Friday, November 29

History of the Honda Super Cub: How It Conquered the World With Two Wheels

Over the period of 65 years, Volkswagen developed more than 23 million air-cooled Beetles. Given that 1977, the Ford F-Series has actually been the very popular pickup in the United States, with 40 million produced. As a nameplate, Toyota’s moved more than 43 million Corollas over 11 generations.

With all due regard, those are novice numbers.

Image by: Honda

A contemporary Super Cub.

State hi to Honda’s Super Cub, champ of the combustion-engine landscape. Well over 100 million Super Cubs have actually been offered worldwide, making it the most commonly produced gasoline-powered conveyance on earth. It’s a car that put South Asia on wheels and was America’s very first handshake with a Honda. Because 1958, this little motorbike has actually appeared a never-ceasing part of the Honda story, dressed up in business red and white paint, appearing like something Santa’s fairies would ride around the store.

The Honda S90, sibling of the Super Cub, conqueror of earth.

As of May 2025, Honda is eliminating off the 50cc Super Cub for its home market. No longer a common function of life in Japan, it has actually been mostly supplanted by electrical bikes and scooters. It’s likewise on the slicing block since of the present design’s failure to strike emissions targets. It is completion of an age.

Well, sort of. The last rear-engine Beetle to reach the United States was provided in 1979, and air-cooled VeeDub culture has actually shown to be an unkillable cockroach. Although sales have actually reduced greatly from a peak of almost 3 million internationally in 1982, there are pre-owned Super Cubs all over the location in Japan and the Far East. It’s simple to see why; They’re mechanically basic, enjoyable to ride, low-cost and helpful.

Even more, the bigger Super Cub 125 is still subjugating, and Honda’s half-dozen-strong miniMoto variety has both welcomed the original’s free-wheeling spirit and moved it into a brand-new age. With all apologies to Dr. Johnson, when somebody is tired of the Grom, they are tired of life.

The Honda Navi, another far-off limb on the SuperCub ancestral tree.

You satisfy the best individuals on a Honda. And likewise Soichiro.

“Waigaya” is not a Japanese word and yet it is core to Honda’s approach. Created by Takeo Fujisawa, the peaceful monetary genius who was such a crucial foil to the maniacally driven Soichiro Honda. The word itself is linguistic babble, taken to imply “energetic conference.” It’s still typical at Honda, that all-hands-on-deck mindset, everybody’s concepts thought about.

Thought about, however not always appreciated. Throughout advancement of the Super Cub, Mr. Honda was understood to regularly scream “Baka-yaro!” as conversations ended up being heated, which implies “foolish moron.” Soichiro was not above smacking you upside the head or whacking you with a wrench from time to time.

Image by: Brendan McAleer

Well over 100 million Super Cubs have actually been offered worldwide, making it the most extensively produced gasoline-powered conveyance in the world. ยป …
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