"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
03/28/2019 at 14:04 • Filed to: Two Wheels Good
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"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
03/28/2019 at 14:04 • Filed to: Two Wheels Good | 7
| 11 |
Last night’s sale shenanigans didn’t hold me down for too long, because I’m super excited for my new work commuter!
(Disclaimer: I picked this one up before the daily smart’s brake pads decided to get more intimate with the rotor surfaces. In fact, the brakes started scrubbing a few miles before I got to the U-Haul place to drop the trailer off. )
As previously reported, I’m trying to offload my Chinesium in favour of Japanese metal. And since I’m moving to Chicago soon, I really don’t need my work commuter bike to have a whole ton of power. I don’t need to have a 250 size scooter to get around roads that never surpass 30 mph. So I decided to get something a little funky.
Unfortunately for me, the Sym Symba was sold before I could get to it. Instead, I found something a bit more...unique?
Did you know the Honda Super Cub is the best selling vehicle of all time, not even including its derivatives? What if I told you another Japanese manufacturer tried to capitalize on the Cub’s success and instead ended up with a far more rare motorbike?
That’s exactly what this Yamaha U7E is. Based on my research thus far, this cute thing was only made for a single year in 1972 and Yamaha didn’t sell many of them.
It was purchased new in 1972 then sold in 1976 to the owner I would buy it from . Yep, he’s only the second owner!
This little motorbike taught an entire few generations of the same family how to ride motorcycles. Everyone in the family learned to ride on this little 70cc smoker. As the owner got older he rode it less and less, eventually letting it sit unused in his garage. He had the mechanicals and rubber restored in late 2014 (with the documents to prove it coming with the bike ) and as of currently it just needs a new throttle cable, carb, and battery to run and ride. The body and paint are in original condition and are free of dents, cracks, and mostly free of rust. It’s not concours quality but I don’t care, this little thing has a delightful history!
It was last registered in 86, but apparently was ridden frequently up until it was stored in recent years.
He then somehow found someone scrapping one and bought boxes of spare parts. Looking through the boxes, there’s a front fender (yay!), a second left mirror (I mounted it to the right side for safety, I didn’t want the straps to slip off), a new parking light thing, tray, chain guards, side panels, rear shocks, brakes, trim pieces, switchgear, wiring harness, an extra ignition cylinder with key, you name it. The first issued license plate from 1972 also came in the box of parts.
Also coming with it is the title (and this one’s legit unlike that last two stroke I learned a lesson with), parts list (!!), service manual, and receipts for every service this thing has ever had under the person I bought it from.
He said it was bittersweet to see it go, but he’d rather have it go to someone who will love it for another 40+ years than let it sit in his garage unused. I’m super excited for this one and will be adding it to my personal “I don’t want to ever sell this” collection alongside the likes of my GL1100 and my GS. I’ve never had a full parts list and a full service manual before! It’s about time.
And yes, at this point I’m seriously considering getting myself a tiny foldable trailer. ;)
Sovande
> Mercedes Streeter
03/28/2019 at 14:13 |
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I have a 70 cc Honda Cub motor on my bookshelves in my living room. I had a Cub and put a 150cc Lifan motor in it and then sold it. It was a fun little bike.
Snuze: Needs another Swede
> Mercedes Streeter
03/28/2019 at 14:38 |
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Hmm, vintage bike only made for 1 year. You’ll learn your lesson... Actually, since you like weird bikes, I’ll make you a deal on a 1989 Honda CB-1. It’s pretty rare, only sold in the US for 2 years...
Seriously though, rare bikes are neat but also a pain to find parts for. That’s been the eternal struggle with the CB-1. Actually, its got some weird bits to it (center gear driven cams, as in between cylinders 1-2 & 3-4) and for the longest time I didn’t have a place to work on it myself , and no mechanic I talked to wanted to touch it, even with a full set of shop manuals.
In other words
my personal “I don’t want to ever sell can’t find anyone who wants to buy this because it’s impossible to find parts for ” collection
Fixed that for you ;)
And yes, at this point I’m seriously considering getting myself a tiny foldable trailer. ;)
Check back for rageposting tomorrow and the epic conclusion of my 6 month long H arbor F reight folding trailer debacle . Tomorrow is the day, it’s either me or the trailer, one way or another.
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Mercedes Streeter
> Snuze: Needs another Swede
03/28/2019 at 14:45 |
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Shhhhh...so long as it doesn’t need a part that’s not included in the boxes of spares. In all seriousness though, you could probably MacGyver Honda Cub parts to work in a worst case scenario. These were made when the Japanese manufacturers had a thing for copying each other.
That CB-1 looks tempting, but you made the critical error of telling me it’s broken and can’t find parts before selling it to me! :p
Dash-doorhandle-6 cyl none the richer
> Mercedes Streeter
03/28/2019 at 15:15 |
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Freakin Sweet! A lso I’m sure I’ve ridden one, making it the ONLY motorized 2 wheeler I’ve ever ridden.
RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> Mercedes Streeter
03/28/2019 at 15:21 |
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Was the engine in this in any of their other bikes?
vicali
> Mercedes Streeter
03/28/2019 at 15:33 |
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Score!
My Dad collects CT90s;
He has four now in different states of repair.. plus he recently
picked up a C100;
But there were millions of these made, plus he’s on the CT Forums finding parts, and if he’s really stuck he can walk into any Honda
dealership and buy parts out of the catalogue..
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Snuze: Needs another Swede
> Mercedes Streeter
03/28/2019 at 15:40 |
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Yeah, I’m half teasing. The Cub is pretty timeless, and as you said there were tons of copycats out there. So a Cub clone is probably not a bad idea.
And the CB-1 kind of runs. To try and shorten a long story, it got in an accident and cracked the crank case. I eventually found a second engine (with a bad top end) and after a long time searching I got a mechanic who actually used to race one to put my good top end on the good crank case I found. It took like a year because it needed pistons and we had to wait for Honda to get around to making some and ship them from Japan . Apparently Honda does still make parts for a lot of their old stuff but they will do it in short production runs from time to time.
Anyways, I got it all back together and put about 10 miles on it and it started making this awful racket. I took it back to the mechanic and it turned out a cam had jumped timing. I got that fixed, put another 100 miles on it, and it started making a ticking noise. Around this time I was transfering duty stations (this is way back when I was in the Navy) so I didn’t have time to mess with it so I put it in storage. I got it out a few years ago and was keeping it in my buddy’s garage and I started messing with it. In the interm I had worked on some other Hondas and learned a lot of them have starter clutch issues and when we finally got it fired up at my buddy’s place I figured out that’s the noise I was hearing. I also diagnosed a failing fuel pump, and that’s one part I couldn’t get but I was able to adapt a generic aftermarket one to work. Now it starts and idles very poorly and stalls if you give it more than about 5% throttle. After 30 year and lots of sitting I think the carbs need some attention. So once I get a few other projects knocked out (damn trailer and the Cruze needs an intake manifold) I’m going to tackle the carbs. I haven’t been on 2 wheels in ages and I miss it badly.
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Mercedes Streeter
> RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
03/28/2019 at 15:43 |
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Still researching that. It’s possible it was!
Future Heap Owner
> Mercedes Streeter
03/28/2019 at 17:11 |
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Excellent purchase ! The cub’s aesthetics are classic, and this is the best possible color scheme. Seems like you found an excellent specimen.
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RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
> Mercedes Streeter
03/28/2019 at 17:14 |
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Hope so, parts would be a little easier to find that way then! :)
shop-teacher
> Mercedes Streeter
03/29/2019 at 00:29 |
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Cool little bike!