Here in 2024, depending on your particular area of moto interest, you might be familiar with the Honda Gyro. If you've been following Honda's efforts at electrification as of late, you might also be familiar with the most recent version, the Honda Gyro e:, which uses those swappable Honda Mobile Power Pack e: units.
If you thought that the Honda Gyro was the first Honda leaning three-wheeler, though, you'd be incorrect. As it turns out, the Gyro had a few predecessors in the Honda lineup, beginning with the Honda Stream. (Yes, we know that there's a Honda car that came later with the same model name, but we're talking about the OG Honda Stream three-wheeled scooter today.)
In 1981, Honda first introduced the Stream as an extremely practical and mild-mannered three-wheeler. As you can see in this rather excellent exploration of the Stream from Small Bike Stuff, the two wheeled rear portion is also where the engine sits. It stays in constant contact with the ground, while the rider can lean the front portion from side to side almost as much as they want. The result is a pretty stable ride for whoever's in the saddle.
Why A Leaning Three Wheeler, Honda?
Ask anyone who's familiar with Honda motorbike history and they'll tell you that a long time ago, Honda took a few more design risks than it's been known to do in the 2000s.
Still, even if the Honda Stream didn't stay in production long, the fact that Honda went on to refine it into additional three-wheeled designs like the Honda Just and later, the Gyro, shows that the company was clearly onto something. The Gyro and now the Gyro e: have been popular delivery vehicles for businesses in multiple countries across Asia for decades.
The Idea Came From England
The many and varied threads of motorcycle history intersect in strange ways sometimes, and this is one of those times. See, without BSA, there would arguably have been no Honda Stream, Honda Gyro, or any other Honda leaning three-wheelers.
BSA was eager to get into the moped market, and a British designer named George Wallis had been working on coming up with a safer bicycle design for a few years. Prior to his involvement with BSA, Wallis had also started working on motorized three-wheeled prototypes. Some of them even utilized an engine from a Triumph Tina scooter.
Anyway, BSA went on to license a design from Wallis that eventually became the Ariel 3 leaning three-wheeled scooter, which premiered in 1970. While it probably wasn't the only thing responsible for the company's downfall, the Ariel 3 undeniably proved to be a massive sales flop for BSA. The company had reportedly expected to sell around 25,000 Ariel 3s, and instead only shifted 7,000 in that first year.
After that, for a very short time in the 1970s, Daihatsu briefly got into making scooters. It also licensed Wallis' leaning three-wheeled design for the leaning three-wheeled Hallo, which you can see above.
The third company was evidently the charm, though, as Honda decided it needed some of that sweet leaning three-wheeled scooter design for itself. Thus, it launched the Stream, and eventually the Gyro, which has now been going strong in its niche for decades.
This 1984 Honda Stream That's For Sale
Now, at last, we come to a 1984 Honda Stream that someone is selling right now on Bring a Trailer. While Honda never sold the Stream in the US, it was imported some time ago and is currently registered in Maryland. It's powered by a wee little 49cc two-stroke single-cylinder engine, and has a total of 610 kilometers (about 379-ish miles) on the clock. As with all used vehicles, total actual mileage is unknown.
The previous owner prior to the current seller is said to have done some routine maintenance, including cleaning the carburetor and changing out things like the spark plug, fluids, and battery. There's a running video up top, where you can see that it was apparently running pretty nicely in late 2023.
Does it have what could possibly the greatest dash known to humankind? Perhaps I'm overstating the case a bit, but I think you can agree that it's pretty excellent.
This is clearly not going to win any speed awards (unless, of course, you do some kind of mad engine swap with it), but it would certainly be an excellent conversation starter.
It's currently being offered at no reserve on Bring a Trailer, with an auction end date of Sunday, January 7, 2024 at 1:15 p.m. Eastern. The bid is up to $1,000 at the time of writing. We'll list the link in our Sources to see more photos or bid on it if you're interested.
