Embarrassing? Not a bit of it. I was staggered at just how good the thing was. First of all, the journey into work was right through town in some of the nastiest traffic I’ve ever seen. Bumper to bumper and very little space to move. Which is why I was so glad that the Honda was so little. It could get in and out of a tiny gap before the homicidal Cavalier even knew it was there. And, I’d be gone.
Even if you do scrape the side of the car, the leg-shields are plastic and so do no damage to either vehicle. Those leg shields were a marvel. It’s not easy to work out how such a silly bit of plastic can work so well at keeping the rider dry. It proves my long held theory that rain falls upwards.
Fuel consumption was 125mpg of two star and no oil was used at all. The tyres and chain seemed to last forever. Nothing serious ever went wrong, a bulb once blew and a cable needed replacing. The fully enclosed chain case also started falling apart. Top speed was around 50mph and its hill climbing ability was better than any moped - well, it is a four stroke single. I made better time on the little step thru than on any other bike I’ve used over the same route. The bikes are so cheap that it doesn’t matter if you break ’em.
Now for the problems. The main one is handling - it-doesn’t. I wish someone had sometime told Honda to put damping fluid in the rear shocks, because none of the Hondas I’ve ridden had this simple handling aid. The back end bounces and pogos like someone dancing at a Sex Pistols concert. Also a passenger of any weight compresses the suspension so much that there is no travel left at the back end at all [a pair of CG125 shocks go a long way to fixing the handling issues - 2022 Ed.]
The front suspension is much better, the use of leading link forks even gives a crude anti-dive effect. The brakes are pretty good for the size of the bike and, being drums, work well in the rain. The lighting is on the weak side, but this sort of bike tends not to be used much at night.
I'd like to say something about the reliability and the running costs, but the running costs were too low to measure and the machine was a paragon of reliability. Even the cam tensioner worked. Points and plugs were never looked at or replaced, yet it always started so easily. The biggest problem was the gear change. Anyone who’s ridden one of these bikes will know what I’m talking about. The actual gear changing is easy enough to master if you're an experienced rider. The lack of a manual clutch means that when you change down a gear the bike lurches unless speed and revs are perfectly matched.
The heel and toe gear change isn’t much fun either, I threw mine away and fitted a normal gear change lever from a Kawasaki.
The final problem with a C70 is that you feel such a jerk riding one in leathers, boots and full face helmet. But this is a small price to pay for owning what has been called the most important bike ever made. They have been turned out by the lorry loads and vast numbers have been sold everywhere. It is a true symbol of the 20th century, much more important than the Ford Model T; true transport for everyman.
It has also been widely copied - Suzuki and Yamaha both produced two stroke engine copies, but these were never as economical as the original Honda. A brilliant bike. As Bow Wow Wow might have said: C50, C70, C90, Go!
R. Evans