970 as a kid, and had a great time riding around old strip minds. I wish I had it back…
Strip minds? I always thought that we rode the strip mimes. After all; a mime is a terrible thing.
The strip mines were great on the razorback top of the piles (dumps) for riding at speed, which was really good training for motocross.
The strip mines are all but gone now. Not many places to swim or dive anymore.
Our little town back the had no less than 32 mini riders cruising on warm summer nights. Street legal back then.
Mine was a Ct-70 and yes it was tons of fun.
I still have my CT70 and it looks large compared to this z50
It appears this one can be licensed and driven in the street. If that’s the case it’s probably a fair price, if not it’s an overpriced “pit bike”.
Steve R
They make an excellent pocket pit bike. However; you can get a Briggs-powered minibike with a centrifugal clutch for a fraction of this price.
In the song “Hey, little Cobra” by the Rip Chords (great name for a band), they sing about the owner towing to the track behind his Cadillac. Meaning; people who could afford Cobras to race had more money than those who had to whack together some clapped out Corvette or Jaguar (which was almost everybody at the track, except those with factory sponsorship).
Today, the Cobra (Factory prototype) driver would have one of these in his entourage for food, bathroom and parts running. The others would have made do with some Briggs or Tecumseh -powered, welded-up mini bike.
My first motorcycle ever was a Yamaha Riverside 60. In an interesting juxtaposition, I had just moved from Riverside, CA to Phoenix, AZ. Now, I was in Phoenix, riding a Riverside.
Ha, that’s a cool Riverside/Phoenix observation, TriPowerVette!
@Scotty Gilbertson – Glad you liked it, sir. Gave you a thumbs up.
When I had mine in 1970, the “50” was not street legal, but the “90” was. These all tend to be extremely overpriced.
I have had several Z50’s. My first motorbike was a Z50.
I am in the process now of building and ST-90 with a 160cc stroker engine to put on the back of our Land Rover as a camp bike.
Never a fan of the 50, but loved the Trail 70, which could go over 50MPH. Nver could figure out why the Briggs engine required all that moving cooling air, while these could sit and idle a while without overheating.
I had a couple, a former car hoarder buddy Bob Spath in the early 90s asked if I knew anyone that wanted one, he had two, another buddy said most RV people liked them but wanted 90cc ones. I told Bob, and asked what he wanted, he said for me, $500 for the pair. I saw one on Ebay at $900 so I said I’d take them, they were original blue and yellow, and in good shape. I cleaned them up, put one on Ebay, a collector from Georgia bought it for $1500, and asked if I knew of others, I said sure, got 3 grand for the pair.
Wasn’t the earlier 50 called a QA? A neighbor had one forty-plus years ago…I’ll bet it is still in his dad’s garage.
The QA 50 was for off road and featured a pushrod ohv engine. The mini debuted in 1970 after the Z50A in 1969. Honda lore had it that the QAs engine started out as a powerplant for washing machines before unit cases housed the drive gear.
My youngest SIL just bought two of the QAs.
I started out driving a 49cc Mini-trail Honda in 1972. Most assuredly the best bike ever built bar none!
More fun than the bigger bikes because it’s pretty difficult to wipe out on a 49cc. Good on gas too!
Bob
Wow, Bob, that Nimbus is quite a machine! Very cool.
I started out on a minibike in 1962, then getting a second one in 1969 before moving on to big bikes.
As many of you know, now I have an ever-growing collection of 50s and agree with Bob that they’re a lot more fun to ride than, say, my VT 750 Aero (which is a nice li’l cruiser).
If you are looking for a NS50F, I have one I’d sell….
What kind of mileage? I have a trail 90,but never checked the gas mileage. I have a rebel that gets about 90 mpg. I bought a new gear for the sprocket and they claim it gets more. I asked a cousin about puttit in after I told him I was getting about 90 mpg. He asked what more did I want? I told him I,d like to get 100 mpg and we laughed.
Somebody chime in on this for me. All the kids ( like 3) where i lived in the late sixties had a Rupp….what I remember is it had a Tecumseh engine………and no one licensed them but we rode them all over in a suburb of a city……..one of those memories stuck in the cobwebs of my mind. Seems like the Rupp was a little cruder than Honda.
I believe you are referring to the Rupp Roadster. I had a friend with one when I had my Honda Cub 50.It had a unique 2 speed, and dusted my Honda 50, up to 35 mph, anyway, then I began to slowly pull ahead.
http://suprememotos.com/other_makes/205873-1969-rupp-roadster-mini-bike.html
Can always count on you HoA😆
As cute as the Monkey Bike is, I’ll stick to my ’83 Heald Super Bronc, it’s size and tires better suit my “adult” stature.
By the time I started riding, at age 8, it was the Honda XR75 that got all the attention. Neat sounding with an aftermarket pipe, and the Miller Mano killer XR was my favorite, at least from the pictures I’d seen in Mini Cycle/BMX Action magazines. Mini bikes like the one above never even got a second glimpse from us kids. Kinda neat now, but the price is so reflective of now days, everything from back then is held in such high value.
They used to, and possibly still do, rent these on Daytona Beach. There’s a strict 5 mph speed limit on the beach, and people were always getting pulled over. Nothing is mentioned about the folding handlebars. The attraction with these, was dad could fold down the bars, and could be loaded in a family sedan’s truck. Lot of bikers got their start on one of these.
