Thursday, August 17, 2017

Cool Vehicle Alert: The Honda Cub



Thailand is full of these small step-through frame basic transportation motorcycles, full of them like the ocean is full of salt water. Honda dominates the market, with Yamaha as a distant second and Suzuki somewhere in the way-back. Most of the Hondas by far are Honda Waves. There are multiple Wave models, with engines from 100 to 125 cc.

For the younger crowd, Honda sells the Nova. This is a 125 cc bike with a six speed gear box and a fully manual clutch. (The other bikes mentioned in this post have semi-automatic clutches, just kick the shifter.) Novas are nice bikes, pretty fast for their size.

Honda still sells the Dream, too, but it's not very popular anymore. The Dream is a 125 cc bike with an old fashioned set-up. All of the Waves and Novas have disk brakes up front; the Dream still has a drum brake. People think of the Dream as an old lady bike.

Honda also sells the Cub. You see these very rarely, and I really couldn't say what the market niche was. These pictures are of two Cubs, looking brand new, right next to one another. Seeing one is unusual; seeing two parked together was kind of a shock. The Cub has the front drum brake of the dream, and very little in general to differentiate it from a Dream. I should look more to check the engine size, there are no badges and that's usually the only way you can determine the engine size. We'll see.


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