Okay dumb question. Whats the diffrence between the ct 70, sl 70 and xl70?

[2stroked]

It's kind of curious as to what the difference is between these bikes. Thanks!

[PlanetMinis.com]

[vintagemx]

Going off memory here, which ain't too good when you're past 40, but... The SL model designation was replaced by the XL model designation in the early 70s, so the SL and XL models are very similar. Small street-legal motorcycles. The CT is more of a mini-bike designed for campers with a smaller frame and statute along with fold-down bars for putting the bike in the trunk. They all use the same horizontal 70cc engine. I believe the XL70 was replaced by the XL75, which uses the vertical 75cc engine.

[Bizzel]

What HE said, but heres some links for more info....

Honda SL
Rick Sieman: SuperHunky.com

HOnda CT
Welcome to CT70 Identification Guide

Honda XL
The XL Page

Bizzel

[2stroked]

Okay thanks guys! Cleared up a bit of confusion.

[hokoman]

wow, makes me want a yamaha mini after reading that thread about the porker aka as the sl70!

[vintagemx]

Ok, here's where I get to throw out some useless facts... It's no secret that Sochiro Honda hated 2-strokes, but he also wanted to dominate all forms of motorcycle racing. The old what wins on Sunday, sells on Monday marketing principle.

So when motocross started gaining popularity, of course Honda wanted to dominate. Problem was all the fast bikes from Europe and Japan were 2-strokes (thanks to Walter Karrden, Ernst Dengler and the Nazi War Machine aka the V1 Buzz Bomb, which is another useless fact). Some of the Honda engineers approached Sochiro about making a 2-stroke for MX, and a couple were fired. Sochiro was adamant about building a MX bike on the SL250 platform. So Honda went to work turning an SL250 into a MX'r. However a few renegade engineers started working on a 2-stroke behind Sochiro's back, knowing if he found out they'd be fired.

In Honda's debut MX race the modified SL got spanked. Dead last despite hiring the best MX racer in Japan. He quit after that race saying there's no way Honda could compete with a 4-stroke. The next day Sochiro admitted that Honda needed to develop a 2-stroke. That's when the renegade engineers showed him the 2-stroke they'd been developing behind his back.

In its first MX race the newly developed Honda 2-stroke didn't even have the company logo on it. They simply called it "Elsinore" after the famed race in Lake Elsinore, CA (ala Yamaha Big Bear). The marketing group finally convinced Sochiro to put Honda on the Elsinore so people would know it was a Honda that was winning races. He still had no love for 2-strokes though.

[T Smith]

Off topic but you brought back the memories.

I remember like yesterday the first Elsinore I rode, a 125 back around 74 or so. Neither me or my buddies had never heard of it and I was thinking "it's just a little 125". That lil son of a gun was wicked fast with my scrawny 150lbs (those were the days - ha!) on it, when I wicked it on and it got up on the pipe I couldn't let off or let go, good times....