I “inherited” the remains of a 1970 CT70 in kit form in the early 80s. A cousin had bought it new and passed it on to another cousin when he upgraded to a 67 Coronet R/T. LOL The second owners beat the living crap out of it on a farm, then attempted repairs using a hammer and cold chisel because they didn’t own an impact screwdriver or any metric tools. They then aged it (boxes of parts) in a barn for about a decade before deciding to scrap it. I happened to be visiting at the time (for better or worse) and said “I can fix that!” They told me to take it if I wanted it and if I could fix it I was a *master* mechanic. Well the gauntlet had been thrown down and I took the challenge. I did return it to fully operable condition and was able to make it look quite good since new parts were still available from Honda. Can’t remember how many hundred I spent but it was worth it. It was a fun, fun, fun toy to zoom around our 17 acres on and I found out that you could hurt yourself pretty badly on one if you got reckless.
I probably owned it for about 10 years before the original owner’s dad was visiting my parents and discovered that they had it. His son had passed away and he desperately wanted it back so I gave it to him. I wonder where it is now. Mine was gold metallic but I always wanted to find a nice cherry red or lime green one. Fun times, good memories.
My CT70 is red, but my Schwinn Sting Ray is lime green metallic. Love the green ,blue ct70.
The closet I came to getting my neck broke was on a mini bike with no brakes. I was about 10 sheets in the wind and asked my girlfriend –cousin if I could take a ride on it and he said sure. I was coming back faster then I should have been goping and went to slow down. That,s when I found out–after I hollered–where,s the brake ! He said they aren,t any. Well I only had one choice–hit a barbed wire fence. Man I can still feel the freight and pain. hahaha People never paid any attention to risks or pain back then. We,d get up and do it again. I,m still like that
I had one exactly like this… I got it for Christmas in 1972. I was 10yrs old and it cost, brand new, $499.00 at the local Honda Dealer. I think the top speed was around 25 so its not street legal. I see it didn’t “meet the reserve” at over $2100.00…wow.
@JC – FIVE BONES – IN 1972? My brother bought a Tri-power GTO in 1973 for $500! GGGggggooooooooddddd LORD!
The QA50 came out in 1972 and used the same basic motor that all singles up to that time had since the early 60’s.
The monkey bike 50 as it has become known lasted thru the 90’s as the Z50R series. Our big sister got a 1969 for graduation and it was abused by the boys. Have a few of 50’s 70’s and 90’s and getting one together for 70th birthday.
Hey -TPV….did your Yamahammer 60 look like this ? Here’s my little sister riding my 1967….
@stillrunners – That was 50 years ago. It did look something like that, if memory doesn’t fail, but I do not recall the upswept, shrouded pipe. That cosmetic was usually reserved for the ‘scramblers’, of which I later had a Honda 125, and a Honda 305 ‘Big Bear’ . My best of the ‘scrambler’ style bikes was a Husqvarna 390 (that was a vicious bike). Thumbs up to you, sir (and to your long suffering sister – I do not know why girls put up with us).
I had one identical to the one pictured above. I bought it for my kids to ride. The guy I bought it from had two of them, one in better shape for $100, and he wanted $50 for the one I bought. My kids rode it a lot, but eventually outgrew it, and it sat in my garage for years. One day, the paperboy stopped and asked if it was for sale. My wife got on eBay, and we were amazed at what they were going for. I listed it there, and it brought $850, plus the guy paid another $200 to have it crated and shipped to Louisiana. Not a bad investment! Kind of wish I hadn’t sold it now, as I have a couple of grandkids who are just about old enough to ride it.
Too bad you didn’t buy them both!
And, I hope that you tipped the paperboy for spurring you to cash in!
If the paper boy delivered the paper in all kinds of weather like I used to. I would have given it to him. Seeing the appreciation on his face would have been worth more to me.
High bid was $2125 and didn’t meet reserve.
Are these seriously worth that much?
If they are to more than one person, Then YES.
That would seem to be the case. I’ve often been puzzled by how many items are valued.
Now one of the things I can’t figure out is how Honda thinks that people will spend between $3500 and $4000 for a new (125cc) version. Slightly higher than the Grom.
No.
Rideing the back water’s of Rockaway Beach N.Y. Those were the day’s my friend, we thought they would never end.
The reaon for the prices these bikes go for is the “nostalgia factor”. You can never go home, but you can buy an old bike like like you had back then, or one you always wanted because the “rich” neighbor kid had one. There are a lot if guys with disposable income now. I have an older brother (57y.o.) and he and my late brother, two years younger ripped up and down a shell road in front if the house they lived in before i was born. The later graduated to a trail 70. There were many bikes that followed. Now he buys builds and sells Honda 50,70 and 90s. Some 110/125 later trail bikes. My folks moved shortly after I was born, still in the country and for some reason i didnt have any little 50 ir 70cc Hondas. My first was a hand me down 1974 Yamaha YZ80 that the middle brother outgrew, sold and dad bought back later. I later had a 79 Kawasaki KX80, 77 KD100M and Honda ATC 185s (all at the same time!) i kinda got out if bikes, but a few years ago flipped a 1981 Yamaha XT500. Now i have a 7 yo daughter. Scored her a non running but clean. Yamaha PW80 from a swap meet for $200. Got it running after cleaning the carb but she was scared of it. Cleaned it up and sild it for $800 and bought her a near new chinese coleman go kart for $400 and a free chinese 110cc atv. Rewired the atv and it runs great. She likes it mire than the cart! Niw i need something, so a few months ago I picked up two Honda TRX350TM Rancher ATVs for $700. (Actually three as one was a parts bike with rusted out frame.) They have been so neglected! Already got one running/ riding!