Honda ST DAX Series

It’s a totally bonkers monkey bike that makes you smile!

- Steve Cooper

Not that long ago folk who were into small wheeled, semi-children’s, not-safe-on-the-road motorised two-wheelers we looked upon as being certifiably mad.

Only the truly loopy really ‘got’ the lure and appeal of such strange and perverse devices. These were the true devotees who willing would pay bonkers money for a machine with no suspension and the handling characteristics of a chinchilla on meth amphetamine! Most of us Brits really couldn’t grasp why you’d want to ride any motorcycle with tyre sizes less than 16 inches, let alone 10-inch ones, and fewer still could get their heads around paying serious dosh for what looked like a commuter bike that had shrunk in a hot and aggressive wash.

Things began to change back in the late noughties when we went into a recession and enthusiasts were still keen to restore something, anything in fact, just to stay ‘on the tools’. Folk began hoovering up projects and spares for the Honda Chaly, Suzuki trail Hoppers, Kawasaki KVs and the like. Even this numpty got caught up in the giddy spiral of Japanese mini-bikes and restored a Yamaha Chappy. The seeds had been sown and gradually these quirky little motorcycles gained grudging acceptance. Things took a dramatic turn a couple of years ago when John Lennon’s Z50A Honda was sold at auction for a jaw-dropping, poke-me-in-the-eye-with-a-stickplease, they-must-be-raving-mad, £57,000. Yes, obviously The Beatles’ provenance had a lot to do with it but suddenly ‘monkey bikes’ had come of age!