Honda injects fuel into Monkey bike, gets 252 mpg in return
Click above for a gallery of the Honda Monkey Bike
Question: What happens when you take an old Honda Monkey bike, complete with its 50cc four-stroke powerplant, and swap its old-school carbs for Honda's modern PGM-FI computer-controlled fuel injection? Answer: Exactly 3.4 hp and 252 mpg at a constant 18.6mph. That represents a 10 percent improvement in both fuel efficiency and power over the older version, and emissions have also been drastically reduced thanks to a modern catalytic converter in the single exhaust.
The first street-legal Z50, otherwise known as the Monkey, was launched back in 1967 and has grown up to become an icon of sorts to the Honda faithful. Since it uses the same single-cylinder powerplant as the ridiculously popular Super Cub, which was just recently endowed with computer-programmed fuel injection itself, reliability is virtually guaranteed. As much as we'd love to tell you that it's headed to America, it isn't. Just 4,000 units are slated to be built, and all of them will stay in Japan. Pity.
Gallery: Honda Monkey Bike
[Source: Honda via Hell For Leather]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Paul 2:08PM (1/23/2009)
Did you watch the TG Vietnam episode? I think "reliability" is a bit relative. Reliable in the sense that a gaggle of folks will appear magically with replacement parts and bags of weeds when you break down. Not so much in the sense of 200K trouble-free miles. I think also part of the allure of the naturally aspirated models was their simplicity. Break down--fix--drive--repeat. No computerized fuel injection system to confuse things.
Also, I'm not so keen on the whole 3.4 hp thing. Those hills in the Vietnam episode didn't look too brutal in general and those bikes sure looked harried...
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matt 8:59AM (1/26/2009)
also what is the point of giving fuel economy #'s at a speed of 18mph???? my 50cc scooter (also fuel injected) gets 90-110mpg in real world driving...
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Paul Lubitz 2:34PM (4/13/2009)
Really Honda....get us the injected Super Cub in the U.S. Or better yet, make it an update of the 90 or 110. (fuel injected as well) I ride my 1977 Trail 90 daily and it does everything I need in town. And have you seen what they ask for nice 90's on Ebay? If that doesn't show that there is a market then what does?
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