Honda Elite 50 S

Advantages: Cheap, small and friendly
Disadvantages: errrrrrr cheap, small and friendly!

...Having had my first experience of a Bike, whilst on a Caribbean island wearing nothing but shorts and straw hat, on the way to a chicken fight with about a dozen other ‘moto-conchos ‘I suppose I had been spoilt! Knowing I would never be able to duplicate that feeling, I opted for a little old rusty C50 I found in the small ads. It was the wife who saw it. 1967, Honda C50. Red / Cream. Runs, red / white, buyer to collect. Southend Excellent, off we went. Put it in the back of the hire car we had as a replacement for the golf that the wife had just broke! After an engine rebuilt and the replacing of a few of the genuine parts, my little old globetrotter was ready for the off. Within the first week, I noticed that I was about £30 better off for not taking a Taxi! I had been at work early every day and home... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: It's fast, superb gear change, rides and handles well
Disadvantages: Tiring engine, lots of gear changing, high CO2

.... Having purchased mine in March, by the time we arrived at Millbrook, it had covered around 8,000 miles. To me it needed no "launching"! The previous year I had taken the opportunity to try the base model 2.0 petrol, that car was returned to the salesman with a simple comment, 'nice car shame about the engine'. Now, I'm going to guess that perhaps one or two of you reading this are going to be challenging me on that point. I drive a Honda XYZ and it has a GREAT engine I can hear you saying. Yes, Honda makes brilliant engines, but until they launched the diesel, most definitely not for me…… ……let me explain. I am a company car driver, fairly high up the tree of a 60 year old family business. Before you say it, no I'm not the average 80 year old Honda Accord driver! I am however a fairly mature early 40's guy with a slightly younger... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Cheap, practical, hard-wearing
Disadvantages: Looks/style, performance (its a moped)

...The Honda SH50 City Express is a good first moped or to use as cheap city transport. Today they are cheap to purchase (can be had in reasonable condition for under £200) economical and reliable. Where the Honda scores well in practical categories it is not the most desirable machine. Its styling is dated, the handling is hardly sporty and the performance is somewhat dire. It is worth noting that the bike never needed to be restricted to 30mph as it was naturally slow. There is a company called technigas who make a sports exhaust system which should improve performance noticibly. One thing to check is that the exhaust and the exhaust port are not clogged with carbon deposits. This seriously limits performance and can be simply sorted. Other than this the bike requires minimal maintenence other than washing and keeping topped up with 2... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful