Motorcycle Repair: C102 Super Cub, classicmotorcycles, honda honda

Question
I'am trying to find out what year this is so i can get it titled vin# C102-C59537 Honda identification book says C102s were only made between 1960 and 1962. White tag on wires is 1965.Can you tell me what year it is.THANKS PAT

Answer
Pat, I asked the VJMC group about the chart and I got a copy of the Japanese site data. Bit blurry and confusing, due to the fact that they show the C-series C102s starting production in Feb 1964, then the 1965 section is blank and then the D series starts in 1966, briefly, before the OHC models came out. Your bike is 59,537th one built in that series, so must have been way late in 1964 or probably 1965, as indicated on the harness. The date on the harness is the date of manufacture of the harness, not a guarantee of the date of manufacture of the bike, itself. I had a early 1965 production CP77, with an original 1964 produced harness installed, so there can be some carryover, especially in the early part of the production run.

This definitely indicates production well past the 1962 figure shown in the Honda ID book, but that may only apply to US import production. If the tag says 1965, I would still go with that information for registering your machine. Contact me at my website for a copy of the chart, if you are interested.

Bill Silver www.vintagehonda.com
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Pat, I have only seen one chart in Japanese that indicated the serial numbers by years and I have misplaced it, so far.

Honda did start with A,B,C,D etc. coding on their serial numbers, but they don't seem to exactly match 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962 production years.

Check with:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/classicpushrodhonda50s/
http://members.lycos.nl/classichonda/honda.htm


http://www.classicmotorcycles.org.uk/bikemuseum/images/honda/honda_1965_c102_50c...
verifies a 1965 model exists. That is about the time that the OHC models came in as C50s, followed later by C70 Passport Cubs, with some C90s thrown in for a year or two.

I have to assume that if the tag says 1965 AND C102 on the harness, that this is probably the correct year for this bike, despite Honda's ID book info, which has been known to be in error. Usually replacement wiring harnesses have the model, but not the year stamped on them, from my experience. Honda hasn't made it easy to track these bikes accurately.

I'll save this message and hopefully when I find that chart, will let you know again.

Bill Silver