1974 Honda CL

CL125S1105203

Clear

The front and inside of the facility at the Santa Monica, California municipal airport One Super Clean all Original 1974 Honda CL125 “Suitcase Cycle” garaged and covered its whole life 2300 original miles Produced from the mid 1960s until 1974 mostly at a facility at the Santa Monica Airport in California. Approximately 1,000 were built History: In the 1960s, General Aviation was seeing an explosion in popularity. Average middle class people were getting their pilot’s license and learning to fly for both business and pleasure. The thrill of flying an airplane to a vacation destination or just to go someplace for lunch was now being enjoyed by an ever-increasing number of people. But once one arrived at their destination, ground transportation could be a hassle. Small GA airports seldom had rental car agencies and, if one was lucky, the local FBO might have a beat-up courtesy car you could use as a loaner. Aviator, Lawrence “Larry” S. Shapiro saw the need and created a solution in the Suitcase Cycle. In the mid-1960’s began work on taking a standard small motorcycle and modifying it into a cycle that would fit into the luggage compartment of most small planes of the day. By the time it was perfected, the Suitcase Cycles had 90 custom parts that allowed the cycle to be taken apart or put back together in just minutes without the use of any tools. After showing his prototype around, and seeing the interest from other pilots, he decided to form a company to make the cycles. Thus S & K Suitcase Cycles was formed, later to become just Suitcase Cycles. For pilots that found themselves stranded at remote locations without any transportation, the Suitcase Cycle was the perfect answer. The company staged production at the Santa Monica Airport and employed 12 people. At peak manufacturing, Suitcase Cycle production models included the Suzuki 100cc, 125cc and the freeway legal 185cc model. Honda models included the CT90, CL100, and SL125 models. Over the years of production, a number of different model were available including three different do-it-yourself kits. But the most popular seemed to be the Honda CT90 Trail Bike. Brochures from the period showed how the Suitcase Cycles in action. Others showed how it could be put together and ready to ride in five minutes or less and neatly stowed away in the Cessnas, Beechcrafts, Pipers and Mooneys, both large and small. Accessories included hard sided luggage, vinyl soft cases, and helmets. Estimate put around 1,000 suitcase cycles being built, including the sale of the do-it-yourself kits. But unfortunately production came it a halt in 1974 as a result of product liability laws and as a result suppliers were told by Honda and Suzuki to discontinue selling motorcycle “convertibles”. The Honda CL125 was a model of the Honda Scrambler motorcycle made by Honda from 1967 to 1974. Two different engines were used through the models life: 1967-1969: CL125A 124cc 2 cylinder 4-stroke, 1973-1974: CL125S 122cc 1 cylinder 4-stroke. The CL125A was produced from 1967 to 1969 with a 124 cc 4-stroke engine and four-speed transmission. It was the smallest OHC twin cylinder four-stroke that Honda made, and was the smaller sibling to the 160, 175, 350 & 450 models. In 1970, Honda released its venerable, light weight, 99 cc OHC single 2-valve upright engine. This was a direct challenge to the off-road market which was, at this time, dominated by the two-strokes. A sea wave of change was to quickly follow many of its CB, CL and SL based models. In 1973, the first CL125S was manufactured using this new motor in its design, with a larger 122 cc piston (which produced more low-end torque but little gain in power) and a slightly larger piston/rod connecting pin. That helped push the dry weight of the bike down to 196 pounds (89 kg). This motorcycle was almost identical to the 1970 to 1973 CL100, that was really only a slight modification of the CB series produced at the same time. The modifications included; lower rear sprocket gearing, slightly more aggressive tires, shorter front fender, braced handlebar, high mount exhaust system and elimination of the tachometer.