Honda Monkey

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The Honda Monkey is a small motorized two-wheeler from Honda and was manufactured from 1961. It's considered a fun bike for leisure, a vehicle for one person with small, balloon-like 5-inch studded tires.

Honda Monkey Z 100 in the Honda Collection Hall

As early as the 1960s, the Honda company had an amusement park called "Tama Tech" near the later Formula 1 racing track, Suzuka. The visitors were able to personally see the products of the rising company during a visit. For fun, the children were presented with small vehicles hanging on a pole, which the young engineer Mitsuja Sato had put together from individual Honda parts. Completely surprisingly, this “bonsai bike” aroused so much interest among visitors to the amusement park that the company decided to build a small series of around 15 copies of the Z100 named “Ur-Monkey” and these prototypes at the IFMA in Frankfurt and the London one Earl's Court to the astonished visitors. Only three examples of the Z100 are known today; a fourth was reproduced in Japan in 2011 using the original data.

There are motorcyclists who claim that the name is derived from the seating position, you sit like the proverbial "monkey on the grindstone". The original version of the Honda Monkey was, long before the scooter and scooter boom, one of the first shopping mopeds that were found on the then (late 1970s) new, additional rear carriers of motorhomes to stay mobile on the go without that Having to move RV.

Furnishing

The drive took place via a horizontal single-cylinder four-stroke engine, which was used by Honda in many smaller models ( SS50 , Dax) and a foot-shifted three-speed gearbox , the clutch works by centrifugal force and without separate manual operation. But there is also a 4-speed gearbox version with a manual clutch.

To enable easier transport, the Monkey was built with a folding handlebar. There is a small lever on the tank cap that can be used to close the tank ventilation to prevent gasoline from leaking out. As an accessory there was also a transport set, consisting of three supports, which were screwed to one side of the monkey and on which the machine could be placed in the trunk.

Versions

The first 67 model was equipped with a rigid frame, small 5-inch tires and handbrake levers; later, with the introduction of the rear swing arm, a foot lever for the rear brake was also used.

Honda Monkey Z 50 M from 1968

This was followed by a smaller series with 5-inch tires and a foldable seat bench with a tartan pattern, the Honda Z 50 M , from around 1970 a variant with a rigid frame and 8-inch tires, which was only available in the USA under the name “ Minitrail ”, was sold elsewhere under the name“ Z 50 A ”or“ Monkey ”. The white paintwork on the lower half of the tank was a striking distinguishing feature. This model "K2" appeared in three colors: red, blue and yellow, whereby only the first two colors mentioned had a so-called "candy paint". This was applied in five layers on a gray base using the "dip coating process" in order to achieve a three-dimensional depth of color, comparable to that of a baked apple at the fair.

Honda Monkey from around 1985

In the USA, the model had a smaller front lamp without a speedometer and a square, monochrome red rear light, while the German Z50 A had a speedometer from the manufacturer "Nippon Seiki" built into the front lamp. At the rear was the round black-orange rear light in Germany, which was also found there on Honda models from the 1970s with displacements between 250 and 750 cm³ as well as on the sister model, the Honda DAX. From 1972 onwards, this series had a "Mitsuba" alternating current horn / buzzer, which, however, was not particularly effective in view of the low-power 6-volt electrical system. The first series from 1971 was still missing this signal transmitter.

Honda Gorilla Z 50 J with monkey tank and 160 cm³ engine

Another special feature of the 1971 models was the nameplate attached to the steering head, which, following complaints from the German TÜV, found its place on the right below the seat bench. Since HONDA was faster than the German authorities with the delivery at the time, the models of the first German year 1971 received a green customs certificate from the St. Pauli customs office instead of a yellow ABE. The first models were equipped by the manufacturer with Japanese "Nitto" 8 "studded tires, later with" Tractor Grip ", then with" Bridgestone "studded tires of the same size. The German models were also reserved for long, chrome-plated mudguards, although the US model of the "Minitrail K2", identical in many details to the German Z 50 A, also has a long, rear mudguard ("Long Rear Fender") ), which however lacked the rear hole. This was reserved for the German models in order to prevent the license plate carrier, which was manufactured exclusively for German insurance plates, from contacting the mudguard. For this purpose, a black soft rubber part was inserted into the hole and called a "vibration damper" by Honda. The manufacturer applied black plastic covers to the ends of the brake levers to prevent damage to the paintwork on the fork when the handlebars were folded down during transport. After all, the Monkey was primarily marketed as a small vehicle suitable for trunk, but also for use in airplanes and boats, from which the name of the model Z 50 M from the years of construction 1967 and 1968 results: The term "boat monkey" has, however little to do with boats, the trunk of a car is called "boot" in English, from which the actual claim of the vehicle use envisaged by Honda results.

The series ran out around 1975 and was replaced in Germany by the J 1 model, which had a swing arm with shock absorbers at the rear. The tank grew from about 2.5 to 4.5 liters, the handlebar mount was changed, the horn / buzzer was replaced by Honda Germany for the legendary "ladybird bell", a kind of bicycle bell, made by the German company Reich . The J 1 was slightly larger and significantly more stable than the A version, which occasionally had broken frames, especially in performance-enhanced models.

From 1978 followed with the J 2 (picture above) a clearly revised version of the Monkey. It had a luggage rack, a trapezoidal seat, a larger, bulbous tank, instrument mounts, other handlebar mounts and switching elements, turn signals in a plastic housing, plastic chain guards and plastic mudguards and even a battery that was previously only available on a Honda Monkey in the 1969 US model KO, the "Minitrail". The J 2 was available as a special model, the Gorilla, with an even larger tank that made the machine even suitable for touring.

Originally there was only the variant with a displacement of 49 cm³, which can be driven with an insurance license plate. In the meantime, more and more drivers have registered their “monkey” as a light motorcycle or motorcycle. Double exhausts, mono rear swing arms, disc brake systems and engines up to 220 cm³ displacement are no longer uncommon on small vehicles. A separate market has now established itself for the former camping vehicles. The prices of a good conversion have long since risen to many times the original price, as have the originals that are rarely offered.

Monkey replicas are now being supplied by several manufacturers, including the Chinese firm Sky Team ( Jiangsu Sacin Motorcycle Co. ) and Jincheng Motors in Nanjing . The Monkey continues to be built by Honda in Japan, but is no longer officially exported to Europe; you can still buy these machines as a parallel import from some dealers in Germany.

Sports

There has been a special sport with monkeys since 1974, the monkey cross in the field. The races are organized by the German Monkey Club (DMC) and the German Motorsport Association (DMV) and are enjoying increasing popularity.

In 2010, 6 classes were planned for the German championship, which differ in design, the engines installed and the age restrictions of the participants:

  • Class 0 (CRF50)
  • Class 1 (CRF100 / Pitbike110)
  • Class 2 (Pitbike125)
  • Class 3 (Pitbike-open)
  • Class 4 (XR200 and others)
  • Class 5 (teams)
Logo of Honda motorcycles

Web links

Commons : Honda Monkey  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jincheng Monkeys
  2. ^ German Motorsport Association: 37th German MonkeyCross Championship with record participation ( Memento from May 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), report from December 1, 2010, online access from April 4, 2011
  3. ^ German Monkey Club: Monkey-Cross class division in 2010 , accessed on April 5, 2011