Original Tires on 70 CT70

Bacharini

Bacharini

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Fellow Bikers

Does anyone know if the original tires on a 70 CT70KO were Nittos or Bridgestones or did Honda sell them with either? My 71 came with Nittos and I just picked up an "original" 1970 bike that has Bridgestones and so I was wondering.

Thanks
 
Original tires were Bridgestone Trail Wings. Nitto makes a similar tire and Cheng Shin makes a dead on ringer, except for the name on the side, at about half the price.

For a 100 point resto though, you need the Bridgestones.
 
Thanks

I'm just trying to play detective and determine if the Bridgestones on the 70 are the original tires (as claimed by the seller). Upon closer inspection, there does appear to be very minor cracks (dry rot) on the sidewalls however it is very minor compared to the cracking on the nittos from the 71.

I replaced the nittos on the 71 with bridgestones and when I compare the new bridgestones with the "old" bridgestones, the old tires don't have the DOT designation, the Max Load/Load Range information on the sidewalls.

So my guess is the bridgestones on the 70 are the originals. Its amazing that they have lasted that long.
 
Tom,
Your "new" bike looks GREAT ;) But my main question is.....how are you going to decide "which bike" your are gonna ride when we go cruising????:rolleyes:
Can't wait to see it!
I now realize that the "new" bike with a whopping 322 miles on it will be a nice addition to the garage! =)
After talking with you today, I

Brian
 
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I'm the original owner of a '69 z50 and 2nd owner of an early production ct70.The 50 originally had Bridgestones but my parts book dated 1-25-69 lists Bridgestone,Nitto and Yokohama with different part numbers.The micro flitch dated 1994 only lists Nitto.When I replaced them in the mid '70's my Honda dealer only had Nitto's.The 70 had Bridgestones but I can only assume they were original to the 1900 mile bike.The '73 parts book only lists Nitto and the '96 micro flitch has Nitto and Bridgestones. Dcp_0588.jpg
 
OEMs build kit vehicles on a large scale and shop around for componentry like anyone else. It usually comes down to price, supply or both for items like tires. Just as a wild-assed guess, the Nittos and Yokohamas were probably added to the parts catalog to make life easier for the dealers. Having an maunfacturer-approved aftermarket equivalent tire has its advantages.

With CT70s, I've seen a number of unmolested/unmaintained examples with both Nitto and Bridgestone tires. With 1973 & earlier production, there doesn't seem to be any obvious rhyme or reason as to which was installed as OEM equipment. I suspect that Honda used whatever was available at the time, to keep the line moving. The vast majority of bikes had Bridgestones. I've never seen a Yokohama tire on a known all-original CT70.
 
Not really intimate with CT's but as far as mini trails here what i've found-All KO's came with Nitto exclusively.The crossover(very early poroduction) K1's came with Nitto,Yokohama,and the pre trail wing Bridgestones. Honda was embarking on a whole new deal with the U.S. market Z50A's-the KO was the first bike to hit the states and with "only" 20 k of these introduction models Nitto was able to cover the whole lot.Due to overwhelming success they went right into K1 production after a couple months of the pilot KO program and punched out 160K in less than a year-still the largest production total of any MY Honda bike ever I believe.Like previously mentioned they categorically had to go with multiple vendors at first to keep up with exploding sales( imagine production halted while waiting on 320k tires!)..all manufacturers molds were to Honda OEM spec,and had exactly the same tread block.I would venture that Bridgestone won the contract exclusively after say spring of 69 as I've not seen any original k1's shod with Nitto's after that time frame,and none ever on K2's.For reference I have K1 # 25(Nitto) #141(bridgestone) and #344(Yoko)one is still 100% untouched, the other two I restored but were found completely unmolested..all first day production bikes.
 
All the K0s I have owned (16 to date) have had either Bridgestone or Nitto tires. Have never seen a Yokohama. All my bikes were either 1970 or 1971 production. Only one is all original. It is a late '70 with Bridgestones.
 
Bacharini said:
Thanks

I'm just trying to play detective and determine if the Bridgestones on the 70 are the original tires (as claimed by the seller). Upon closer inspection, there does appear to be very minor cracks (dry rot) on the sidewalls however it is very minor compared to the cracking on the nittos from the 71.

I replaced the nittos on the 71 with bridgestones and when I compare the new bridgestones with the "old" bridgestones, the old tires don't have the DOT designation, the Max Load/Load Range information on the sidewalls.

So my guess is the bridgestones on the 70 are the originals. It’s amazing that they have lasted that long.
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I still have my original trail Honda CT Trail 70 with the original tires on it, and they are made by Nitto. They are nylon tires and still in excellent condition with no cracks in the side walls. I was also surprised in how good a condition they’re still in.
 
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