The Honda Super Cub 50, one of the company’s longest-lived models, is about to be canceled after nearly 60 years of production.
The 49cc air-cooled underbone bike (half scooter, half motorcycle!) wasn’t the first machine in the Super Cub lineup, or the most successful. That honor goes to the C100 Super Cub, which debuted in 1958 and went on to become the most-produced motor vehicle in world history—and that’s without counting the millions of clones made.
But the C50, which came along in 1966, also sold like mad around the world, particularly in Japan itself and in the nearby developing countries of Southeast Asia, where the bike’s low price and high reliability made it a vital part of the transportation system. Ironically, when moto-travelers head overseas on their big-bore adventure bikes, the low-power Super Cubs with their limited suspension are the machines that the locals themselves are using on the exact same roads as the GS-borne travelers.
There is still interest in the Super Cub 50, but Japanese emissions laws mean the bike will soon be not street-legal in its home market, so Honda is ending production in spring of 2025 with two versions: A Super Cub 50 Final Edition, painted with a retro blue livery just like the original, and (get this!) a Hello Kitty edition.
The wheels and paint are obviously different, and you can see Hello Kitty molded into the bodywork. Only 300 of these bikes will be made; Honda says it will make 2,000 Final Edition machines before they shut the line down next spring.
Is it sad to see Big Red axing this little bike? It’s honestly hard to believe the small-bore Super Cub has lasted this long, with less than 4 hp. The change is inevitable; Honda is intent on converting over to EV motorcycles, and this is probably on the first iconic machine to be canceled in the next few years, as battery bikes take over.
“addiction”
My first ride was a 1960 C100. First one was written off when a farmer made a left turn across a double solid line. The insurance replacement arrived a couple weeks later and I put over 15,000 miles on it before I moved up to a Triumph Cub 200 scrambler, and the rest is history. Reliable like an anvil and the start of my addition.