ASSAULT ON PIKES PEAK EXPEDITION II

Forty-three years ago, we did it with a Honda 50 and a Stella 10-speed bicycle...

- PETER EGAN

One Sunday morning in the summer of 1977, I was sitting in my living room in Madison, Wisconsin, reading the paper and scanning the motorcycle classifieds, as usual. One item that caught my eye that day was an ad for a 1964 Honda 50, a C100 step-through model, for a mere $100.

Hmm…a slow motorcycle, yes, but a bona fide classic. The little bike that started it all.

Introduced to this country in 1959 as the Super Cub, it took America by storm and enabled you to “Meet the Nicest People on a Honda”— instead of duking it out with Marlon Brando or Lee Marvin. Unbreakable, good-looking, leakproof, nicely finished, and capable of an almost unheard of 200 mpg, it was everything almost all other motorcycles at time were not.

The small Hondas were suddenly everywhere. Even The Steve Allen Show opened with a shot of Steve himself riding one to work—in a suit and tie, no less. And there was no oil on his pants or shoes. The bikes were inexpensive too, starting at $245, or $275 if you wanted the optional electric start, and came with an automatic clutch, three-speed foot-shift transmission, and an advertised top speed of 45 mph, which Honda promised the bike would achieve “with never a murmur of protest.” That sounded a lot better than “while screaming its tiny heart out.”

I didn’t really need two-wheeled transportation at the time. I had a Norton 850 Commando and a Honda CB400F in the garage, but I coughed up the $100 and bought the Honda 50 anyway. In addition to being admittedly charmed by this inexpensive little gem, I had an ulterior motive.

Although working full-time as a foreign-car mechanic in Madison, I’d just sold my first-ever freelance touring story to Editor Allan Girdler at Cycle World and was already thinking about a follow-up.