When we came around to storyboarding for the Bike Builds concept to turn it into a series, it [Honda CT 70] was instantly one of the first things that I was thinking of: “Okay, I would really like to start the series with something tangible to most of the people that see this, that if they are a motorcycle rider or enthusiast –or if they aren't – they probably could think about being one after seeing a smaller more relatable bike.”
15 min
Honda CT70
Pro stunt rider and expert builder Aaron Colton turns a clunker Honda CT70 into the pit bike of his dreams.
English +1
The Iconic Honda CT 70
The CT 70 internationally is called the Honda Dax. It is part of the Honda Mini Trail family and that era laid the foundation for motorcycling as far as normal household people getting into riding motorcycles. The CT 70 was from that same family of minibikes, but the street legal version.
It’s always been a bike that I thought was super cool because really it’s a small fun one bike, but its street legal. It has three speed but there’s no clutch, so basically anyone that can ride a bicycle can ride this thing. The bigger bikes have a larger size, a clutch and a lot to think about – but anyone can pretty much hop on one of these and ride and have fun. My wife had wanted one for a long time and the opportunity came up to purchase it on the way to an event last year. I found one on OfferUp and I picked it up on the way to the event and it was an absolute hit. My wife loved it, I loved it. Everyone else seemed to too. As soon as somebody sees a CT 70, they open to you with their story about how they had one, how their neighbor had one, or how they learned how to ride one, or “I had a 78” or “I had an 82.” It's just incredible how many people will talk to you about their CT 70 experience.
The filming process took 8 days on camera, but it’d be tough to say how many hours of work it took. For every day on-camera, there was usually a day off-camera of preparation and such. But the whole project was started and completed within a month’s time.
Glorified Shopping List
I hope that this glorified shopping list breaks it down the most. What I'm trying to do is motivate people to make one. It doesn’t have to be in detail like mine, as far as specific parts, coating etc. But when you look at something without making notes, it's very difficult to keep track of all that. You need to have the top of mind. There are certain things on a build sheet that are constant; I’m always going to use Bridgestone tires, so which Bridgestone tires am I going to use? All I'm doing is changing out the model numbers but keeping the same vendors. For other parts that are new and specific for the build I have to research new components and parts sources.
Item
Vendor
Coatings
Status
1991 Honda CT70
Offer Up
Received
88CC Big Bore Kit
Pure Moto
Received
20mm Mikuni
Pure Moto
Received
Renthal Tall 50cc Bars
Pure Moto
Received
12" Wheel Conversion
Kepspeed UK
Cera Black
Received
Bridgestone ML90 Tires
WeBike.Japan
Received
Fork Conversion W/Disk Brake
WeBike Japan
Cera Black
Received
Black Rear shocks KYB
WeBike.Japan
Received
EBC Brake Pads Front
EBC
Received
EBC Brake Pads Rear
EBC
Received
EBC Front Rotor
EBC
Received
EBC Front Brake Line
EBC
Received
CHP/OEM Style Exhaust
CHP
Received
Rear Grab Bar
Kep Speed UK
Cera Black
Received
License Plate Bracket K0 Dax
Kep Speed UK
Cera Black
Received
Ignition Key/ Lock Set
Kep Speed UK
Received
Chain Gaurd
Kep Speed UK
Cera Black
Received
Rear Grab Bar
Kep Speed UK
Cera Black
Received
Tail Light + Bracket
TB Parts
Cera Black
Received
Folding Buddy Pegs
WeBike.Japan
Received
Chain Adjusters
WeBike.Japan
Received
Brake Arm Joint - Takegawa
WeBike.Japan
Received
Rear Brake Arm - Takegawa
WeBike.Japan
Received
4 Speed Transmission
WeBike.Japan
Received
Yuasa YT4L-BS Battery
Pure Moto
Received
Chain Gold 86L
Pure Moto
Received
JT Rear Sprocket 44T
Pure Moto
Cera Black
Received
JT Front Sprocket 15T
Pure Moto
Received
CR Style Throttle - Motion Pro
Pure Moto
Received
Throttle Cable - Motion Pro
Pure Moto
Received
Air Filter K&N Pod
Pure Moto
Received
Seat Cover
Saddlemen
Received
Moose Kill Switch
Pure Moto
Received
ODI Grips
Pure Moto
Received
Shifter
Pure Moto
Received
I didn’t draft up anything stylistically for exactly how I wanted, but I did look at the bike in stock form. There are certain attributes of certain years of CT 70s that I like a lot. In the mid 80s, they switched over to some larger plastic taillights and such so I also used older model year components. What I wanted to do was to keep something that is performance in nature, but relatively has a stock shadow picture. Color and graphic wise, I literally created stencils and templates off of the OEM and changed those into my colorway from my stunt riding program.
I really wanted something that was going to run forever, has more performance than stock, start first kit and fun for the whole family. If you get too carried away with the performance part then it’s no longer fun for your wife and daughter to ride. But if you don’t do anything to it at all, it’s really quite a slow motorcycle.
My wife and daughter absolutely love it. This motorcycle will go to a lot of events where I'm either going to be competing or performing at. Sometimes those events are very spaced out across big venues. Having something that’s easy to previals. My wife is a motorcycle rider, but not avid, so navigating through crowds of people and cross traffic on the CT will be a big win. Everyone that has ridden it so has had the same interpretation that it was just enough and not too much. We're very happy with how it turned out.
It was through my dad that I learned a lot of my more basic knowledge about working on motorcycles. He was into working on motorcycles prior to me. Along with that, also riding when I was younger, I was absorbing a lot of what he was doing as far as on his projects. I was into working and building on bikes like an interest category because it also became a necessity category because of the amount of maintenance and upkeep that’s needed. For one competition motorcycle, the amount of days and time you work on it are far superior than the amount of time you are able to ride it.
There’s a certain level of pedigree that I like to build all of my things that come out of my shop. The background of why Garage 93 is here is because it's where I build, design and maintain my competition equipment.
The point of the CT wasn’t to throw a ton of money at it, but it was definitely to spend a good amount of time and really making this fit and finished wise a brand-new motorcycle, so that’s what I did. So now I basically have a 2020 1993 CT 70.
