Cub Type F

Honda’s Cub Type F is an auxiliary engine for use with bicycles released in 1952. The Type F engine features a piston valve, a cross-flow scavenging type 2-cycle single cylinder, and an engine displacement of 49.9 cm3; it also boasted a performance of 1 PS/3,000 rpm maximum output. To ensure light weight and high productivity, a number of aluminum die-cast and press parts were used, putting the engine ahead of its time, and the engine achieved the lightest weight of 6 kg as an auxiliary engine for bicycles. The unique design featured ‘a white tank and a red engine’ and the high reliability enabled rapid familiarization, ringing about a considerable transformation in the distribution chain at that time. In addition, this is a historical engine which served as the catalyst for the drastic expansion of the market for motorized bicycles as mass production products, making them the most basic product for development following compact motorcycles.