The History of Honda's Z50 Mini Trail From 1968-1999

[Music] hello this is Tony blazer back with another video for the motocross ball and what I'm doing this one is I'm going to cover one of Hondas most iconic motorcycles the honda mini trail also known as the z 50 the z 50 was an original in production from 1968 through 1999 then it was redesigned and rebranded as the CRF 50 the Sierra 50 clearly even has its roots going back to the Z 50 the basic motor it goes way back to the 60s really really rugged incredibly reliable motor a great little beginner bike you know they've sold over a million of these things in the last 50-plus years so it's one of the most successful motorcycles of all time bar none Honda certainly had quite a hit on its hands right from the beginning and it's been continued to be in the stable in one form or another for many many years great great little motorcycle and one that people continue to enjoy today now if you're into the Z 50 you'll see a lot of the photos in this thing a lot of information I got was from a great book by Jeremy Paulsen it's right here it's Honda's mini trail enthusiast guide if you want to read more about it this is a great resource has some awesome photographs and a lot of great information in it so if you want to know more a lot of the stuff I covers in here great book Jeremy was kind enough to help me out so I certainly appreciate his help with this video if you like the sort of thing check out the other videos on the channel I've done tons of them on other motorcycles over at the website on our YouTube page and also on Facebook you can find them as well I've also written about a lot of these motorcycles over pulp at max comm so you'll find a ton of the classic bike reviews there as well if you want to check it out make sure you subscribe to the channel when I do new ones I try to come out with one once every week or so and if you have any ideas for other videos you'd like to see feel free to drop me a line and don't forget to subscribe and deem that little bell so you see when we offer a new video up for your viewing enjoyment so here's the history of Honda's z50 mini trail before we get into the Z 50 itself I thought it might be a good idea to get into a little bit of the history of the behind the motorcycle the original Z 50 here in America wasn't introduced until 1968 but the bike did have a few early iterations in Japan in Europe before it made its way to our shores the first one was the bike you see here which was the Z 100 that was a motorcycle that was actually part of an amusement park in Japan they had basically you could take this little motorcycle for a ride and at the time people commented that when full full-sized adults were riding on the bike it made him look like a monkey so it got kind of ended up with the nickname the monkey bike which you still see today with Honda's new monkey they just introduced something I guess funny about big people in small motorcycles this early one here obviously didn't have any suspension very crew design but it proved extremely popular at the amusement park and I guess that gave Honda the idea they might actually want to produce one after the public's interest in the Z 100 Honda decided to put a similar vehicle into production in 1963 that bike was officially known as the cz 100 it was basically the first Honda monkey bike this machine used a 50 cc motor basically out of one of the Honda's production cub motorcycles at the time very similar to what the bike would still have now no suspension it was street-legal wasn't ever sold in the US it was available in Europe and Asia apparently pretty pretty popular machine at the time like I said none were ever available here in the US and it's rumor there's only seven still around so it's very rare very collectible a day in 1966 honda added another model to the lineup this one was the first one to actually bear the z50 name it was the original Honda's e-50m another motorcycle that was not available here in the US but if you look at it here you can see it bears a lot of resemblance to the bike that would make it to our shores visually very similar you can see still has no no suspension in front of rear but you do see some features like befouled away handlebars on here that would make its way to the mini trails here in the US those were designed actually so you could fold the bars up and stick the stick the mini trail in the trunk of your car got a mirror pick up trucks weren't really as commonplace in the 60s basically the only people use them were farmers most people had station wagons so you need a vehicle that could be packed away in the back year family squire wagon and the Z 50s always had the early ones at least had these folding handlebars and a little on/off switch that you turn the gas off to make sure you didn't get gas leaking all over the back year this first one here like I said was not available in the US but you gotta remember at the time many bikes are pretty popular even here although most of the ones you'd find here were basically something made out of you know wrought iron back in the back of a shed with a Briggs and Stratton motor put in it no suspension as well but very crude and when Honda saw just how popular many bikes were here in the US they got the idea that maybe if they brought this mini trail here it might take off so after making a couple of trips to the US and in the mid 60's Honda decided that hey they should maybe bring this thing over to the US so our first one that actually made its way here was in 1968 available for the low price of two hundred and twenty-five dollars the original Honda mini trail was a little bit different than the Z 50m had been the one that was available in Europe as you can see here the bike still has the folding handlebars but it does