When Powell’s Tate McCoy fell in love with Alisa Hubbell he sold his Porsche 911 and bought a diamond ring. You’d think it would have been an easy decision, but Tate really loves his toys.

“I decided that it wasn’t the right thing for me, because all I was gonna do is go chase girls. And I had this special girl who was already in my life, so I didn’t need a hot car at the time,” he said.

They married on March 6, 1999 and headed out on their honeymoon in Vail, Colorado. But McCoy wanted to make a detour along the way. He found a collector in Texas who agreed to sell him a 1970 Honda CT50 Trail minibike. So, on his honeymoon night Tate and Alisa went to a shipping yard in Denver to grab his prized cycle before proceeding to their destination. Who said he’s not a romantic?

“We had to postpone the first night of our honeymoon,” he said sheepishly. “She was trying to be nice, but she probably wasn’t as thrilled about the bike as I was.”

Alisa must have been blinded by her husband’s kind eyes and sincere smile before she added a laughable story to demonstrate his love for two-wheeled transportation.

“Well, that one wasn’t too bad,” she said about their honeymoon. “He went to get a Honda 650 on the day [our daughter was due.] I was like, if I go into labor while you’re gone you are going to be in so much trouble,” she said with a giggle.

Obviously Tate loves his toys — from his adoration for Volkswagens, including his all-original Westfalia camper van, to his performance snowmobiles, unicycles and, after 25 years of marriage, a newer Porsche 911 Targa. 

It might be a good bet that Alisa didn’t get more diamonds for their silver anniversary. But she has her own toys, including a motorcycle she uses when the entire family heads to one of their favorite off-road destinations.

Hundreds of Hondas

Tate owns hundreds of cycles between his pristine models and parts bikes. But not just any brand of bike will do; McCoy likes Hondas. 

It’s a little odd because his father, Jeff, sold Yamahas. The patriarch, who later founded Production Machine Company in Powell, started K&M Motorcycles out of his garage while working full-time at Superior Machine. One day he took in a Honda on trade just Tate’s size.

“He gave me a choice,” he said of his father offering him either a Yamaha or a Honda when he was about 10-years-old. “I liked the way that the Honda sounded with the four stroke better than the two stroke Yamaha, so I ended up with a Honda and I’ve loved Hondas ever since.”

Yet, his greatest love is for mini bikes. As an adult Tate continued his love for riding, but was obsessed with mini bikes. He and his father spent years together buying, renovating and collecting them no matter the condition. People would hear about Tate’s love for the diminutive-sized cycles and would drop them off at the house for next to nothing. 

Tate will make them safe and reliable, but prefers the decades-old original patina in which the bikes came. He did have one of the bikes professionally painted with the help of Jeff Kary at The Ding Pro, but, as good as it looks, he prefers all original.

“I found that one I’m afraid to ride, I don’t want to tear it up,” he said. “You don’t get to enjoy it as well. I really enjoy the ones that are fully functional and all together, but original as they can be.”

He enjoys how easy they are to work on, giving fast satisfaction compared to modern cycles. He wasn’t always kind to the bikes, but they are hard to break, he said.

“I literally ran the thing out of oil a couple times. I would put more oil in and it would start back up and keep going. They’re bulletproof,” he said.

Tate “fell in love with the 50s” at that point and wanted a really nice bike. He found a sweet example in Pennsylvania on the internet. Before online sales sites and clubs began, it was much harder to get the parts he needed. But in the early 2000s Tate was quickly amassing a huge collection.

“I’d buy three to build one,” he said.

About the bikes

According to Honda’s official archives, in 1960 the efforts of a Honda motorcycle dealer in Boise, Idaho, came to the attention of Jack McCormack, the sales manager at the 1-year old American Honda Motor Co. McCormack had noticed the sales of the popular step-through Honda 50 were off the charts in an area known more for its surrounding rugged mountain terrain than an urban core. He contacted the owner, Herb Uhl, seeking an explanation.

“He told me how he was selling them as a trail bike, putting a cheater sprocket on the back and some knobby tires,” McCormack said. Uhl sent one of his converted Honda 50s down to California for McCormack to inspect.

“It was a brilliant little machine,” McCormack said. “It worked so well because it was light, and with the automatic clutch you could climb logs. To do that on a big bike, you had to have a certain amount of skill. I saw lots of possibility for something like Herb was doing, selling it as a bike that you could go in the woods and hunt or fish.”

