In 1970, Honda released their first 3-wheeler, the US90 (later changed to ATC90.) Dad was smitten. He managed to talk his way into buying a brand-new lime green one, no doubt whining and pouting to mom until he got his way. With its unusual balloon tires as its only suspension, it was quite the machine. It was a whole new way of riding and steering, too, having the rear wheels locked together as they were. You had to lean into a turn like a regular motorcycle, but you had to put all your weight on the footpeg on the opposite side.
It was touted by Honda as easily transportable, and their brochures showed it disassembled and actually fitted into the trunk of a small car! You would pop the seat/rear fender unit off, undo the handlebar quick-release latch to turn them as needed, and the rear axle and wheel slid completely out as one unit after removing the opposite rear tire. It was an interesting design:
When I finished 6th grade we moved to Auburn, the “big” city next door. By big I mean it had actual stores and sidewalks and cops and everything. During this time dad expanded our family motorcycles to include a Honda Mini Trail 50. It proved so popular in our family that a couple more were added. Now when we went camping there was no bickering about riding. Gone were the “It’s my turn, you’ve been on it long enough” gripes that always led to someone getting pissed off—usually dad.
By now dad’s little motorcycle “business” had expanded to cover all single-cylinder Honda’s, and he also occasionally did repairs for people. As a result of all his bartering, repairing, and upgrading he had accumulated quite a few parts for Honda 50, 55, 65, 70, and 90cc bikes—all their single cylinder models. Sometime during my junior high school years (9th grade?) I approached dad and asked him if he thought there were enough parts to build a motorcycle from. He gave me permission to go ahead, and I jumped in.
First, I built the engine. All I had to go on were his manuals, so I spent a lot of time comparing individual gears, snap rings, shims, and all the other stuff that goes into an engine to pictures and diagrams in his manuals. When I got it all together it ended up being 55cc. When it came time for a carburetor I was stumped because a Honda 55 engine used a “stand up” vertical carburetor, and we had none.
Instead, I got out his welder and built an intake manifold out of exhaust pipe and 1/8” steel for flanges, on which I mounted an S90 carburetor like this:
The frame was from a 55cc also, and I painted it metal flake purple, because why not? I had no idea what models the wheels were from, but the whole front end—forks and all—were from an S90. (Because his main dirt bike was still his old hot-rodded S90 he had a lot of parts.) It was quite the Frankenstein when it was all finished! I had converted the automatic clutch a manual clutch, and it operated on a toggle switch with no battery. When it came time to actually try to start it, I wasn’t savvy enough to trust that I had everything right, so I went and got my dad off his nap couch. He chuckled, like he knew it would never start. Imagine his surprise (as well as mine) when it started right up! I never did get any pictures of it, but it kicked around the family for several years, getting ridden quite a bit for fun. Dad finally ended up selling it. That was one of my proudest achievements.
Our garage was tiny and there wasn’t enough room for much more than a car, some toolboxes, and our own motorcycles. His motorcycle “shop” if you want to call it that, was our basement. He had a small room packed with all his tools and parts, but due to space he had to work on whole motorcycles in the main area of the basement. That meant he had to haul them down from the outside door that was halfway down the stairs, and back out when they were done. He (we) learned a valuable lesson one day when a bike he was working on backfired and started a fire. The fire department was there quickly, so not much damage was done, but it was truly a humbling experience. No more whole bikes in the basement!
The nicest of the Honda Mini Trails we had ended up getting an upgrade when he pulled the 50cc top end off it, transplanting a 70cc cylinder and head onto it. It was a fun bike with plenty of power for adults. Those minis ended up being carted all over the place because they were so small and portable, like this time we stuffed one into our '61 Mercury station wagon and took it on our trip the Bonneville Salt Flats:
Sadly, someone broke into mom & dad’s garage a few years later and stole all 3 of our beloved Mini Trails, and they were never recovered. Dad’s hot S90 and the 3-wheeler were not in the garage though, so they escaped being stolen.
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