Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Herb Uhl Inventor of the Original Honda Trail bike

Cool story about the beginnings of the Honda Super Cub converted for trail use in the Boise Id. area by Herb Uhl.

Interesting, tks.

The first bike I rode on was a trail 90. Cool bikes!

Interesting guy. Thanks for that interview.

Us kids had a couple Trail 70's to tear around on.

The old Trail 90s get premium prices, and for good reason.

he was doing that with the 50cc version?

I have a 1966 Honda cub 49cc that I have been planning to restore. Its on a long list of projects I'll never get around to

I guess I'm just old, I had a Tote Gote.

Some kids moved in nearby in the early 60s, they were from Provo Utah and they brought a Tote Gote with them.

I though it was the coolest thing ever and eventually ordered one.
You could find them in the classifieds in the back of the old outdoor magazines.

The Honda 50s and 90s were around but you seldom seen a Tote Gote along the East Coast. I think I was about 9 years old at the time, a little short for the Hondas but I fit the Tote Gote just right.

we use to call trail 90's toilets on wheels.
and when CT70's came out, they were the rage. rv guys like them because of the folding handlebars.

About that overlaid sprocket....
Yes, it worked very well. The problem was that you had to pull the rear wheel to put it on. Someone told me about a trick to make it much easier. I tried it on a Yamaha 175 I had then and it worked great.
Take the oversized sprocket and draw a line across the diameter going through the center as close as possible. The sprocket will have 4 notches in it for the bolts. Stay away from those. Get 4 large chain master links. Take the outer plates and lay them on the sprocket, 2 on each side with the holes on either side of the line. Put 1 near the outside of the sprocket and one near the center. Mark and drill holes so the link can be inserted in the sprocket spanning the line. Cut the sprocket in half on the line.
Put the sprocket halves over the bike sprocket and insert the master links. Then put in the bolts between the teeth as usual. It will be much more rigid than it sounds. By the time you put the chain on, it will be very rigid.
I put on many miles in rugged country with this setup and it never failed me.

I grew up in Boise. I recognize Uhl's name from the motorcycle business but I never knew him. I certainly didn't know he'd invented the thing.
In the video, he shows the hills behind Boise. Much of it was private land but it was largely unfenced and open for trail riding. My friends and I covered many miles up there. These days, it's all fenced and there are subdivision all over the lower parts. You have to drive a long way back to get to public land.

I picked up a '74 CT90 K5 from a guy about a year ago. He had purchased it for the sole purpose of an elk hunt, and put it up for sale after his hunt.

I'm doing a full nut-and-bolt restoration on it right now. Fun project, and I'll have something cooler than a Ruckus to putz around on.

You're right about prices on those things, it's crazy what they can sell for. Tons of parts still available if you look hard enough. I think a guy could build a complete bike off of parts from FleaBay.

One problem with the converted road bikes was the fenders were too close to the tires. On wet trails, they'd pack up with mud and stop the tires from turning. More than once we'd have to stop and dig the mud out of the fenders. They solved that in later models by simply lifting the fenders for more clearance. Notice in some of the photos in the video that they've removed the front fender entirely. That stopped the mud packing as it allowed the mud to hit you in the face.

I’ve got a buddy with a 90 and 110. He was trying to sell me the 90 and I had to really hold myself back. A lot of guys in the 70s and early 80s in the town I grew up in worked at the mill and that’s what they rode to work to save money. I think it’s kind of cool that Honda is making the CT 125 currently I would imagine it’ll be a pretty popular bike.

Does the CT125 have the 2 speed range? That's what made the Trail 90.

I had a Honda 90 trail for years, then got a 110, both with the low range. Great, unitl I started using a four wheeler. I sold both the 90 and 110 in 2004. I think they held value great. Five grand for both with the ramp trailer. I built the trailer from scrap channel. I wish I had bought everyone in town. To resale, hind sight is so perfect!

Passed his shop on Hill Road in Boise many times.

He had a son that raced motorcycles overseas for a while.

SBTCO: That link brings back many fond memories for me. I put a LOT of miles on our Trail 90, including many inside the huge fenced off Green River watershed there at the base of the Cascade Mountains. Loved to fish in those "forbidden waters" come summertime.
Oh my misspent youth - bring it back Lord, if not for just a day - please.
Thanks for the interesting link.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Most have seen the trail 90. Honda also made a trail 55 in the early/mid 60s (for those that didn't need or couldn' handle the power of the 90).

Utility, kinda boring but they can get you a lot of places and you have to work at it to kill them.

Still have a matching pair or 1969 Trail 90's. Not fast, but they will go anywhere you have any business trying to go on a motorcycle. Easy to fix and maintain, and as long as they have oil about impossible to kill. Yes prices have really gone up.