It’s amazing how just a little tinge of nostalgia goes a long way, isn’t it? I see a car that I loved that I haven’t seen in years and suddenly I’m all over it, remembering every little detail and feature. I hear a song from long ago and I can tell you the time period that I was in, when I first heard it and any memories that stand out that are correlated to the song. And seeing this little Honda Trail 70 pop up in my YouTube feed really flared off a bit of memory. For years, I was into bikes. My first was a 50cc Honda “monkey bike” that my younger brother and I both learned to ride when I was about ten years old. I quickly mastered the little Honda and soon had stepped up to a Trail 70. The poor creature wound up several different colors throughout my ownership, and at one point got sunk up to the handlebars in a “puddle” that is commonplace on backwood trails in western Washington. It’s also the first bike to hang it’s throttle on me…luckily I was only in first gear, but when you’re being dragged through four different kinds of thorny blackberry plants, salal bushes that can paper-cut the hell out of you and other assorted thick brush, it doesn’t matter how fast you are going. I learned how to do wheelies on the Trail 70 and learned how to really rip around trails without managing to kill myself in the process. I’m not too sure what happened to it…maybe it was traded off for the Yamaha YZ-80 that came next, I don’t remember anymore.
This is a revival and restoration deal in one. The bike itself is a 1972 CT-70 that has been in storage for at least twenty years, maybe more. It’s been well-used, as evidenced by the bent handlebars, and with it’s long amount of downtime, it’s going to need quite a bit of love in order to putter back into life again. Settle in and check out the teardown of this neat little scooter!
had one one these back in 73 or 74 blue it was a 71.begged ma for a mini bike she was the one with the money and in charge. she paid 200.00 for it at the time it was used of course.had way to much fun on that thing, i also had to paint it an modify it,it was pretty funny i wanted dual exhaust so my brother an i soldered up some copper pipe it looked pretty good,didnt last look once it went through a few heat cycles, also bent one handle bar back taking a corner to fast and into a tree i went,too many stories with thing,that brings back alot of memorys.and god bless my mother.
You’ve heard the old saying “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. Mustie1, the guy who made this video, proves that on most of his videos. Check him out.
My girlfriend had one when she was a teenager in the mid-70’s. We got married and I resurrected it out of her dads barn in the 90’s to use as a pit bike. It’s still goin’ strong and I have more conversations with people about it than I do about my 7 second Altered!
Man this brings back memories for me as well. My older brother and I got our first mini bikes when we were about 10 and 11. Parents didn’t have much money then , it was a real sacrifice for them. I remember his was a blue Bonanza and I had a red one. Both had 3HP Briggs & Stratton engines. After that we both had Honda Mini Trail 50’s. We rode the wheels of those things! Got my first concussion when I hit a rock on a trail and went ass over tea kettles! A neighbor kid down the street had s Mini Trail 70 bike like the one in the video. I was so jealous cause his bike would go about 45 mph vs about 30 for the 50. My last bike was a real hot rod. It had a 100cc 2 stroke Hodaka motorcycle engine with an expansion chamber and real (sorta) suspension. Of course I immediate took out the baffle and ran it with straight exhaust. Neighbors must have LOVED hearing me rip up and down the street! I learned so much about how mechanical stuff worked and how to tear stuff apart and make repairs. Good memories.