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| | 1965 CT200 Trail 90
Freedom is defined by Merriam-Webster as the quality or state of being free: The absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action. For me, my first definition of freedom came under the nomenclature CT200 Trail 90.
The Honda Trail 90 CT200 came to play a big part in my life after our late neighbor Jim Steele stopped by the house with his new motorcycle. On that nostalgic day Jim was not riding a Honda CT200, but a Honda CA-100T Trail 50.
After my father learned that Jim had purchased his new motorcycle at the new Honda dealer in Mountoursville, Pennsylvania, it didn’t take long for us to go visit the new place. We visited the dealership the very next business day with the intentions of seeing if they had another CA-100T Trail 50 in their showroom.
The new dealership did not have a big showroom or a big inventory and there were no CA-100T Trail 50 available for sale. There was however, something that our eyes were immediately caught by. It was a brand-new bright yellow Honda CT200 Trail 90.
Jim Steele’s CA100T Trail 50 had made such an impression upon my father, that he could not resist or in fact wait for such unit to arrive, so the CT200 Trail 90 which sat on the showroom found a new home right away.
Because I was not tall enough to sit on the CT200, I had to settle to sit beside the motorcycle in the truck bed as we hauled it home with us, that same day. I knew the day I would be big enough to ride that motorcycle that it would change my life.
One of the features of the CT200 was an available overlay sprocket for the rear wheel which when unbolted from its holding location and installed over the regular “street” sprocket turned the CT200 into a very powerful, low-geared trail bike. Indeed, a very kneat feature.
The CT200 Trail 90 was the predecessor to the CT-90 trail bike, which in turn became a magnificent seller for Honda over the next 15 years.
The bike pictured in this page was purchased from a family whom wanted to make some additional room in their garage.
My father’s CT200 Trail 90 whereabouts is unfortunately unknown. While I still have the engine packed away in a box in my barn, I believe that someone who was building a wood cart used the wheels from that nostalgic Honda on their project.
It is amazing to look back and realize that the CT200 was probably the most influential motorcycle in my 50 years of life. The Honda CT200 Trail 90 introduced me to freedom, as I know it.
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