The Honda Super Cub trail origin story

 In 1959, when Honda first began selling motorcycles in the USA, Herb Uhl started modifying the Super Cub C100 49cc motorcycles in Boise, ID for trail use.

His son Billy started out racing one as well.

The story is documented in a book on Honda's history and magazine articles. "Herb had converted and sold a couple of hundred machines when Jack McCormick national sales manager for American Honda noticed that Herb was selling more Honda Cubs than all the dealers in Los Angeles combined. McCormack asked Uhl to send one of his trail conversions down to California. McCormack crated the bike back up and sent it to Japan, with a request that the company creates a production version of Uhl’s creation."

Honda made a promotional film, “Hunting with Hondas”. Some of the footage was shot in ID and Herb is the person riding the blue Cub with a double seat.

This page is part of an effort to compile, share and preserve Herb Uhl's part in the genesis of the Honda trail linage and the explosion in popularity of All Terrain Vehicles.