The debate of Yamaha 100 versus Honda 70 in Pakistan is probably as old as the date of Aug 14, 1947.
While I belong to the Yamaha club, I have to admit that Honda crowd is steadily increasing in number. Therefore today I will offer an olive branch to all the Honda 70 community out there. You should also appreciate that it has taken me 20 years since I rode my first Yamaha to come around and write following lines in praise of a Honda.
Honda 70’s Amphibian Qualities
This is a true story guys. The year was 1992. Karachi got hit by one of its famous monsoon rains where mother nature dumped the whole year’s rain quota within few hours – and got done with it. After few hours of rain, nothing moved in the city because the whole city had became a large pool of stagnant water and stranded humanity.
I was in the University that day. As I left for home, my Yamaha’s engine died just after sailing for 2 feet. I was still inside the NED’s Main Gate. After that I had to drag the motorcycle in knee deep water for 9 kilometers to reach my home. andaaza karo dosto! (imagine that friends!). While I was going through all this hardship and after 30 minutes had barely reached Safari Park, I heard a distinct ‘pat pat pattar…pattar pattar gheN gheN’ sound coming from the North. At first I thought Civil Defense guys from Malir Cantt had brought out motor-boats to rescue stranded Pakistanis like me. I quickly turned my neck in anticipation and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw my friend Raees-ul-Haq riding his Honda 70 in deep waters. He had covered his engine in grease which insulated the spark plug and his Honda 70 sailed through Monsoon rains like a hot knife cuts through frozen butter. Raees also had a cute little smile on his face as he passed by me.
mujhe sab hai yaad zara zara, tumhe yaad ho ke na yaad ho
Raees! if you read these lines then please write your reply in the comments section below – kuch nahi kaha jaaye ga – aur meri tabiat bilkul theek hai
Amphibian Honda and Nadeem in movie aina
Readers, please also look at this Pakistani movie ‘aina’ song to see the amphibian qualities of both Honda and Nadeem.
Now that you’ve watched above video, I have doubts whether the motorcycle shown in the song is Honda or Kawasaki. Regardless, you got the message i.e. Honda runs well on both land and sea.
A Community Gets Built Around Honda 70
Honda 70 is a community vehicle in Pakistan. In many mohallas (neighborhoods) I’ve seen an old Honda 70 shared by many house holds. Our neighbors also had a Honda 70 from the times of ‘baawa Adam’ (Adam). It used to be permanently parked in the street for anyboady’s and everybody’s use. It was a‘dhakka’ start so who ever needed to run any errand used to take this Honda 70. An amicable toss of coin was made in case two people wanted to use it at the same time. For example, Heads meant Javed ke abba (Javed’s father) will use it and Tails meant Chunoo miaNwill take it for a wheelie.
Over the years, this Honda 70 grew old with its shared owners. As the owners started missing their teeth, the Honda 70 also started missing its parts.
In the year 1985, Annoo bhai lost his front tooth and Honda 70 lost its front light bulb.
In 1987, Salloo Uncle became ganja (bald) and Honda 70 lost its seat cover.
The arrival of 1988 saw departure of its chain cover. By the year 1990 this Honda 70 had reduced to Honda 35 but kamal hai bhuee (non-Urdu readers, kamal is not the brother of Jamal – it means ‘bravo’ here) this motorcyle kept running until one day it finally broke apart into two pieces.
It was then sold as scrap to a ‘teen dabbay wala’ (recycling guy) and money earned was shared to buy a cricket bat for the street team.
Honda 70s = 70 km/litre
Honda 70 is also famous in Pakistan to have broken all records of traveling the longest distance per liter of petrol. I’ve known people who claim to have run Honda 70 more than 90 km in one litre of petrol. Following text will teach you how to do it.
The Tilt and Invert of Honda 70
See all you have to do is to first tilt and then invert your Honda 70 and you will get 90 km per litre out of it. So here is what you do.
Fill one litre of petrol in your Honda 70. When the petrol pump operator teases you by saying sirf ek litre? (just one litre?), you shake your hair backwards with an adaa (style) and reply ek bhi buhat hai (one is more than enough). Then you kick start your Honda and drive on. Don’t wait to hear Petrol Pump operator saying to the camera ‘mein te Honda hi le saaN’ (I will only buy Honda)
Now drive your Honda for 70 km. At exact 70th km, the motorcycle will stop because the petrol gets finished here. Now you get off its Royal seat and tilt the motorcycle to 30 degrees from horizontal and voila! you are good to get 10 more kilometers out of your empty petrol tank. So now drive on until at exact 80th km the motorcycle will stop again.
