Honda 50 exhibition in Mayo to recall iconic motorbike

By Tom Gillespie

AN exhibition on the Honda 50 motorbike, an iconic mode of transport in Ireland in the 1960s and for some years after, is to go on display later this year at the Museum of Country Life at Turlough Park House.

Thousands of the bikes were sold and manufactured in Ireland and at £80 proved a cheap buy for those who could not afford a car.

Ms. Clodagh Doyle, Keeper of the Irish Folklife Collection at Turlough House, said: “In late summer we are going to put the Honda 50 we have here on display.

“We felt that the Honda 50 is the best example of the way transport moved on. After the donkey and the bicycle it was the Honda 50 as nobody could afford a car.

“Absolutely everybody remembers the Honda 50 - the postman delivering letters, or the local character on his Honda 50 coming home from the pub. This exhibition, I hope, will recapture people’s fond memories of the Honda 50.”

The secret of the Honda 50's success was the revolutionary 4-stroke, 49cc engine that Honda developed. This was to compete with the then-dominant and 2-stroke motors powering motorbikes at the time.

The top speed of the Honda 50 was 40mph and the simple engine was easy to maintain.