In 1964 I was walking down the street to view a brand new phenomenon-- a shining new red/white Honda Cub at a neighbor’s house. It was just there sitting on its stand calmly idling, It had its bright headlight on, then the dippy neighbor kid honked its horn at me! Next he took off down the street and revved it out in first gear screaming its little engine's heart out. He proceeded to slickly shift through two more gears rolling down the road. Next he showed me that he could push the gear shift down with his foot, rev it up then lift the foot and produce an amazing slow speed wheelie. I was hooked on Hondas forever.
Kids today will never get the same experience, sixty years much two wheeled progress has occurred. However at that time, real motorcycles that a kid could own just were not around. Yes there were hand made lawnmower engine powered mini bikes but you couldn’t ride it over to the next town. There were also bicycle framed Whizzers that with furious pedaling often still would not start. When they did start they were the most dangerous two-wheeled machines a parent would fear. Some went 50 mph with just those bicycle brakes! We even had a neighbor that was killed on a hopped up Whizzer. There were some good-looking sears mopeds out there, but they had a mysterious “two stroke” engines, and you were never sure at the gas pump if you were giving them proper amount of oil in the gas. Also they seemed like glorified slow bicycles. While a quality machine, they were often mechanically challenging. That two speed handlebar shifter never seemed to work right..
Harleys Triumphs and BSA's were huge and out of the practical and financial realm of reason for a young kid. All you could do was dream about owning a motorcycle until Mr. Honda changed transportation forever with his new Super Cub.