50 YEARS OF HONDA SUPER CUB
***************
I. Birth of the Super Cub
In early 1957, Honda began work on the vehicle’s engine. It was the first time anyone in the world had attempted to mass-produce a 50cc OHV 4-stroke engine, and the development team came up with more and more ideas that flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Ultimately, they created an engine with phenomenal power: 9,500 rpm and 4.5 horsepower.
At the same time, Honda began to develop the Super Cub’s unique automatic centrifugal clutch. The goal was to produce a bike that could be operated one-handed, as at the time soba restaurant deliveries were made by bicycle riders carrying boxes with their right hand, whilst steering with their left. This turned out to be extremely challenging, however, with difficulties associated with disengagement during shifting and the revolution ratio of the kick starter. Nearly every day, Soichiro huddled with development engineers, brainstorming for solutions. The result was the birth of the revolutionary automatic centrifugal clutch.
Honda began developing the Super Cub’s body that February, and in April body styling work began. Soichiro’s mantra was, “Make something that fits in your hand!” In other words, he wanted to make a compact product that would fit comfortably into customer’s lives.
Soichiro was very particular about the size of the tires. The bike had to handle well on Japan’s unpaved roads, but it also had to be compact. Honda decided that the ideal tire size would be 17 inches, a size that did not yet exist for production vehicles. The major tire manufacturers all refused to produce a new tire size for just one model, but after numerous rejections, Honda finally located a small manufacturer who was willing to do it.
Yet still, the team in charge of creating the prototype was faced with the challenge of altering existing tires to make 17-inch prototype tires. Everyone rose to the challenge, responding to all such demands with a can-do attitude. The Super Cub was truly the fruit of everyone’s united efforts.
Meanwhile, the chemical engineers proposed using polyethylene rather than the fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) that had been used on the Juno. This reduced the body’s weight substantially, but the supplier that would fabricate the body had never built such a large die cast, and only agreed to the project on the condition that Honda would provide the cast.
As the body design neared completion, the new motorcycle finally received its name: the Super Cub. The name married “Super”, which was a popular word at the time, to the “Cub” of the Cub F-type. The Cub F-type was still a big favorite with Soichiro, and he immediately seized on the name.
On December 24, one year after development had begun, the final FRP mock-up was completed. The intricate mock-up was mounted on a table top in the cafeteria, and as they stood in front of it, Soichiro asked Fujisawa, “Senior Managing Director, how many of these do you think we can sell?” Without missing a beat, Fujisawa responded, “30,000 units!” Astonished, the other associates exclaimed, “30,000 units a year?” When Fujisawa responded “No, 30,000 units a month!”, everyone was stunned. At the time, the total number of motorcycles sold each month in Japan was only around 40,000 units, and besides, Honda did not yet have the production capacity to produce 30,000 units per month. Fujisawa, however, was already envisioning the blueprints for a new factory that would be built to accommodate production of the new motorcycle.
The development of the production model Super Cub lasted a year and eight months—lead-time of an unprecedented length for Honda in those days. In July of 1958, Honda announced its new motorcycle, and August 1958 marked the much-anticipated release of the Super Cub C100.
On December 24, one year after development had begun, the final FRP mock-up was completed. The intricate mock-up was mounted on a table top in the cafeteria, and as they stood in front of it, Soichiro asked Fujisawa, “Senior Managing Director, how many of these do you think we can sell?” Without missing a beat, Fujisawa responded, “30,000 units!” Astonished, the other associates exclaimed, “30,000 units a year?” When Fujisawa responded “No, 30,000 units a month!”, everyone was stunned. At the time, the total number of motorcycles sold each month in Japan was only around 40,000 units, and besides, Honda did not yet have the production capacity to produce 30,000 units per month. Fujisawa, however, was already envisioning the blueprints for a new factory that would be built to accommodate production of the new motorcycle.
The development of the production model Super Cub lasted a year and eight months—lead-time of an unprecedented length for Honda in those days. In July of 1958, Honda announced its new motorcycle, and August 1958 marked the much-anticipated release of the Super Cub C100.
To Europe, and the World
Meanwhile, European Honda GmbH opened in Germany in 1961, and the following year marked the birth of Honda Benelux N.V. (Belgium), Honda’s first overseas production facility. Bit by bit, the Super Cub and the rest of the Cub Series carved out a position in Europe.
The Super Cub expanded to Asia following success in North America and Europe. Assembly production began in the early 1960s in Taiwan and South Korea, and Asian Honda established its Southeast Asian distribution base in Thailand in 1964. One year later, the joint venture company Thai Honda was established as a motorcycle manufacturer. To this day, the company develops a variety of models based on the Cub that are very popular throughout Southeast Asia. At first, the demand for two-stroke bikes was very high in Thailand, but as the country modernized and fuel emissions regulations became more stringent, the market performed a complete turnaround.
Now the preference was for four-stroke bikes, and since the Cub had always been a strong brand, it enjoyed a surge of renewed interest. Today, Honda bikes account for 70% of the Thai market, of which the Cub series represents 60%.
Recently, the country where the Cub enjoys the most popularity of all is Vietnam. The brand is so well established there that the word "Honda" is synonymous with “motorcycle”. Honda Vietnam opened in 1996, taking Honda’s last motorcycle factory of the 20th century online in 1997.
Today, fifty years since its birth, the Cub’s market continues to expand while its design remains fundamentally unchanged. Each year, close to 5 million units are produced worldwide. The Cub is truly a global standard, reaching production volumes unrivaled in the history of motorized transportation. While styling and other details vary slightly by location and application, the Super Cub has always retained its identity as a useful vehicle that is easy for anyone to ride.
