4-24-20 Update: It’s back! I love this thing, and reader Christian E has just let me know that this Motra is back up for sale after 18 months since we last saw it on eBay. Back then, the seller passed on bidding up to $7,100, but now he’s willing to take $5,700 according to this sale listing here on Craigslist in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Post Listing Update: This Motra did not meet reserve despite 56 bids up to $7,100.
In the 80s, Honda offered what they called a “heavy duty” minibike called the Motra. Unlike the Z50 or original Monkey, the Motra was designed to be loaded up with gear and ridden just about anywhere you could imagine. A commonly-shared-but-unverified tale says that “Motra” is a combination of Motorcycle-Truck because the Japanese pronunciation for truck is “Torakku”.
Motras were available in either yellow or green, and they all came with high/low stages for the 3-speed gearbox (with an automatic clutch) depending on if you were in tough terrain or on the street. In the low stage, Honda claimed that the Motra could climb a 23 degree hill in top gear. If you squint, it looks a bit like the short-lived Big Ruckus. With that said, it’s much smaller, and it features a 49cc motor that produced 4.5 horsepower. You might be able to carry a lot, but you’re not going to do so quickly!
This example is said to work well and the sale includes a few spare parts. The seller notes that the bike needs nothing but he “has contacts in Japan that can…secure spare parts in the future”. He also notes that he can only offer a bill of sale. Find this Motra for sale in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with an unmet opening bid of $1,000