Only offered here in North America for one model year, these are interesting two-wheelers, and you’d be guaranteed to have the only one at almost any vintage motorcycle show. This pair of 1982 Honda MB5 motorcycles can be found here on Facebook Marketplace in Columbiana, Alabama, and the seller is asking $3,500. Here is the original listing, and thanks to PRA4SNW for tracking these down and sending in the tip!
The seller has a black one, which is much nicer of the two, and there is also a red one with a few cosmetic and mechanical issues that are said to be fairly minor. This is about the price these things go for, believe it or not, so getting two for $3,500 seems like a fairly good deal to me. I know, you can get a “real motorcycle” for that price rather than some “kid’s toy,” but you either get these things, or you don’t get them. We don’t all like the same types of vehicles.
Made from approximately 1979 to 1988, we got them in the U.S. for the 1982 model year. I think I’ve seen exactly one in person, and I consider myself a vintage Japanese motorcycle fan who attends vintage motorcycle shows. They came in both of the colors offered here, black with red and white graphics, and red with blue and white graphics. The red models seem to be more popular or at least are seen more often. We saw a nice red example a couple of years ago here on Barn Finds, but that’s all I could find. When I wrote that last one, I thought that Jeff Lavery had written about one previously, but I can’t find it by searching for “MB5” or “1982 Honda”. That’s weird.
Riding a 49-cc two-stroke for over 5,000 miles seems like a lot to me, but being a street-legal bike having a top speed of around 50 mph, it wouldn’t be a bad one for commuting around the neighborhood. We don’t know exactly what either of these examples needs, but the seller says the black one is “almost perfect needs a few small things.” The red one “needs a few more things.” The black one has new tires, so that’s good, and I don’t really see any glaring flaws in the black one shown here.
I can’t tell if the white on the top edges of the engine cases is scratched or worn paint, or maybe just a reflection. The engine is Honda’s 49.5-cc two-stroke oil-injected single-cylinder with 7 horsepower and 4 lb-ft of torque. There’s an internal balancer to all but eliminate the vibration associated with some two-strokes. Power is sent through a 5-speed manual to the rear wheel, and speaking of wheels, these are about as cool as it gets for such a small-cc motorcycle. The whole design is meant to be sporty, of course. Have any of you seen or heard of a Honda MB5?
50cc qualifies it as a moped, doesn’t it?
No, sir, but having pedals would.
Both yes and no – depends on the age of the bike. We had the pedals requirement in the 70s, but no maximum power limit – so you could tune yer Fizzy or AP-50 up to do 50 (on a good day). The law was changed so the “moped” definition became a 50cc motorbike with a maximum speed of 30mph. The US might have something similar.
I had an SS50 with a 70cc barrel + piston – but keep the 50 head and machine things to clear, so you end up with a high-compression 70. But I was in my 30s by that point…!
Derek is probably right. Historically and colloquially, a moped has pedals, as in literally meaning motor-pedal, or a similar meaning. Some very early motorcycles had pedals, and referring to one as a moped in front of their owner could result in a black eye. On the other hand, referring to all small motorcycles as mopeds would also maybe not technically be correct in all cases or all circles. That’s a great question, Danno! Thanks for the additional info, Derek! There are a ton of people here (99%) with much more experience with motorcycles than I have. I’m sure we’ll get closer to the definition before this one is over. Great discussion!