not have headlights or taillights this very first model in 68 lacked the headlight and taillight there's still no rear suspension but it does have front suspension you have some very limited travel basically probably a pair of bic pins for damping but did give you a little something one of the couple things that distinguish this from the later ones you'll notice the the grips are white and the levers are white this is a little different look to it it also doesn't have that cool tartan seat that the British version had in the early 60s I'm sorry 68 models during the production run there was a lot of changes actually the ones that are built early on actually have a lot of little little subtle differences from the ones that were built later in the year at this point Honda was still kind of sorting out parts suppliers and stuff so ones that are built early have like a different exhaust guard they're called like slant cars because of the shape of the the exhaust pipe cover basically they did a few running changes as they went so if you're a collector it can be kind of hard to suss out exactly what makes an original one because like I said different ones depending on what day of the week if they were build will have different components on them this first year a Honda built them in red and yellow you get them in either one good-looking and either way in my opinion they sold a little over 20,000 of them as you can see like I said this is an off-road only because there's no headlights taillights the bike was not street-legal was basically sold just as a kind of a campsite runaround bike and like I said this is the first one to actually bear the z50 a mini trail named after a relatively short six-month production run Honda was back with an all-new Z 54 1969 they made some pretty significant changes on the 69 there's a lot of little subtle things the fenders like I said are kind of fluid depending on the year and when the bike was built they made some subtle changes so even within each model you're going to see some variations and stuff based on part supplies but across the board all the six Knights had they added a headlight in the taillight probably that's the single most significant change over the two they also lowered the bar slightly the seat was reshaped the fenders are chrome they also had a new chain guard it has a proper key switch on it this was a really really popular model a Honda sold over 150,000 of these in 69 into 1970 they had a little longer run on this after the short run in 68 and the ended up selling a ton of these things they came in three colors in 69 you can get them in yellow or candy apple red or candy apple blue really really popular like I said at the time with adults and kids like I said these early ones you can see are clearly aimed more at adults than kids the high bars and the ergonomics are made so you can ride and look like a monkey riding it you can a full sized adult could ride these they weren't we're really gearing them towards young kids yet that would come a little bit later for 1970 Honda made several subtle changes to the mini trail z50 the 1970 model bears the k2 name it came in three colors again came in candy sapphire blue candy ruby red and mexican yellow one thing you will notice in the appearance is the colors are the same as in the year before but the color scheme is actually inversed you'll notice the color now is on the top of the tank and the white is on the bottom so they kind of flipped around there's also a new graphic this year one of my favorites actually the mini trail logo appears on the tank as you can see a very different design than 1969 and it has kind of a 70s font to it which is very appropriate for the time a couple of more things that change this year the boat the front and rear fenders are a little larger a little longer that required them to redesign the taillight bracket in the back the seat cover has a pebble grain - it's a little different and there's levers or aluminum made a few little changes they also deleted the battery this year after adding the battery in 1969 they took the battery away this vehicle doesn't have vietname and don't have a battery so they had to go with the Magneto unfortunately this led to some pretty dim lights if didn't work real well so if you're gonna try and ride your mini trail around in the woods at night you're gonna be looking at a pretty dim outlook in front of ya again real popular real popular model this one ran through 70 and 71 basically the same model they they kept that as another pretty long production run so they're technically is no difference between the 70 and 71 they're basically the same bike the next major update is for 1972 for 1972 Honda had some big things in store for the Z 50 a the new k3 model is the first one to feature rear suspension this is by far the biggest update of the Z 50 since it was introduced so now you had rear shocks to go along with the rather smallish front forks you also add new bodywork this year the tank is redesigned has kind of a taller profile a much more prominent mini trail graphic here on the side of the tank as well I really like this look it's kind of unique to this one model good look in general in 2000 in 1972 the vehicle came in two colors you get these e-50 in ruby red with black accents or candy gold with black accents this is the first year for a couple things the first year for the little studs on the side of the seat the granite seats actually a little bit different than the year before - it's also the first year for this very prominent heat shield on the side the exhaust is a little different on this one and as you can see they're very prominent heat shield on the side going down the side of the bike still maintained the foldable bars so you could still take your as z50 and fold the