McCormack sent the bike to American Honda’s parent company in Japan, with a request to build a production version of Uhl’s off-road adaptation. By March 1961, the CA100T Trail 50 was offered to Honda dealers across America.

Honda’s first foray into off-road mini-biking was an immediate success, hailed by Cycle World magazine with the recommendation that readers go “Trail Fiftying.” The model evolved through numerous upgrades and revisions, eventually becoming the popular CT brand. Over the course of nearly three decades, well over 725,000 units from the CT series were sold in the U.S.

Concurrent with the evolution of the larger CT models, the minibike-based CT70 Trail 70 was introduced in 1969 and was sold in the U.S. until 1982, then reintroduced in 1991 and carried over the next three years. The fun-to-ride Trail 70 was a prototypical play bike that took many of its styling cues from the popular Z50 dirt bike as well as the larger CTs, and the front and rear lighting added a desirable element of street-ability. The Trail 70’s success underscores its influence as one of the inspirations for the modern-day Honda Monkey.

The nifty little workhorses have found appreciation in recent years, as only a few have survived. The price of a 1969 Honda Z50 depends on its condition, but you can expect to pay between $1,410 and $5,825

Typically, you can expect to pay around $4,200 for a 1970 Honda CT70 in good condition with average specs, according to Hagerty Insurance, a company that insures vintage vehicles and sponsors the world’s largest community for classic motorized vehicle enthusiasts. The highest selling price of a 1970 Honda CT70 at auction over the last three years was $29,158.

Tate has sold some over the years, but only to close friends he wanted to entice into the fun little bikes, and most are still either in his shop, the garage or in the parts yard. Tate started with the 50cc and fell for its spunky performance, rugged reliability and many uses. For Tate, it was all about the fun. He didn’t race like his father and older brother, Brett. He is content to just enjoy the ride with friends and family.

A legacy

The time spent with his father, who passed away in 2021, working on the collection was special “beyond words” to Tate. He was also able to get his daughter, Erin, interested in the sport, although she really didn’t have much choice at first.

“I rode the wheels off that first 50 when I first got it … and I would take my daughter in a little chest harness and ride around,” he said of his rides with Erin while she was an infant.

Yet, after his father’s death, Tate was at a loss and didn’t know the future of the collection. He knew that Alisa was mad at him for selling the few he has let go.

“I still think he shouldn’t sell them off,” she said. “Tate meets people who are like him, and they’re like, oh, man, I had one of these when I was a kid. He could sell them all off because people want them, they’re in high demand.”

Alisa said Asher, who is 6, is extra special because Tate had always wanted a boy. 

“My sister-in-law would tease him that he was going to have a girl. And, of course, the minute Tate saw Erin, it was fine that he had a girl. But now he has a boy to share with,” she said. 

Tate picks up Asher from Southside Elementary School and spends time with him daily until Erin returns home from her job at Summit ESP, a service of Halliburton that provides integrated Electric Submersible Pumping systems to enhance daily well production and reservoir recovery.

As Asher came of age, which in the McCoy family is pretty early, Asher developed the same love for riding as his fun grandpa. Over the past few years without his beloved father but with Asher in his life, Tate has begun to realize the importance of time and family. Tears — a mix of joy and sadness — welled in his eyes as he spoke about his role as son and grandfather.

“I’m enjoying sharing with my grandson; teaching him how to work on stuff and just spending time with him. He’s not super into it yet, but he likes to learn and he likes spending time with me,” he said as his emotions got to him and big tears leaked out of the corner of his eyes.

In the vulnerable moment he admitted his love for minibikes and motorcycles was because of how special his father made him feel as they shared the hobby.

“Bikes are special to me, but having somebody to share … (he takes a moment to compose) that’s the part that matters,” he said, choking back the tears. “My grandson is like the fulfillment of the whole thing. Without him, I might have just sold off the collection. Now, to have him interested at all at any level, makes having them worth it all. That’s the part that I cherish the most — it has gone full circle, you know, to be able to enjoy it with Asher.”

Tate gets more emotional now as he turned 56 on Halloween, although Erin thinks he has always been comfortable with sharing his emotions, according to her mom. Realizing his connection with his collection has always been about family and knowing his collection has a chance to outlive him brings him joy and motivation to finish more of the many minis he has in transition to hitting the trail with those he adores.