Do you think this is the end of it? naa mere bhai naa – a Tariq Aziz dialog which in English means ‘No, No and No.’
abhi to aatish jawaaN hai. Now get another person to help you lift the motorcycle and two of you together invert the motorcycle at 270 degrees from horizontal. Imagine this for a second. It means the wheels will be facing towards the sun or moon (depending on time) and seat will be facing towards the ground. This action will bring the equal and opposite reaction of getting the last few remaining droplets of petrol to the engine and there you go again. Your Honda 70 will run for 10 more kilometers. Now you can drive on till exact 90th kilometer. Then your Honda will come to a final STOP.
So do you have anymore interesting Honda 70 anecdotes to share with us? Feel free to use comments section to let us know.
ATPs other Two-Wheeler Posts
1. Of Mad Dogs and Yamaha 50s
2. Journeys to Remember: Motorcycle Safari to Goth Alla-Bino
3. When “Bicycle Dogs Fail†in Pakistan
4. The Loads We Carry on Bicycles!
5. Sohrab Cycle and Manufacturing in Pakistan
I learned how to ride a motorbike on my neighbors Honda 50. The clutchless system made it an ideal choice. The 50 looked to be the ‘Official’ business vehicle of Southern Karachi’s business community…..back in the late 70s, 80s, a stroll down the Tower and Bolton Market area was proof enough.
As far as the Honda 70 is concerned…I got my first go at it when my uncle bought one. The running out of gas and tilting the bike to take you to ‘safety’ seemed a part of the life of a 70 owner. “Triple sawari” was a norm on way to countless Ramazan cricket matches.
Someone mentioned the ‘175’…..it was indeed the King of Road. It had a distinct engine sound that no other bike (including the later 185) could match.
BTW, the “tilt the bike for more gas” trick, done that too.
The one liter purchase, done that too. Calculated down to the exact mile where the ride would come to an end. Done that too.
But I think the best part of 50cc was it was so light weight. If you ran out of gas, it was so easy to push along till the next station. You could sit on it at an angle and push-swing with the other leg on the ground. (Done that too.)
Proud owner (second, my older brother bought it) of 50 cc.
Had so much fun.
There was nothing or nowhere I could not go. Actually, one of my friends, drove his to (and all the way back from as well) from Swat.
That thing ran for ever. Almost zero maintenance. Two, three, seated, and two, three bicycles pulled!
Cover up the spark plugs with plastic bag and monsoon rains had no impact. As long as that sparky sparked, the machine ran. And the sparky was good angeled upwards.
And ran it did. It never was great at acceleration, but once in the busy traffic, with a deft rider (and I was one fearless rider (shiver me timbers, nowe’ me think abu’t it’)) it could out run the other guys with better equipment. (BTW, had a major accident to prove my honors. The middle rod broke into two! No problem, the welder guy put it right back together for a “welded enjoyment”.)
But I have to say, the smoothest (and royal) of all the Hondas’ was the king of road, 175!
But back to “my” 50cc, my white plastic partition cracked. Never mind, I took it right off and rode the machine like a broomstick. Mover over Harry “Putter”!
And the best memory of all, even though I had the exclusive use of the car by then (since all my older siblings had moved along), I used to (and preferred to) take it for a ride with my, ever so youthful, lovely and sage wife. And she rode it with me like a pro-biker’s gal! And yes, she positioned across, not on the side. Did I say, like a pro-biker’s gal?
Those were the days my friend,
I thought they would never end.
OM, good memories!
My electrical helper just got his new honda. Man, I know he wasnt even this happy on his wedding day, but he’s even happier on getting this beauty. It literally runs for 60 km a litre, and I am sure as he uses it more, it would get better and better
Perhaps you are too young to write a qaseeda of Honda 50 . that was one another amazing animal…
I remembered the rains of 93 …walking in waist deep water of PECHS with my office colleague (who was 5 feet tall) clinging to my neck so he could be out wof ater….damn it ….why i only had male colleagues ….