bars up crammed in the back of your family truckster the bike itself is like I said much more capable with the suspension in the back now you have a little bit more cushion when you hit the trail this was obviously a big improvement in z50 line as one more little side benefit here if you did buy a Z 50 in 1972 you've got a genuine racing Jersey although I'm not sure who you'd want to race on a Z 50 I hope they're on foot I wouldn't want to race um anything else but in any case you get a nice Jersey with your new teeth Ct 70 or you see 50 after some pretty significant changes in 1972 there were only minor updates in store for 1973 on the Z 50 the major thing they changed was they swapped out the rubber mounted pegs which were basically like street bike pegs for what they called alligator pegs which are like serrated pegs like you'd see on any modern motocross model this was a big big improvement if you've ever ridden one of these old dual sports or bikes with the rubber pegs as soon as you get your boots a little wet or go through some mud I mean it's like like skating rink there you basically just can't keep your feet on the peg so that was definitely a big improvement the only other not even really significant but the only other real change they made was switch the chain guard from chrome to black of course yet bold new graphics this year although I would probably say they're less bold than in 1972 the 73 model k4 did come in two colors came in Hawaiian blue metallic and candy orange other than that not a real big difference you get a Z 50 logo on the side cover finisher still chrome basically like I said same thing motorcycles it was the year before with just some minor updates after only a couple of minor updates 473 things are even less dramatic 474 the 74 Z 50 a k5 model basically just got the bold new graphics treatment there was a subtle change mid-year with some of the rear fenders having to do with meeting compliance in America and the size of the taillight other than that basically the this C 50 is just exactly the same as the previous one the only difference is colors a little bit they did come in a new shade of blue called candy sapphire blue and then the other option was candy topaz orange as in 1974 no major changes on the mini trail for 75 a couple of interesting things though this is actually the first year to only offer one color the 75 k-6 model came in candy ruby red that was your only choice going forward this would be the case for all the Z 50s after 1975 this like I said was the first year where you could only get one and then after that they would always come in just one color each year this is also the last year to use the K in the name after this it's just known as the Z 50 a and then later does he fit the R so they kept the K in the name for a few years and then dropped it after 1975 as previously mentioned the 76 Honda Z 50 a is the first one in several years not to have the K moniker on that that had to do with the DMV and basically how they were registering vehicles on the chose to drop some of the the K nomenclature there and just go with the Year 476 there is a single color it's parakeet yellow I actually really like this color scheme kind of a cool-looking bike definitely looks a lot different than the the red and blues the last couple years wonder sig thing if you look at the ads here they were clear going for a little broader audience and it shows do you see a mom and her daughter here in the brochure which is school trying to give more people involved in riding obviously this year the sales were way down you know in the early 70s you had a high watermark of a hundred fifty thousand these things being sold in seventy five they only sold like four thousand see 50s so it's interesting I'm not sure what caused it to trail off certainly bike sales aren't what they were you know now but I'm not sure what happened in the mid 70s there I would think it would still been going strong as far as changes for 76 not a lot a couple of minor things the handlebar clamps the triple clamps went from chrome to black the lower exhaust shield is also black but just cosmetic stuff nothing major mechanically 476 otherwise basically the same bike it had been the year before another year of small incremental updates for 1977 on the Z 50 this is the first year that they used the Tahitian red which would be a very popular color with the Z 50s and also the other Honda motorcycles here for several years in the late 70s and this is also the first year that the Z 50 ever had the Honda wing on the side of it nice big iconic on a wing on the side there another prominent logo they'd be seen on many z 50s for years to come the bike itself not much difference just mainly cosmetic stuff the rear brake pedal went from chrome to black as did the shifter other than that really not much difference of any substance for 1977 for 1978 there's only a few more minor tweaks in store for the Z 50 a the 78 model is a significant one though it is the last of the many trails to feature the Z 50 a moniker after this they'd go by the Z 50 are the 78 here is Tahitian red again very similar to 77 but one subtle change I'll notice is the fenders are painted tshh and right as well this is the first year where the mini trail got body colored fenders these are all so hard to come by because they were a single year if you want new old stock ones ones that somebody hasn't painted they're almost impossible to find so pretty coveted by collectors and mini trailer fishin autos this one does have the Honda graphic on the tank the honda wings there but they added some kind of a groovy stripes very 70s look there as well kinda reminds me the old Mystery Machine that Scooby Doo would run for 79 the Z 50 got another pretty significant update this is the first one