Congratulations to Brody Cox, who was the first (on Instagram) to identify this bike as a Honda Solo! Gerald Koziol was the first here on Bike-urious.
The Solo was announced in March of 2003 as a “cheery, stylish, around-town leisure bike” with an air-cooled 50cc single pulled from the Super Cub.
It was the fourth model in what Honda called the “N Project”, a series of two-wheelers “designed to deliver to its owners the pleasure of owning and riding a bike that serves as a fashion accessory in addition to providing convenient daily transportation.” The other examples were the Ape, Zoomer (sold in the US as the Ruckus), and the Bite.
It was available in three standard colors: Parrot Yellow, Matte Flat Silver Metallic, and the Monza Red of this example. There were also three optional colors – Bice Blue, Classical White, and Black. There were color options for the tank, frame, light buckets, fender covers, seats, grips, and bar/engine finishes. In total, there were 285 options for how your Solo could look:
Photo from Honda
The four-stroke single was paired with a three-speed rotary transmission that was operated with an automatic centrifugal clutch.
Honda’s goal was to sell 4,500 units of the Solo a year, but I’ve been unable to determine how many were actually produced.
I actually got a chance to try it for myself and I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable it was. It was also significantly quicker than Vy’s Honda S90 – this really would make for a great commuter if you were only on city streets.
Here’s a few more photos for you:
I discovered this bike when I visited Cycle Refinery, an awesome shop in Austin, Texas, as part of my recent trip to San Antonio. I’ll have more about Cycle Refinery for you soon!
