The Honda ST-series

minibike A minibike is a two-wheeled, motorized, off-highway recreational vehicle popularized in the 1960s and 1970s, but available continuously from a wide variety of manufacturers since 1959. Their off-highway nature and (in many countries) typically enti ...

s are known as the Dax in Japan and Europe, and the Trail 70 in Canada and the US. The ST70 was exported to Canada and the US as the CT70. This is an exception to Honda's usual practice of prefix letters indicating the bike family, followed by engine size. The CT70 is mechanically unrelated to other CT-series bikes such as the CT50 Motra, and the CT50, CT90 & CT110 Trail Cubs. The ST90 was sold in the US as the Trailsport, and was not given a CT designation. The ST50, ST70, and CT70 were introduced in August 1969 and produced through 1981. The larger ST90 was produced from 1973 through 1975. The ST50 was reissued in 1995, and produced through 2000. The CT70 was also sold in the US from 1981 through 1994 with a new serial number format: JH2Dxxxxxxxxxxxxx, rather than the CT70-xxxxxxx format used since 1969. These 'JH2D' bikes are not listed in Honda Japan's production figures above and are perhaps licensed production. A key feature of the ST-series is the pressed-steel "T-bone" frame that distinguishes it from Honda's other minibikes: the Z50 Monkey & Gorilla, the

Ape Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...

, the CF50 & CF70, and the CY50 & CY80 Nautydax. As a general description, the ST-series bikes have a bench-style saddle, small fat tires, and folding handle bars. They have an air-cooled 4-stroke engine with either a 3-speed

semi-automatic transmission A semi-automatic transmission is a "theoretical" multiple-speed transmission where part of its operation is automated (typically the actuation of the clutch), but the driver's input would be required to launch the vehicle from a standstill and t ...

, with an automatic

centrifugal clutch A centrifugal clutch is an automatic clutch that uses centrifugal force to operate. The output shaft is disengaged at low rotational speed and engages more as speed increases. It is often used in mopeds, underbones, lawn mowers, go-karts, chainsaw ...

, or a 4-speed

manual gearbox A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system, where gear change ...

. The ST90 uses larger 3.00-14 tires, compared to the 3.50-10 and 4.00-10 of the smaller bikes. For more detail about individual models, see the accompanying Infoboxes and the External Links section below. Due to the diminutive wheel-size and limited speed, the ST-series bikes do not always qualify as road-legal vehicles and were sold in some markets for off-road recreation only. Their licensing status varies with locale and time period during their nearly 40 years of existence. 1977 Honda CT-70

Honda's patents for the original ST-series expired in 1998, and replica bikes have become a popular export product for many Chinese manufacturers such as Jincheng, Lifan, Panda, and Redcat. The Dax name resurfaced at the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show with the e-DAX concept vehicle, a 25 kg folding electric

wheel motor The wheel hub motor (also called wheel motor, wheel hub drive, hub motor or in-wheel motor) is an electric motor that is incorporated into the hub of a wheel and drives it directly. History * First wheel motor concept: Wellington Adams of ...

scooter meant to accompany the Bulldog

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

as a trunk bike. This car-scooter combination was previously introduced by Honda in 1981 with the

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

car and Motocompo folding scooter.

More specifications

References

External links

* 1969 Infobox specifications from these Honda pages on 2008-02-26:
http://www.honda.co.jp/news/1969/2690814.html

** ttp://www.honda.co.jp/sou50/Hworld/Hall/2r/64.html http://www.honda.co.jp/sou50/Hworld/Hall/2r/64.html* 1971 Infobox specifications from these Honda pages on 2008-02-26:
http://www.honda.co.jp/news/1971/2710205.html
* 1976 Infobox specifications from these Honda pages on 2008-02-26:

* 1979 Infobox specifications from these Honda pages on 2008-02-26:

* 1995 Infobox specifications from these Honda pages on 2008-02-26:

External links

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{{Honda ST series (minibike) Minibikes