to have the Z 50 our moniker on it and Honda obviously or clearly wanted to kind of shift the focus of the bike to more of a kind of a miniature CR look away from the more like the early 70s mini trail kind of dual sport look with the lights and stuff this by clearly as you can see deleted the lights has like a C R style front never played on it this this actual model is unique though because this is the only one that only has one side plate the side plate only appears on the left on the right you have the full style exhaust like you had on the previous mini trails but instead of a chrome heat shield as a you know gloss black when to kind of go with the kind of CR image here you can see and even in the literature they basically advertised the Z 50 are with the CRS kind of giving it a little bit of the prestige of the full-on motocross models this this is a really unique one that's considered like the high-rise one because this is a single year as well for these bars it did away with the folding bars that were designed to be able to put your Z 50 in the back of your tank it has almost IRA back in your truck I mean it has more of a like a CR style bar but a very high one as you see I kind of a strange look really and it's really this only this one year that they had it like this the bike is detian red very much like the crs this year basically a new ear for the Z 50 going forward for 1980 we have some more cosmetic updates on the Z 50 you'll notice they added a second number plate on the side so it's symmetrical now there's a plate on the left and the right that required a redesign of the exhaust heat shield this is basically the same they would use up until 1987 the bike is still Tahiti red artesian red has the same basic tank graphics it had in 1979 but you'll notice this is the first year that I actually have a logo on the seat the Z on the side here is kind of a homage to the CR line as well like so they're kind of trying to go for a mini motocross look on this another thing you'll notice is the bars are much much lower than they were in 1979 this is the first Z 50 that's clearly going for the kids as the target market there's no kind of concession to an adult riding it there's no high bars or anything that would make it more comfortable for dad to ride around this this bikes clearly named aimed a junior and as it's kind of a first motocrosser the engine remains the same four-stroke three-speed automatic it had been since 1968 that part didn't change but you can see the mission is kind of subtly changing over the time fraidy won there are really are no significant changes on the Z 50 the only difference we get is a new decal for the side plate the 50 are on the side is a little bit different style but than that it is identical to the 1980 model for 1982 the Z 50 was mechanically identical but there were some significant cosmetic differences we played a little roulette here with the decals and the Z move from the seat to the side panel and the side panel took the 50 R off and put it on the seat this kind of more closely aligned it with the appearance of the CR motor crossers the color was also new this year the Tahitian red was retired in favor of a new color called blazed red which is the kind of more orangish red that the crs would actually adopt the year later in 1983 the orangish red is by far my one of my favorite Honda color combos definitely good luck this year and good luck going forward for 1983 we're flipping the logos around again and the 50 arm moves back to the side plate and the Z goes back to the seat there's also a new side plates and a new front number plate on this model giving a kind of a CR 480 Flair here by adding a yellow being a contrast really nicely with the blaze red color and gives the z50 a little sporty or look for a t-34 1984 we get a little more CR flavor with the first appearance of the blue seats on the Z 50 definitely like I said gives it a nice CR 500 flavor this year this is also the last year for the kind of iconic Honda logo on the tank this design had been on the tank for several years here and this would be the last one just to have the plain yellow wing with the Honda logo below it 1985 is another really good-looking year for the Z 50 this is the last year for the yellow plates that I really liked after this they would go to white and the first year for this red white and blue Honda wing definitely an iconic graphic and mid 80s for Honda love these looks 85 pretty much all the 85 Honda's were great-looking bikes the CRX R is all of them great color scheme and the Z 50 definitely benefits for that look for 1986 the Z 50 are was back with some minor graphical updates the logo was new on the tank still had their cool red white and blue look but the fonts a little different and my beloved yellow plates are gone replaced with a Shasta white set of number plates the main cosmetic difference for this year you'll notice the rims are gold the shock and the rims are gold this makes the this particular 86 87 Z 50 very desirable for collectible collectors the those gold wheels are hard to come by if you get them you know original ones what was interesting about this year was though there's actually two Z 50 models available in 1986 there also came with a limited edition Honda Z 50 Rd also known as the Christmas special this one there are conflicting stories as to exactly how many of these were made that year some stories say that only the top haunted dealers got him others tell you that there's a there were two allocated to every Honda dealer apparently at the time this was not a popular bottle most people gravitated to the regular orange and blue Z 50 but over time the Christmas specials have become extremely desirable collectibles the Christmas special is all Chrome definitely is a unique look no