[arnav17]

Introduction
The Honda Cub has been a popular vehicle which primarily sold well in the South-east Asian region. That said, when Hero Honda decided to bring this bike to India thinking that it would be a game changer in the market. The Cub was launched in India as the Hero Honda Street back in 1997 with a 100cc air cooled engine and a clutch less manual transmission which was the prime reason the street even was considered by many. The Street had a unique 4 – Speed Gearbox in which you could shift from the fourth gear to the first gear with one tap of your foot. Something which caught people’s eye even more than this was the fact that it had electric start back in that time.

Likes:
- 4 speed rotary transmission which made things ever so convenient for
first time drivers
- Torque engine which pulls like a bull!
- Popular amongst women (Including my mother, the owner of this bike)
- Powerful engine borrowed from the splendor.
- Electric start! (Although ours isn’t equipped with this)


Dislikes:
- Unconventional Design put many people off from buying this.
- Did not have a ‘macho’ image for those looking for bikes
- Small fuel tank (Though it gave great mileage)
- Poor marketing from Honda resulted in its failure


The story of our street
The street was bought for my Mother, By my Grandmother back in 2001. It was my mom’s daily commute to work and forth. After my birth , the street’s usage hit an all time low compared to the running in the previous few years. She preferred to drive around in our Access 125 which was more convenient. The street went into a state of dormancy for a few years, after which my father decided to get it repaired and rebuilt. It went for a full service and came out with full glory. But due to other commitments and work, he couldn’t focus on it for too long and soon it again became a stand to keep clothes on it.

Fast forward to 2020, the Covid pandemic hit and the street fell asleep, in its dusty surroundings and remained like that until mid 2022, when we just put a little fuel into it to see and lo! It roared to life within the 10th kick. This made us realized that it was still very much alive. The plan was made to bring the street back to life but but but, like before, the plan was abandoned.

[arnav17]

Compounding and Waxing

One day, my friend and (yet to be approved) BHpian hondasamarth12 came over, and we both wanted to see the street in its former glory. We decided that we would give it a compound polish wax treatment and remove the haze from the clear coat. After buying a tin of compound and wax polish we came back home and gave it a thorough wash.
The Process
Materials Required :



Any Shampoo (Head and shoulders works good though)
Moto Max 2k Rubbing compound



Waxpol Silicone Liquid Wax Polish
A few sponges
Dashboard polish Moto Max
Old waste clothes

The first step is to wash the bike thoroughly with the shampoo, sponge and clean water. After the wash, dry the bike or let it dry on its own. Once it is fully dry apply some dashboard polish to the plastic parts with the sponge provided in the cover, which looks something like this. :
After the polish, You will immediately notice how shiny it looks (maybe that’s just in our case, we hadn’t seen the street like that for a long time) :
After polishing the dashboard, making sure that the vehicle is fully dry, take some compound in your fingers and apply it in circles on the panel :



Don’t forget to remove the compound using a waste cloth by rubbing the compound evenly and spreading it on the panel in circles until it completely disappears.



After the compound:

The next step is the polishing. To do this, take a new sponge and squeeze some polish onto it . Take the sponge and run it around in circles so that it spreads out evenly. The gleam that you receive at the end is special! All the more because it’s a black coloured scooter which truly shines.
After polishing of all panels :










The reflection after the polish :



Before and after :







This can be done in a frequency of 3 months, depending on how faded it gets. All in all, if done with full detail, it’s a 45 minute process and a splendid way of getting your ride to gleam without investing more than 200 rupees on the materials!
Thanks for reading.

[GTO]

Thread moved to the Motorcycle section so that our 2-wheel fans don't miss out on this DIY. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage tomorrow

[v12]

Thank you very much for this detailed thread Arnav!! I was planning to open up and get my 1999 HH Street Standard painted this month - but I will try this option and see. If the results are good, then it probably may not need to be painted at all.

[saket77]

Mentioning the HH Street, you brought back long lost memories circa 2000 when we were in the high school. One of our friends had this machine and I used to ride it sometimes. It was so convenient with the clutch-less gear shift that even a noob like me (At that time ) could ride it well. I also remembered the one-tap neutral from the top gear when you mentioned. Though it was not really a road gripper (my friend used to fall skidding from this bike on a weekly basis) but nevertheless, it was one of the 'hot' stuff on roads back in its hey days, if I may call it that way.

Good that you are restoring it, I haven't seen this thing on road for at least 20 years now. Get it mechanically serviced well and I think the reliability gene of Honda will serve you well if you plan to use it for your city commute.

Reagrds,
Saket

[JagMan]

I'd love to get one of these just for novelties sake. Should offer way better mileage than my Activa does. Also, the clutch can be accessed via the gear lever. A half press on the gear lever actually disengages the clutch.

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by arnav17

Compounding and Waxing - The gleam that you receive at the end is special!

Arnav,

Two cents from my side:

1. I've used a Hero Honda Street once during transit in Chennai around the year 2000. It sure was a nice bike to ride, even with a pillion rider and a kid. I remember riding it from Nungambakkam to Adayar in the hot sun, and not feeling the strain at all. The rotary gears and no clutch made it easy as well. Those days, the local bus drivers would never use the clutch anyways, so I felt like one of 'em.
2. Nice DIY and I absolutely agree with you on the end result and the Wow feeling! However, given the quality of finish on two wheelers, I opine that a compounding should be done only once, and maintenance waxing should be done every 2 - 3 months. I'd use Waxpol Vinyl and Leather polish on the unpainted panels, and some wax (Meguiars Yellow / 3M/ Amway Glaze) on the paint. The change in looks of the machine would be mind blowing.

Here is my contribution - a 2013 Suzuki Access that I had until late last year.

[ProLearner]

Excellent post. Even we have a 1999 Street (non-smart, it has a slightly different front panel) which was also bought for my mom. Your bike looks good after the detailing.

The bike may not be a looker, but sure is so much fun to drive. You can practically drive from standstill in any gear, and it won't stall at any speed. Many years before today's TVS GTT this bike had that option (I know it's due to the gearbox and clutch design of the street).

Our bike is mechanically sound, starts in a single kick even if not driven for days. But some plastics have broken. Do you have any source to buy the parts in your region? How do you maintain this bike?

[arnav17]

Hello BHpians,

Bumping up this old thread with a query. There have been talks about getting the fitness certificate for the street as it is in perfect mechanical condition, barring a slight issue with the rotary gearbox, where it is able to tap from 1st to 4th gear but is not going into 1st from the 4th gear which was supposed to be the primary purpose of the transmission. Guess the mech needs to see it .

Now, the Street smart did come with the Electric starter, like the one BHpian Roshith owns and I wanted to know if it is possible and feasible to retrofit the electric starter. This model did come with it so compability should'nt be an issue. However the reliability and safety is a question mark, on which I would like the advice of other BHpians.

Attaching a recent picture of the street after a full polish :



PS : The Right motors sticker came with the street in 2001 and has been there ever since.