Honda CT110

[Fleksta]

I'm considering the purchase of a Honda CT110 to fulfill some of my desire to bomb around the many back roads in my area. The problem is that I know nothing about them, aside from how fun they look.

Can some owner's or prior owner's chime in with some tips and information? My main concerns at this point are parts availability and reliability, anything important that is impossible to replace? I feel spoiled with my XS as parts are still cheap and readily available.

I have the chance to get into one pretty cheap, but it will need a bit of freshening up. Runs and drives, but needs tinkering with the electrics to get the lights working.

[zap2504]

Search this forum area for "ct110" and "ct90". Also search the "Battle Scooters" forum area for the same key words. Huge amount of info.

[lrutt]

I've owned and worked on lots of them, ct90 and 110. Honda still carries a ton of parts, what they don't have dratv.com has. That site is invaluable for parts both oem and aftermarket, plus carbie kits and electrics. Manuals are available on the net for free if you search. I found one.

There are some options that were available that were pretty cool. The big back rack, the auxillary fuel tank that straps to the back. I have both those on my 1970 model. Virtually unchanged over the years.

The dual range sub tranny is pretty cool. Get in the woods and plod along in low range, or get on the road and stick it high range and go 50 to 55. The CT90 will get 100mpg pretty easy. no need to think the 110 would be much different. That little motor is probably the most robust Honda made. Poweroll used to make kits that would bore and stoke them to 180cc.

I personally own one that was left idling for a solid 24 hours straight in the hot Nebraska summer and never harmed the old gal. It was my Grandpas bike used on a farm at the time. Long story.

Basically just like a timex, takes a lickin and keeps on ticken.

Electrics are very simple, but they do need a charged battery to run. A good AGM will do wonders. They are all 6v. Some of the later 110's were CDI I think but not sure of the years.

Probably THE most common part to replace is the exhaust pipe. The upswept design and small bore engine, those pipes rusted out frequently, but still available.

And they are fetching a fortune in good shape on ebay. older low mile units for up to $2k for crying outloud.

[redprimo]

My ct90's are my favorite round town transportation. I was just up in San Francisco for the weekend and I took my 68 ct 90 with me so I wouldn't have to try and park my f250 4x4 long bed truck every where I went. At one point I ened up going up Filmore which is one of those streets where the sidewalk turns to stairs at one point. I just poped the sub tranny into low and chugged right on up in second gear.

Reliability is pretty good for esentially a 50 year old design and even on my 43 year old bike it is amazing for an all original bike. As others have said dratv.com has tons of parts and since the 110's are still being produced and sold in Australia the support for those is almost 100%.

With gas set to go through the roof it might be a nice little bike to have for putting around.

[FahrtMeister]

Gday mate, down Under we call them Postie Bikes, on account of their use by Australia Post as delivery vehicles. AusPost has them specially made with heavy duty everything(but no dual range) and sells them at auction when they're flogged. I've had a few, I do an annual event known as the Hardcore Postie Bikes. This years event was across the full width of Oz, 3400 miles off road. They are the perfect bike for that type of event, and there are many similar events down here. Check out Australia under Regional Forums and there's lots of info. There are a few guys here who sell parts for them, I use OneTenMotorcycles in Caboolture.
Nothing much really goes wrong with them. CDIs and stators can play up, camchains tend to stretch if they're thrashed, otherwise they're pretty good.
good luck

[Robb Mc]

i bought a '71 CT90 then accidentally bought an '84 CT110. they're both awesome. i use them to run to the store in town, amd theyre also great as a lifeboat when im offroading my van. or just to toodle around camp.

[vtwin]

No worries about being reliable.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...t=nate+postman

[Fleksta]

Thanks guys, I've got an appointment with the seller to see it tomorrow.

It's a 1981, without the dual range transmission. Kinda bummed about that, but not enough to be deterred.

If all goes well, I'll be sure to post pictures of it.

[FahrtMeister]

Originally Posted by Fleksta

Thanks guys, I've got an appointment with the seller to see it tomorrow.

It's a 1981, without the dual range transmission. Kinda bummed about that, but not enough to be deterred.

If all goes well, I'll be sure to post pictures of it.

You dont need the dual range, if she wont pull uphill drop the front sprocket to a 14 tooth.

[Fleksta]

Well, I picked it up. Might have bit off a bit more than I can chew but the price seemed right ($250).

Hopped on it, started in two kicks and tooled around a bit in the guys yard & took it down the street to test the gears. Seemed to ride great, but wouldn't hold an idle unless you kept the throttle cracked. Got it home and drove it around the yard a bit then parked it overnight. I'm sure you see where this is going...now I can't get it started again.

So, I ordered some tune-up parts. Spark plug wire splice kit with new cap, new plug, condenser, 6V battery, & radio shack rectifier. Checked the points, looked good. Still trying to get the generator cover off so I can do the valves.

I'm doubting that I will be able to get the lights working again without buying a replacement wiring harness. The PO bypassed the battery properly, which will be no problem reversing. But the owner before him got a little sketchy with the headlight wiring.

The story is that the handlebar controls stopped working, so instead of replacing them he just rigged up a pair of toggle switches to turn the headlight on and hi/lo beam. I've only done a preliminary check, but it looks bad.

I'll have pics this afternoon, was too dark to take them when I first got it home.

[Robb Mc]

Welcome to the club.

You can rewire it yourself no problem. The stock 'wiring harness' is really only a handful of wires. These things are pretty simple, and there are plenty of diagrams out there in Googlelandia.

[jbrownmxr]

Youll love your CT. It's a Swiss army knife with two wheels. You bought a 1980 CT 110 not an 81. The 80 is a transition year. It's the first of the 110s (104) up from 90cc, but, it lacks the dual range and the center stand. Is essentially the postie the Austrailians are talking about.

The 6v is a pain mainly because of light bulbs. You won't need the dual range. I really think that was to make it suitable for Ag work. They are stone reliable so long as points, valves, and carb is adjusted. Keep the fuel fresh and clean. The pilot jets are TINY. Oh, and the 80 is screwy as it has a weird carb with press in jets. You CAN'T get new ones anywhere. You can replace with a later model carb.

I use mine every week to get groceries, and cruise to the hardware story. Kids like rides on them too. I love my CT.

[Fleksta]

Originally Posted by jbrownmxr

You bought a 1980 CT 110 not an 81.

Really, it says 1981 on the VIN sticker? Hope the town clerk doesn't give me trouble with the bill of sale then.

Anyway, I finally have some pictures. I won't have time to dig into it until this weekend, but I found a PDF of the Honda service manual to study on my breaks at work

[bmwhacker]

Originally Posted by Fleksta

Thanks guys, I've got an appointment with the seller to see it tomorrow.

It's a 1981, without the dual range transmission. Kinda bummed about that, but not enough to be deterred.

If all goes well, I'll be sure to post pictures of it.

I had a 1981 CT110 without the dual range....it got around just fine. The dual range low is almost too low anyway......besides the single range tranny is less complicated = less things to go wrong.
I also had a CT90 with the dual range and seldom ever used the low range anyway.

[H96669]

I have one of them here with the dual range, 67. Well passed even a restoration so now it is a lawn ornament and a cool one at that.

The "dual range" on the even earlier models was 2 sprockets at the rear wheel, you had to switch the chain over. I rented quite a few of them bikes in Thailand, none of them had the dual range and sure still climbed them mountains.

I clued on to that after renting a few 125/250s enduros, most of them in bad shape but after getting up the mountains sometimes with difficulties I'd find a bunch of Thais on top all riding their version of the CTs. After that, pretty well all I rented, much cheaper and more reliable than the beat up enduros.