other z50 ever built looks like this which obviously makes it so much more collectible considering the regularity 6 doesn't look a whole lot different from an 85 or even an 84 definitely a cool year to have a Z 50 and probably one of the neatest one-off models for sure 1987 was the last year for this body style the 88 model will get a pretty significant redesign personally I don't really care for the looks of the 87 model they changed things around quite a bit with the white fender and white frame personally I don't think it goes at all with the gold rims and the blue seat and everything I like the 86 look about five hundred percent better than this one I'm sure there are people who do care for this but me personally not at all my favorite in fact it's probably my least favorite of the 1980s Z 50 looks for 1988 the little Z 50 our would receive its most major redesign since probably since they added rear shocks in the early 70s all new bodywork really modernized the look of the bike basically took it from the 70s into the 80s you have a up two tank saddle now very reminiscent of the crs the color scheme is similar to 87 but to me it works a lot better perhaps because the rear section is red and the overall bodywork is much more modern the gold rims like I said I didn't think really worked with the white white bodywork and what have you the tank was new this year like I said gives it a much more modern look the basic chassis was the same engine the same small little four-stroke with a three-speed automatic suspension wasn't any better but it definitely looked better the ergonomics are better gave it a much more modern look here I think see they have a little decal the front another plate there give it a little offset I really like the looks of the motor in 88 all the XRS and the Z 50 here got kind of a interesting I don't know it's kind of a goldish tint to it look really cool particularly like on the XR of the larger motors had a good look to him and it really gives these 88 and the 89 had the same similar kind of a gold tone to it a really sharp look basically after this this would be the last major redesigned the Z 50 would see until it was retired like I said at the end of 99 and converted over to the new xr-50 alright from here on out we're going to move pretty quickly because really the Z 50 doesn't receive any major updates for the rest of its model run it's mainly just a few minor graphic changes and what-have-you I do want to comment on the 89 though here then that it is a uniquely attractive motorcycle as far as the Z 50 goes I think this is the best-looking of this body style at all it's the only year to have a red fenders front rear very very reminiscent of the 89 CRS which are also one of my favorite looking motorcycles of all time really good-looking little bike here mechanically very very similar in fact identical to the 88 but the few little subtle changes they made Freddy and I definitely give it a cool look that I really appreciated this year alright as I said we're gonna move pretty quickly now there really isn't a whole lot to say about the 90s X Z 50s they really didn't make much in the way of any changes during that ten year period they're even cosmetically I didn't change a lot there is no Z 54 1990 I'm not sure maybe they had a bunch of leftover 89 s which is peculiar to me considering how I'd actually think it was real good like a motorcycle but for whatever reason they didn't release one in 90 the next one to come out is 91 you can see a 91 they ditched the lovely kind of gold tent and went with more of a I don't know a silvery pewter color not as attractive but overall basically the same all these 90s have the same white color scheme with a red seat they really changed that throughout the decade some changes of the graphics they started out the decade with the blue here on the side panel and that kind of went to purple in the mid 90s as everybody went totally batshit for purple for some reason all the motocross Spike's including the crs had purple all over them so you'll see these mid-90s ones have have a little more purple in the graphics and purple in the side panel and then starting in 97 when Honda redesigned the CRS and went with the whole white rear fender you can see that the Z 50 here kind of adopts that look overall like I said there's really no difference my least favorite of these is probably the 99 didn't really care for the 99 look of the CRS either not dramatically different a little like I said I hope everybody enjoyed this I had debated whether to just do like a slide show with these like I had done with some earlier bike videos and then I thought it might be fun to kind of go and do a little more in-depth and add a little more information to it so I'd love to know if you guys enjoyed this I know it's a little bit long and maybe 50s aren't the most interesting subject as far as most people are concerned but if you like this maybe I'll do something similar for the CRS and some of the other motocross models we'll go through and do a little background on each one as we go and see if people like it so please feel free to let me know in the comments below if you dig this and then like I said we'll do some more I hope you everybody liked it and I'll see you soon [Music] [Laughter]

Channel: The Motocross Vault

Views: 88,351

Keywords: race, crash, supercross, motocross, HONDA, YAMAHA, KAWASAKI, KTM, SUZUKI, 80, 125, 250, 500, 490, YZ80, YZ85, YZ125, YZ250, YZ400, YZ765, YZ490, YZ450, YZ426, CR80, CR80R, CR125, CR250, CR450, CR480, CR500, CR500R, KX80, KX125, KX250, KX450, KX420, KX500, rm80, RM125, RM250, RM465, RM500, RM450, RM-Z250, RM*Z450, ATC, FOURTRAX, Z50R, Mini Trail, Mini Bike, CRF50F

Id: ciGiFfUKCkM

Length: 30min 16sec (1816 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 29 2019