Honda CR93 125cc Twin

At about age 17 or so I acquired a Honda CB92R Benly, a pukka roadracer imported to the USA in limited numbers. Mine had the optional factory megaphones, solo saddle, and an 18,000 RPM tachometer instead of a speedometer. It was my first real motorcycle, and I rode it every day to work and to school. It was the first street motorcycle I fell off of (trying to impress some total strangers in a sharp corner in the rain), and the bike that got me my first ticket.

It was about as cool a bike as a highscooler could ask for -- I used to bump start it from the gas station at the south end of Tigard, OR and race down 99W towards town sitting on it side saddle until I hit 14,000 in 2nd gear, at which point I'd swing my right leg over and tuck in (as though I were heading out on a standing-start lap of the Isle of Man -- you can't say I didn't have an active imagination!).

Anyway, as cool as that bike was, there was one cooler 125cc to be had. It was the Honda CR93 'production' roadracer. A few were imported to the USA and I got to see one of them racing locally. They were unbelievably loud, and impossibly trick for the times (1962/3). Twin-cylinder, 8-valve head, twin cams, dry clutch, and redlined at 14,000 RPM.

However, in Japan, Honda sold a street version of that bike, also called the CR93. It had lights, a mirror, and mufflers instead of megaphones. No turnsignals were required in those days. The picture below was given to me by a friend who worked for many years at Honda.