Honda motorcycles hit 200 million

November 23, 1:49 PMMotorcycle ExaminerKen Bingenheimer

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  The first Honda motorcycle -- the Dream

Here's a heck of a landmark: Honda recently produced motorcycle number 200 million. The company began building motorcycles in 1949. The first model to roll off the assembly line with the Dream D-type, pictured at right.

Wow. That's a lot of bikes. I remember when I first got hooked on motorcycles. It was the early 1960s and Honda was sweeping the U.S. with the catch phrase "You meet the nicest people on a Honda."

Back in those days you didn't need a motorcycle validation to ride a bike. Heck, for the smaller bikes at least you didn't need anything. There were no helmet laws, not even laws requiring eye protection. There were a lot of places like 7-Eleven where you could go rent a Honda 50 or Honda 90 by the hour. I don't recall but I think the price was about $3 per hour. That was big money for me back then so I only managed to do it once or twice. 

Being of modest means, but wanting a bike very much, I had my eye set on the Honda 50. At least that's what we called it. I guess they called it the Honda Cub. Back then a new one cost $300. I had a paper route and made about $30 a month. In Nebraska, where I lived, you had to be 15 to ride a motorcycle, so at age 14 I announced I was going to save my money and when I turned 15 I would buy this bike.

Well, a year passed and I saved my money but when the time came my mother informed me that I would never own a motorcycle as long as I lived in her house. I was pretty devastated. I brought this up with her years later and asked why she didn't just tell me that right at the start. I don't think she even remembered it, so she just said she probably thought I wouldn't carry through or would lose interest before it got to that point.

When the time came that I did buy my first bike it was not intentional but I did get a bit of satisfaction. I was out of work and really scraping bottom so as a last resort I asked to borrow $2,000 from my parents to tide me over. Once I had the money in hand I suddenly decided to spend $900 of it on . . . a motorcycle. That's when I bought my Honda CB750 Custom, a bike I still have. And I love that bike.

So congratulations to Honda for hitting 200 million. Obviously whoever decided to get into this line of business had a good idea. I tip my hat.