60 Greatest Bikes: Honda C100 Super Cub

• Year: 1958
• Manufacturer: Honda
• Model: C100 Super Cub
• Claim to fame: The biggest-selling motorcycle of all time
• Did you know? The C100 has sold more than 60 million units worldwide since 1958

There’s a good case for claiming that this is the most important motorcycle Honda has ever produced, not least because it has sold over 60 million units and is still going strong.

The little 49cc, 4.5bhp overhead-valve Single has earned a reputation for being all but bulletproof and it remains one of the cheapest modes of transport on the planet – the C100 will happily return over 90mpg. Sales were also helped by an ad campaign that practically invented the modern concept of lifestyle marketing (‘You meet the nicest people on a Honda’) and the bikes were sold in sports and leisure goods stores as well as in bike dealers.

Perhaps the most startling statistic about the C100 is not that it’s the biggest-selling motorcycle of all time, but that it’s the biggest selling motor vehicle of any kind. There have been enough sold to provide every single person in Britain with a set of wheels! 

Although the little C100 is about the least glamorous motorcycle on the planet, it’s probably also one of the most important because it enticed so many people onto two wheels in the first place – including many who would go on to become famous racers. Former 500cc GP star and triple British Superbike champion, Niall Mackenzie, cut his teeth on a Honda C90 which was just one of the many variants of the original Super Cub.

Others included the C50, C70, C100EX and C70 Passport.